First Grain of Sand — Page 43
TRANSFER TO ASHGABAT 27 As time passed at Ashgabat, my cellmates would often speak to each other about why they were imprisoned and would comfort each other. However, whenever it came to me, they would remorse- fully say that from here I would be transferred to Tashkent, then Moscow, and then maybe even to Siberia because the Russians were more suspicious of me. As is human nature, when I would feel depressed about this, I would do wuzu [ablution for Islamic Prayers], and remedy my pain by being in the presence of God Almighty. This was always my experience with God Almighty that whenever I suffered an overwhelming feeling of grief, God Almighty would comfort me at that time and console me through dreams. This happened many times. On one occasion, when I had hardly gone back to sleep in the cell after my Tahajjud Prayers, I saw Hazrat Khalifatul-Masih II in a clear dream admonishing me for spending all my days and nights in prison without preaching to anybody. When I woke up, I felt greatly ashamed for my negligence in the propagation of Islam but wondered how I could do so if I could not speak Russian. At that moment, a wave of urgency ran over me that come what may, I must begin learning to speak the Russian language right away. I began by asking an Iranian cellmate if he could speak with our fellow inmate—a Russian pilot named Orlov—and ask him to teach me the Russian language. The Iranian cellmate told me not to be foolish, as the Russians are already suspicious of me and learning the Russian language could cause even further suspicion. But I now had a stubborn desire within me to learn their language and told my cellmate that it doesn't matter to me. He conveyed my request, and Orlov agreed to teach me Russian. Therefore, that same day, Orlov took a piece of paper and wrote