Hayat-e-Saeed

The Tragic Events of 1974

اَلَّذِیْنَ اسْتَجَابُوْا لِلّٰهِ وَ الرَّسُوْلِ مِنْۢ بَعْدِ مَاۤ اَصَابَهُمُ الْقَرْحُ ۛؕ لِلَّذِیْنَ اَحْسَنُوْا مِنْهُمْ وَ اتَّقَوْا اَجْرٌ عَظِیْمٌۚ۝۱۷۲

Those who responded to the call of Allah and the Messenger after the misfortune had befallen them—for such among them who do good and keep their duty is a great reward (Holy Quran—3:172)

 اَلَّذِیْنَ قَالَ لَهُمُ النَّاسُ اِنَّ النَّاسَ قَدْ جَمَعُوْا لَكُمْ فَاخْشَوْهُمْ فَزَادَهُمْ اِیْمَانًا ۖۗ وَّ قَالُوْا حَسْبُنَا اللّٰهُ وَ نِعْمَ الْوَكِیْلُ۝۱۷۳

Those to whom men said: Surely people have gathered against you, so fear them; but this increased their faith, and they said: Allah is sufficient for us and He is an excellent Guardian (Holy Quran—3:173)

The tragic events of 1974 are an especially heartbreaking chapter of the history of the Ahmadiyya Movement, one in which its members—men and women, the young and the old, boys and girls, innocents all—became the direct target of vandals and rioters. And these innocents were made to wade through the proverbial river which was boiling over with the fury and hatred of the mob, and for the blameless to eventually emerge on the farther shore.

The intensity of the opposition to the Ahmadiyya Movement during that time was such as had neither been heard nor seen before. Put another way, it was a time of intense tribulation, a time of soul-wrenching consternation. The entire country of Pakistan was ablaze with the persecution of Ahmadis. But the particularly bitter opposition that took place in Hazara—one where the violent acts being perpetrated by avowedly bloodthirsty individuals had emerged in full view—was not seen anywhere else in Pakistan. It was an era marked by crises and tragedies for the Ahmadiyya Movement. Oppositional forces had mobilized and taken on the shape of intense destruction and violence: The eradication of the Ahmadis was being carried out according to a premeditated plan.

Anti-Ahmadiyya Agitation

The intrigues and machinations that were fueling the turmoil in Pakistan, which culminated in 1974 and engulfed the country, had been brewing behind the scenes for a long time. Vile, abject, and inflammatory slogans had been showing up everywhere—on the walls of houses, on the walls of governmental as well as non-governmental buildings, and in the streets in general—and agents of opposing movements were going from alley to alley, sector by sector, adding fuel to fire in provoking the flames of hatred against the Ahmadiyya Movement. It was widely rumored that in August 1973, the Ahmadi population in Pakistan would be completely eradicated.

However, a massive flood swept through the Pakistani province of Punjab in 1973—one whose monumental scale compelled people to liken it to the deluge in Prophet Noah’s time—and as a result, the flames of hatred being stoked by opponents were temporarily put out. But as soon as the flooding began to subside, and its sobering effects in turn began to recede from the minds of people, the malicious movement—it had been given the name of Tahaffuz-e-Khatm-e-Nabuwwat i.e. “The Safeguarding of the Finality of Prophethood”—once again began to gain momentum, and soon reached fever pitch. Oppositional forces that sought to make mischief in the land kicked into high gear, and the revolt engulfed the country once again. All kinds of resources were galvanized to crush the Ahmadiyya Movement through all means available. Murder and looting, loss of lives, arson, abridgment of the means of earning a living, social boycotts—one wonders which aspect of oppression that the average population did not resort to—and the supposedly “pure land” of Pakistan (the word “Pakistan” translates literally into “land of the pure”) was transformed into a hellish landscape for its Ahmadi population. The opposing movement targeted many Ahmadi families, and in the process, properties belonging to those Ahmadi families—assets worth hundreds of thousands of Rupees—were wiped out and destroyed. Worse still was the loss of lives: Many Ahmadis were murdered.

While the harrowing events, ones wherein the Ahmadi population in the Punjab and the Frontier provinces in general was terrorized, were undoubtedly significant, and will never be forgotten, it is the visceral immediacy of a particular set of events—the mortifying events that occurred in and impacted the Ahmadis in the Hazara region of the Frontier province in general and the person of Doctor Saeed Ahmad in particular—which have special significance in the history of the Ahmadiyya Movement.

