Perseverance — Page 28
28 – the story of al-haj Rashid ahmad american the widow, the poor, the slaves and the travelers who frequently find themselves without protection and support in foreign lands. How could anyone deny such self-evident truths? It would have been very easy for me to continue my former way of life, but the truth of Islam continued to dominate my thoughts. The more I read, the more truth I acquired, and the more truth I acquired the more insatiable grew my thirst. It was as if I was quenching my thirst with the saltwater of Islam. The more I drank, the more I thirsted. I decided to visit the center in Pakistan, but I had no money to pay for the trip. For the first time I decided to take employment, working at the Stop and Shop on Washington Street in Chicago. Stop and Shop was a grocery exchange where items could be picked, packed and dispatched to international locations. I was a packer. I worked approximately a year to save up enough money to go to Pakistan. PREACHING ACTIVITIES IN ZION, ILLINOIS In 1947, I went on a preaching mission in Zion, Illinois with another Pakistani Ahmadi named Muhammad Abdullah. His family owned a cycle shop in Lahore, Pakistan. We went door to door to make inquiries about Dr. John Alexander Dowie, the founder of the City of Zion. Dowie claimed to be Elijah III, the predecessor to the second advent of Christ as , just as John as the Baptist fulfilled the second coming of Elijah as , the predecessor to the first advent of Christ as. Dowie’s flagrant slanders against Islam caught the attention of the Promised Messiah as , who claimed to be