First Grain of Sand — Page 64
48 FIRST GRAIN OF SAND Muhammadsas. In the morning, I would always recite verses from the Holy Quran, and then during the days I would teach my cell- mates more of the lessons from the Quran with love and passion. One of those was Muhammad Hussain, who had been cap- tured from Bukhara some time ago and was in my cell. Whenever I taught him about the Quran, I would accompany that lesson with advice for him. I also made it a point to give him food that was brought for me. All of this had such an impact upon his heart that late at night—after everyone had fallen asleep and even the guards had departed from the view of our cell—when I deliv- ered the message of the Ahmadiyya Movement to him, he readily accepted it, thereby becoming the first convert to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in the USSR. The second person to join the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was a young wealthy Turkish man named Muhammad Yaar, who owned a few orchards in Tashkent. When I would preach to him, he would be so moved by the message that tears would roll down his eyes. I also taught him how to read the Quran in Arabic. He was an incredibly sincere person and absorbed the Ahmadiyya Movement's teachings into every fibre of his being. After work- ing with him for some time, when I saw that he had become so inclined towards me, I was convinced that as soon as he would hear the invitation to the Ahmadiyya Movement, he would accept and become an Ahmadi Muslim. Therefore, I made the intention that in the last part of the night, I would sit with him and convey the message of the Ahmadiyya Movement through Muhammad Hussain. When everyone had gone to sleep and even the guards left our cell, I called