Explosion at the Medical Clinic of Doctor Saeed Ahmad—April 23, 1973

Because of their lack of knowledge, people in general thought that Doctor Saeed Ahmad was the leader of the Rabwah Jamaat, and as such they were on the warpath with him. Letters would arrive in the mail, anonymous and from undisclosed sources, threatening him. Seeking to intimidate him through another tactic took palpable shape when an explosion took place at his medical clinic. Chronicling the saga of the tragic events of 1974, Doctor Saeed Ahmad writes as follows:

On the night of April 23, 1973, a terrifying explosion took place at my residence. Its intensity was such as to cause people to wake up far and away, and throughout the town. Following that, everyone went back to sleep. Early in the morning, people started stirring in preparation for the Fajr prayer. And it was while heading to the mosque that it was learned that the explosion had actually taken place in our own clinic. One bomb had detonated in the veranda of the clinic at street level, blowing to smithereens the roof of the veranda, the five doors opening into the veranda, the windows, the nearby rooms, as well as the X-Ray room and the medical instruments. What was left in the debris was topped over by shattered fragments of wood from the ceiling rafters, lying in amorphous mounds. I ascertained, though, that the electricity supply was intact, and that the X-Ray machine was functional.

A report of this event and the incurred loss was provided to the relevant officials. The senior superintendent of police made visits to the explosion site. But other than going through the motions of a superficial police investigation of the site, effective steps were not taken. Within a week, I was able to get the clinic repaired and to resume its normal operational condition.

Explosion at the Residence of Abdur Rahman — Principal, Abbottabad Public School

Only a few weeks had passed since the incident at the clinic of Doctor Saeed Ahmad when a bomb was thrown into the dining room at the residence of Abbottabad Public School’s Principal Abdur Rahman. The detonation caused major damage to valuable material. But the impact of the explosion was limited to that room alone, and, by the Grace of Allah, lives were spared. At that time, in addition to Principal Abdur Rahman’s own family, staying with them were Mumtaz Ahmad Faruqui, Naseer Ahmad Faruqui, along with their respective families.

Anonymous Letters Addressed to Ahmadis

Many Ahmadis received letters from an anonymous source, all with a single, sinister subject—Message Intimating the Death of Mirzaiyyat—in which, citing the bomb explosions, the message for the recipient was to renege on their affiliation with the Ahmadiyya Movement, or else to prepare for the loss of their belongings and their lives (Note that Mirzaiyyat is a decidedly derogatory term which refers to either the Ahmadiyya Movement or to the Rabwah Jamaat.] The content of one such letter was as follows:

Message Intimating the Death of Mirzaiyyat

The explosion of a bomb at the bungalow of Doctor Saeed Ahmad in April, and recently at the residence of Principal Abdur Rahman would surely have put you in a state of awe and fear. To clarify the matter further, let it be known that these are merely some initial actions being taken against you, the hell-bound people that you are. And if you accursed people do not leave Abbottabad soon, and if you do not cleanse your hearts from the impure intentions of creating a Rabwah in Abbottabad, then terrifying attacks against you mirzais [a derogatory term for members of either the Ahmadiyya Movement or the Rabwah Jamaat] will be made all over Pakistan. Your wives and your children will be murdered. And there will be none to cry over your corpses. Today, there is still time for you to either leave Pakistan or to spurn Mirzaiyyat.

Do not regard this statement as a mere threat. This is a message intimating the death of Mirzaiyyat.

—Signed by the Devotees who seek to uphold the honor of Prophet Muhammad

Explosion at the Residence of Doctor Saeed Ahmad on June 27, 1973

A new link in this series of harassing tactics—reflecting how the opposition sought to sow fear in the Ahmadiyya community—was yet another explosion at Dar-us-Saeed (i.e. the residence of Doctor Saeed Ahmad.) He writes about it as follows:

On the morning of June 27, 1973, when I returned to my house after performing the Fajr prayer in the mosque, the atmosphere was still foggy. The sky was overcast, and it was drizzling. As usual, I lay down in my bed to rest for a bit when, similar to the previous explosion, a thunderous explosion took place, causing the windows, in fact, the entire house to shake. It was 5:10 AM. Members of my household emerged from their rooms and we witnessed that in the courtyard of my house—the one located at street-level, and right across from Attorney Abdul Salam’s residence—a bomb lay exploded, its shrapnel scattered all over the lawn.

