First Grain of Sand — Page 59
BUILDING A REPUTATION IN PRISON 43 inhabited by eight to ten inmates who were all Muslim—some from Afghanistan, some from Bukhara, and some from the local Tashkent area. The Muslims in this room would perform the daily Islamic Prayers in congregation. After watching me from their cell across the hall for fifteen days, they knew about me very well. Although they never had a chance to speak with me previously, they had observed my recitations of the Holy Quran, my Quranic memo- rization routines, my quiet demeanour, and all my daily activities. As a result, they had considered me a scholar and holy man and warmly welcomed me to their room when I was transferred. They treated me so well as to give me the preferred location within the cell and requested me to become the Imam of their group. Due to their request, I did lead them in a few Prayers. However, I felt difficulty not only because I used to shorten the prayers due to being a traveller and would pray very slowly, but also because I was an Ahmadi Muslim and hadn't yet informed them about the message of the Promised Messiahas. So I told them that I shorten my prayers and recite very slowly, which some prisoners found boring, and so it is appropriate that I should perform my prayers alone separately, which they accepted. The month of Ramadan soon began. There were about ten prisoners who were originally locals of Tashkent and allowed to receive meals from their homes twice a week on Mondays and Fridays. On the remaining days, they were given raw meat and vegetables that they would cook themselves inside the prison, with the permission of the guards. Fortunately, I got hold of the Holy Quran, and so I focused my time on the memorization of more sections of the Holy Quran. It would take me about five days