First Grain of Sand — Page 69
THE FIRST CONVERTS OF THE AHMADIYYA MOVEMENT IN THE U. S. S. R. 53 Messiahas and joining the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Abdullah recounted how Hazrat Sahibzadah Abdul Latifra had been martyred in Kabul, Afghanistan, and that he himself was present at that gathering when he was stoned. Abdullah pro- ceeded to say that he believes perhaps Hazrat Sahibzadah Abdul Latifra was a disciple of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas. I told him indeed that is the case. Abdullah then said that it had been known that the Imam Mahdias had come to Punjab, but he did not learn or understand the details until now after having spoken with me. Therefore, by the grace of God Almighty, Abdullah Khan then joined the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. In this way, the inmates of my cell gradually accepted the Promised Messiahas. My method of preaching was that when I saw someone becoming particularly moved by my frequent lessons, I would determine that there would be nothing stopping him from accepting the Promised Messiahas who is the source of everything I taught. And so I would particularly preach to that person. When Abdullah Khan became an Ahmadi Muslim, some men from the Soviet government started to suspect that he had joined me in my mission. So they sent two Muslim clerics from outside to come visit me in my cell. Nobody had said anything to them about the coming of the Mahdi and Messiah in India, nor that I am one of his missionaries, but still as soon as these two clerics entered our cell, they tried to convince Abdullah Khan to stay away from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. They told Abdullah he should not accept our beliefs, saying that all the scholars of their country had issued a fatwa [religious proclama- tion] declaring members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community to be disbelievers, who are now widely stoned to death. To their chagrin, since the teachings of the Ahmadiyya Movement had so