Thanks to Allah that nobody had been present in the courtyard at the time of the explosion. A small, brown dog, along with her four or five small pups—they had made their house in that very courtyard—were also safe. The pups were prancing about, but their mother was in a state of distress. In fact, she had taken shelter under the bed in my room, and was panting anguishedly, vehemently resisting all attempts to be taken out. Thus…

 اِنَّ زَلْزَلَةَ السَّاعَةِ شَیْءٌ عَظِیْمٌ۝۱ یَوْمَ تَرَوْنَهَا تَذْهَلُ كُلُّ مُرْضِعَةٍ عَمَّاۤ اَرْضَعَتْ وَ تَضَعُ كُلُّ ذَاتِ حَمْلٍ حَمْلَهَا وَ تَرَی النَّاسَ سُكٰرٰی وَ مَا هُمْ بِسُكٰرٰی وَ لٰكِنَّ عَذَابَ اللّٰهِ شَدِیْدٌ۝۲

Surely the shock of the Hour is a grievous thing. The day you see it, every woman giving suck will forget her suckling and every pregnant one will lay down her burden, and thou wilt see men as drunken, yet they will not be drunken, but the chastisement of Allah will be severe (Holy Quran—22:1)

Of the three doors opening onto that courtyard, one was damaged, and some of the windows were broken. Other than that, no other damage had been sustained.

After observing all this, I returned to my room and lay down in my bed. I felt drowsy, and my lips spontaneously began to move with the following [Quranic] words:

ھُوَالَّذِیْ یَهْدِیْۤ اِلَی الرُّشْدِ مَنْ یَّشَآء

He guides to goodness whosoever He wishes to.

Following this particular explosion, some police officers came with a sympathetic attitude, and expressed interest in investigating the incident. Some arrests were made, and some facts came to light from those who had been arrested. But no systematic process was followed. And through the intervention of influential individuals, the arrested individuals were released.

A Mortal Attempt on the Life of Doctor Saeed Ahmad

On July 15, 1973 Doctor Saeed Ahmad was to travel to Debgaran to participate in the wedding reception of his close relative, Abdul Salam Aziz. The schedule was for him to arrive in Debgaran at the close of afternoon. But there was an unanticipated delay in his departure from Abbottabad. As a result, he put aside his plan to use the route from Mansehra to Debgaran, and instead chose an alternate route. The alternate route—the longer one in terms of absolute distance—was faster to traverse by foot, and enabled Doctor Saeed Ahmad to join the wedding reception in time. His choosing the alternate route was guided by the All-knowing God as part of a subtle Divine plan, causing the devious plan of mischief-makers to be ground into dust: The plan which those mischief-makers had made was to attack Doctor Saeed Ahmad during his journey by foot, in anticipation of his traversing the route from Mansehra to Debgaran. To that end, they had placed a big boulder along the route, with the intent of rolling it onto the path, and thereby gaining the subterfuge to ambush him. But they faced failure when Doctor Saeed Ahmad took the alternate route. 

Finally, during the wedding reception, some well wishers advised him to return to Abbottabad soon because some dubious characters had been seen luring in the area, and there was concern that he might face some danger on the way back.

Events Related to the Rabwah Railway Station—May 22 and May 29, 1974

The anti-Ahmadiyya agitation, smoldering as it had been for a long while, exploded like a volcanic eruption when events at the Rabwah Station unfolded on May 29, 1974. In reality, this event had been deviously orchestrated according to a premeditated plan in order to provoke the public, and to expand the scope of this agitation from the local to the national level. 

This incident came to pass as a result of the incendiary behavior of a group of individuals from Nishtar Medical College. That group was traveling by train from Multan to Peshawar, with a stopover at the Rabwah Railway Station. On May 22, 1974, all the while that the train remained stationed there, those students yelled incendiary statements and engaged in unbecoming conduct. But the local Ahmadis maintained their forbearance, exercised self-discipline, and avoided the lure of the provocations. As the train began to leave the station, the students taunted threateningly that they would be back in a week to see what the Mirzais could do to them.

On returning to Rabwah Station on May 29, 1974, those students engaged in provocative and incendiary yelling, the intensity of which far exceeded that of their outbursts and taunts during their stopover there a week ago. This provoked a few Ahmadi youth, and an argument took place, which led to fisticuffs. Some of the Nishtar Medical College students sustained minor injuries. After half an hour, when the train arrived in Faisalabad, a large crowd had already gathered to welcome those students. A tent had been pitched in the area to welcome them. Speeches were delivered—greatly exaggerating the actual facts on the ground, and making it seem as if those students had been tormented during their stopover at the Rabwah Station—and suffice it to say, the inflammatory speeches were geared toward provoking the population, to adding fuel to the fire of the trouble that the sought to set ablaze. The very following day, that is, on May 30, 1974, all newspapers carried stories that were nothing more than figments of the imagination, greatly exaggerating the incident in Rabwah Station the previous day. The newspapers succeeded in making a mountain out of a molehill such that the entire country got swept up in the raging flames of anti-Ahmadiyya sentiment on a large scale, paving the way for the opposition to pursue their agenda of oppressing the Ahmadis. The mischief makers in various locations in the Punjab and Frontier provinces took this incident as their subterfuge and nothing short of a present that had been put in their laps, galvanizing their activities, leading directly to the spread of trouble, with a sharp uptick in the murder and looting of Ahmadis.

Forcible Seizure of the Mosque in Murree Belonging to the Ahmadiyya Movement

An incensed mob attacked the mosque of the Ahmadiyya Movement chapter based in Murree. The Ahmadi imam of the mosque, Maulvi Abdur Rahman, was all alone at that time. He was forced to let go of the mosque. Barely escaping with his life, he got refuge in the Bright Land Hotel in the guardianship of Shaikh Rasheed Ahmad of Sialkot. Following the forcible takeover of the mosque, the aggrandizers affixed to the facade of the mosque a plaque bearing the words Khatm-e-Nabuwwat Mosque (i.e. “The Finality of Prophethood Mosque”.) After two days, Maulvi Abdur Rahman went and met Doctor Saeed Ahmad, relating his grievous experience. Ruqqiyya Aziz writes as follows:

The arson and forcible seizure of the Ahmadiyya Mosque in Murree during the nationwide turmoil in 1974 was intensely painful. Our father, Maulvi Abdur Rahman, who was the designated imam of the mosque during those days. We learned the details of the episode directly from him. The individual delivering the Friday sermon at the central mosque in Murree had delivered a fiery sermon, provoking and roiling the youth in particular. As a result, the very next morning, around 10:00 AM, a roiled crowd laid siege to our mosque. Our father was in his residence, which is located in the apartment right below the mosque, unawares and reading the newspaper when he heard sky-piercing yells which were laden with despicable words. And then they started pelting the mosque with stones. The mob surrounded the mosque from all four sides, and, after dousing the area with liquid petroleum gas, they set the place afire. Our father partially lost consciousness. A kind-hearted SHO (Station House Officer) brought him safely out of the flames and sparks. Allah, in His special Mercy and Power, guarded our father safe in that he emerged completely unscathed from that blaze. The SHO then took him to the Bright Land Hotel whose owners come from an Ahmadi family of Sialkot.

Thus, our mosque was seized by them and turned into a vacant ruin. All of Maulvi Abdur Rahman’s valuable belongings were looted. To this day, this mosque remains in the hands of the opposing party.

Township of Topi in the Mardan District

During the final days in the month of May 1974 in the Township of Topi, the acts of arson, murder, and looting of Ahmadis that took place—a chain of tormenting events—made one’s soul tremble. Some Ahmadis fled from Topi and took refuge in Abbottabad, and were able to live to relate their eyewitness accounts.

Events Related to Peshawar University

Immediately after the horrifying events in Toppi—events that made one’s soul quiver—Peshawar University was engulfed by massive disturbances in the final week of the month of May, 1974. The belongings of all Ahmadiyya Movement students and instructors were burned and reduced to ashes. One such Ahmadi student was Doctor Saeed Ahmad’s youngest son, Zahid Saeed, who was a fourth year student in the medical school of Peshawar University. Another Ahmadi student was Mohammad Saleh, a close relative, and yet another was Saqib Mumtaz, who was the grandson of Ghulam Rabbani Khan, and they were students in other departments of Peshawar University. Their belongings were destroyed, no doubt, but they themselves were spared any kind of harm, thanks to the intervention of certain noble individuals. 

Zahid Saeed used to participate in the extracurricular activities, and in particular was actively involved in the electoral process of the student body. Although he himself never sought any position in the student body, he was exceptionally active in canvassing for friends, which was hard for the opposition to swallow. For that reason, they resented Zahid Saeed. And when the time of tribulation arrived, it was his friends who came to his rescue: As soon as his friends became aware of the plans of the mischief makers—that just prior to 10:00 PM was the time designated by the mischief makers to cause harm to Zahid Saeed—his friends safely took him out of the university campus. He spent that night at the home of a friend in University Town. The following night he spent at the home of Doctor Abdul Aziz, and then, sensing danger there, he remained in hiding at the residences of other benefactors. All the while, the mischief makers who sought to do harm to him were scouring the area in his search. An entire week passed, with Zahid Saeed hiding in one place and then in another. Finally, during the night between June 7 and June 8, two of his good friends entrusted him and his cousin Mohammed Saleh to Doctor Saeed Ahmad, thereby fulfilling their vow of faithfulness to friends. May Allah grant them a great reward.

On the night that Zahid Saeed exited the campus of Peshawar University, the mischief makers—following their evil plan to inflict harm on him—descended on the dormitories of the university, and launched an attack on Zahid Saeed’s room. Not finding him there, they set fire to all his belongings, including his books. In addition to his own books, Zahid Saeed had in his room at that time many books that he had borrowed from his campus library. Later, in order to obtain a certificate for Zahid Saeed from Peshawar University, Doctor Saeed Ahmad had to pay a substantial amount of money to compensate for the destroyed textbooks that were on loan to his son.

The Arrival in Abbottabad of students from Peshawar University

Peshawar University was shut down for an undetermined period of time because of the  disruptive events that had taken place. Orders were issued for the students to vacate the campus. As a result, all students returned to their homes. But wherever they went, the troublemakers added fuel to the fire. Thus, when those students who hailed from Hazara, and in particular five or six fiery and silver-tongued students—now finding themselves in their hometown—arrived in Abbottabad, the fire of agitation against the Ahmadis, which had been kindling all along in that region, now burst unbridled into flames. Vitriolic and incendiary speeches began spewing forth from the loudspeakers of mosques, like molten lava being disgorged by a volcano. And those very students were significantly involved in the events that  subsequently took place in Abbottabad.

The Stationing of Police Guards at Dar-us-Saeed

In view of the spreading turmoil in Abbottabad, a police guard consisting of a dozen or so policemen—under the leadership of an Assistant Sub Inspector—was stationed outside Dar-us-Saeed. The responsibility for attending to those guards’ dining needs and looking after in general was given over to Doctor Saeed Ahmad.

Convention in Abbottabad, and Rain—June 7, 1974

A massive convention was held on June 7, 1974 at the Company Bagh in Abbottabad on a Friday during which a resolution was passed whereby a crowd of unprecedented proportions would gather in Abbottabad after four days, with the specific purpose of killing off all Ahmadis. That, the resolution further asserted, after the designated day—June 11, 1974—not even a single Ahmadi would be left alive in Hazara. And that, immediately after the closure of that planned convention of epic proportions, a crowd would go marching forth, with the specific intent of creating turmoil and dissension. However, an unexpected and tumultuous stormy downpour put the convention into a state of disarray. People scattered like moths, and the danger of the day was postponed.

Safeguarding Measures From the Government

On the day following that initial convention, a regiment of the Frontier Constabulary—it consisted of Shiite Pathans from the Kurram region—was stationed at Dar-us-Saeed for the protection of its residents. The previously positioned police guard was stationed at the upper level of the medical clinic of Dar-us-Saeed, whereas the Constabulary Regiment was positioned near the mosque, near the garage, and in the veranda of Ahmad Sadiq’s house. Doctor Saeed Ahmad deemed the constabulary individuals as more reliable in comparison to the policemen, so he suggested that they—the constabulary—ought to be stationed outside the clinic, as well as in the veranda of his house. However, the officer in charge disagreed with Doctor Saeed Ahmad, whereupon he fell silent. Subsequent events proved that had Doctor Saeed Ahmad’s suggestion been taken up and acted upon, the outcome and the arc of events would have likely been different.

Convention in Mansehra—June 8, 1974

Following the events in Abbottabad, a convention was scheduled to take place in Mansehra. As such, on June 8, 1974, which was a Saturday, a massive crowd assembled in Mansehra. The speakers, in delivering their fiery speeches—consisting of baseless claims and devoid of facts—provoked the people to a feverish pitch until they had reached a frenzy, and became hell-bent on carrying out acts of murderous intentions. Similar conventions were held at other locations in Hazara, and the population was persuaded to participate in the complete eradication of Ahmadis and thereby to receive “spiritual rewards.”

Ominous Situation in Abbottabad, and Doctor Saeed Ahmad’s Peace of Mind and Reliance on Allah

At the top of the evildoers’ list was the destruction of the life and property of Doctor Saeed Ahmad. The destruction of the property of other Ahmadis and the forcible occupation of the mosque was the next step in the plan. Needless to say, the situation was becoming increasingly perilous with the passage of every minute. 

In that tense time, Doctor Saeed Ahmad’s son, Abdulla Saeed—he was the commandant at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul—remained in constant touch with the officials as well as with organizations which were responsible for maintaining peace. He was partially satisfied by the false assurances of the aforesaid individuals. But Doctor Saeed Ahmad was not convinced that things would turn out according to the promises being made by those officials: Telltale signs of the impending danger were swirling all around. But even during those days of fear and distress, his conduct did not show any signs of unease. There was no change to his daily routines. Attending his patients in the clinic according to routine, coming and going to the mosque, everything remained the same. In fact, just three days before June 11, 1974—the day designated for the gathering of a crowd of unprecedented proportions for the explicit purpose of organizing and going about killing off all Ahmadis—Doctor Saeed Ahmad went to Debgaran with his son-in-law Abdur Rahman Baig, without taking any safety precautions. He took care of some essential matters in Debgaran, and then in the evening, he returned to Abbottabad with his senior wife (the mother of Abdul Hayee Saeed) and his aunt (the mother of Abdur Rahman.)

Doctor Saeed Ahmad’s peace of mind and reliance on God was such that when his son Abdulla Saeed was traveling to Peshawar along with his family to participate in a function—they all would thus be away on June 8 and June 9—Doctor Saeed Ahmad said only this much to him that he should try to return soon. However, he did not forbid him from traveling. Many such events continued to emerge, ones which decidedly reflected his peace of mind and his complete reliance on Allah. One of them is captured by way of a narrative by Abdul Aziz Janangiri, who had presented the following excerpt to his friend Mohammad Anwar. Abdul Aziz Janangiri wrote:

A notorious crook once approached me in a shop, indicating that he had some business with me, and that he wanted to go outside and privately speak with me. At first, I felt unsettled, wondering what business this crook might have to do with me. Nonetheless, out of the sense of justice, I stepped outside the shop. After that man and I had walked a short distance, he told me that, since he was a man of ill repute, he had been unable to summon the courage to approach a great individual like Doctor Saeed Ahmad. And that was why he had chosen me as the courier for a message. He told me that some maulvis (i.e. religious clerics) with mottled beards had put together a plan to murder him. Even for a sinner like himself, the crook went on to say, his conscience recoiled at the thought of the murder of an individual whose very existence was a source of mercy for humanity, a jewel who assiduously remained engaged in attending to the plight of humanity. That was why he wanted me to ask Doctor Saeed Ahmad on his behalf to attend to his personal safety. And that he had come to Mansehra explicitly for this purpose because he did not know of any other Ahmadis through whom he could convey the message to Doctor Saeed Ahmad. After that, and by way of foul language, the crook vented his views on those aforesaid, unscrupulous maulvis [who sought to murder Doctor Saeed Ahmad] and then parted ways with me. I immediately sought out Doctor Mohammad Deen, and requested him to convey the message to the gracious and honorable doctor [Doctor Saeed Ahmad] whenever he next traveled to Abbottabad. Two or three days later, when I happened to be visiting Abbottabad and—completely by coincidence—I saw the honorable doctor, standing next to a watchmaker in a shop. I approached him. Although I could not hear the words of the watchmaker in their entirety, I got the sense that he, too, was urging Doctor Saeed Ahmad to take precautionary measures for his personal safety. In response, the honorable doctor simply said that he had complete faith in Allah, and he believed that matters of life and death were in the Hands of the Divine Creator; that humans cannot take shelter from death anywhere. Hearing those words from Doctor Saeed Ahmad, I could no longer summon the courage to convey the message—the one I had vouchsafed to convey to him—to take safety precautions. So I simply offered salutations to Doctor Saeed Ahmad, following which we parted ways.

What superior demonstration of placing complete trust in and reliance on Allah can there be than the aforesaid example—a time when plans of his murder were swirling all around—and there he was, all alone in the bazaar, tending to the decidedly minor task of getting his watch repaired.

What follows is an excerpt from Doctor Saeed Ahmad’s writing:

Abdul Aziz is the son of the deceased lawyer Abdul Quyyum, and is the owner of the store Jahangir Medical Hall in Mansehra. He is now an émigré in Rawalpindi, and is a steadfast Ahmadi. He sent a letter to me, indicating an incident—one which has been mentioned earlier—concerning a notorious crook…. This aspect of his character is remarkable. O Allah! Grant him Your protection.

Note: That individual was murdered soon after the events of 1974.

A Letter from a Distinguished Citizen, Addressed to Brigadier Abdulla Saeed

The message in a letter from a distinguished lawyer in Rawalpindi, addressed to Brigadier Abdulla, suffices to put in sharp relief the hateful and vengeance-laden plotting and scheming of the opponents. That scrupulous individual—the aforesaid lawyer—alerted Brigadier Abdulla that an intense attack on the residence of Doctor Saeed Ahmad was imminent. And that in preparation of the attack, the criminal element had acquired arms through the payment of a substantial sum of money, with the intent of ending the lives of all notable Mirzais in Abbottabad. After identifying the criminals by name, one by one, the honorable lawyer advised seeking recourse to the police, and having them raid those named individuals. 

However, instead of placing trust in worldly guardians, the father and son—Doctor Saeed Ahmad and Brigadier Abdulla Saeed—decided that it was preferable to place the charge of all their matters in the trust of the Almighty, the Protector and the Helper.

Notification by and Advice from Babu Mohammad Ayyub

What follows is an excerpt from the writing of Doctor Saeed Ahmad:

According to my routine, I remained engaged all day with work at my medical clinic. I also attended to and examined patients. Everyone was aware of the gathering storm [of opposition.] All my staff, too, were aware of it all. I doubt if there is any resident of Abbottabad, who hadn’t, at one time or another, gotten to know me. But it is strange that not even a single individual made mention to me of the looming danger. Only my assistant, Babu Mohammad Ayyub of Bugra approached me when I was alone—this was three days prior to the episode—and said that the intentions of people toward us, and in particular toward me, were not good. And he advised me that my family and I should go to Kakul and stay there with my son Abdulla Saeed for the duration of that night. I cannot ignore the well wishes and noble sentiment of this youth, even though my mind did not accept his suggestion at that time.

Events of June 10, 1974—Notification by Doctor Mohammad Deen

On June 10, 1974, while Doctor Saeed Ahmad was tending to and examining his patients, an Ahmadi based in Mansehra—Doctor Mohammad Deen—spoke with him over the telephone, advising him to take special precautions for his safety; that he had heard in Mansehra that someone, pretending to be a patient, would approach him and attempt his murder. Doctor Saeed Ahmad simply replied to him: “The life of a doctor is always an endangered one. Nonetheless, I ask you to pray for me. And I will take precautions as much as possible.”

An Event Related by Arjumand Sadiq

Arjumand Sadiq related an event to Doctor Saeed Ahmad as follows. During the time when Arjumand Sadiq was present in the Prime Minister House in Islamabad—as a budget assistant employee—he was engaged in a conversation with someone when that individual learned that he was a close relative of Doctor Saeed Ahmad. Thereupon, he said to Arjumand Sadiq:

Tomorrow, on June 11, 1974, a big event is going to take place in Abbottabad. A large crowd will assemble, the size of which would be unprecedented in the history of Hazara. Their biggest goals would be nothing less than uprooting the Ahmadiyya Movement from the area, and to murder Doctor Saeed Ahmad. You are a relative of Doctor Saeed Ahmad [and I urge you that if it is at all possible], you should notify him today that he should save his life if he can.

Arjumand Sadiq relates that he tirelessly attempted to contact them by telephone—first Doctor Saeed Ahmad in Dar-us-Saeed, and then Abdulla Saeed in Kakul. But he had no success in the matter. Despite his giving reference to being associated with the Prime Minister House, the telephone operators did not cooperate, and as a result he was unable to do anything in the matter.

Strange Conduct of the City’s Residents

Even though the public was well aware of everything, nobody said anything to him in the matter of the trouble that was brewing. All the same, certain telltale incidents revealed that people were in fact aware.

The wife of a distinguished politician had at one time entrusted a container for safekeeping in Dar-us-Saeed, the name of Doctor Saeed Ahmad’s residence. She would often come and either add some item to the container, or take something out of it. But many years had passed since she last came to Dar-us-Saeed in that connection. Two days before the episode—the ordeal of June 11, 1974—her daughter arrived at Dar-us-Saeed in a state of confusion, saying that she had come to take the container back with her because they were going to their village. Put another way, they were taking their valuable belongings that they had been left for safeguarding, in view of the evolving situation: They were aware of the situation. Later, a member of their household related that they had indeed gone to the village that very day, because according to them: “They could not bear to see with their own eyes the sight of Doctor Saeed Ahmad being burned down.”

The other incident involves the daughter of one of Doctor Saeed Ahmad’s classmates, who was also a long-standing friend. On the eve of the ordeal of June 11, 1974, she came to Dar-us-Saeed after his clinic hours had ended, seeking a prescription for her aunt. She was in a state of agitation, and spoke incoherently. Doctor Saeed Ahmad writes:

One thing that slipped from her tongue was as follows: “O Allah! That bullet which is to hit Doctor Saeed Ahmad should hit me instead of him.” This statement of hers as well as some of her other statements were telltale signs of the thoughts and sentiments that were going through her mind. It seemed as if she had come to my clinic to get my final medical advice for her aunt because she was visualizing my tragic end.

Safeguarding Tape Recordings of Holy Quran and Important Documents

Abdulla was in Peshawar to attend a function. When he return to Abbottabad on June 10, 1974, Doctor Saeed Ahmad placed in the trunk of his car a small chest which contained important documents as well as the tape recordings of the recitation of the Holy Quran, along with the tape recorder itself, instructing Abdulla to take it with him to Kakul.

Doctor Saeed Ahmad writes:

From this extraordinary measure of mine—this being the first time he had ever seen me take such a measure—Abdulla [Saeed] sensed that something significant was going on in my mind. That, in fact, is an impression that Abdulla [Saeed] himself later shared with me.

Noble Atmosphere of the Mosque on the Evening of June 10, 1974

What follows is an excerpt from Doctor Saeed Ahmad’s writings:

On the evening of June 10, 1974, nearly all members of the Ahmadiyya Movement’s chapter in Abbottabad—men and women, the young and the old—were present for the congregational prayer. In addition to members of my household, also present, along with their families, were Professor Khalil-ur-Rahman, Ahmad Sadiq, Bashir Ahmad, Qazi Abdul Ahad, Mohammad Zaman, Asghar Ali. Moreover, Mustafa Kamal Hydal from Trinidad and Safura Hameed from Guyana were also present. The majestic atmosphere was strange. Usually, we would read some portions from the Holy Quran and the Hadith, as well as from the mulfuzaat [i.e. the sayings of the Promised Messiah.] And then we would perform the Isha prayer. That was our routine. It was only on the evenings of Fridays that there would be no discourse such as the aforesaid ones. Following the Maghrib prayer today, a request was received from the worshippers in the mosque’s upper section—the one reserved for women—that instead of the usual lectures, we read the Holy Quran collectively. It was later learned that this suggestion was made by Rashida, daughter of Mohammad Zaman. In fulfilling the request, copies of the [various] Quranic sections were distributed among the attendees and Quranic recitations commenced. Allah Alone knows and sees the matters of the heart. The night passed. As usual, the times of the tahujjud [i.e. the “night prayer”, being a voluntary prayer] and the Fajr prayer came and went. Whatever prayers came to mind, were offered.

Attack on Dar-us-Saeed—June 11, 1974

ؕتَبٰرَكَ الَّذِیْ بِیَدِهِ الْمُلْك وَ هُوَ عَلٰی كُلِّ شَیْءٍ قَدِیْرُۙ۝۱ ِ۟الَّذِیْ خَلَقَ الْمَوْتَ وَ الْحَیٰوةَ لِیَبْلُوَكُمْ اَیُّكُمْ اَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا ؕ وَ هُوَ الْعَزِیْزُ الْغَفُوْرُۙ۝

Blessed is He in Whose hand is the Kingdom, and He is Possessor of power over all things. Who created death and life that He might try you—which of you is best in deeds.  And He is the Mighty, the Forgiving (Holy Quran—67:1-2)

The golden rays of the sun that rose on June 11, 1974 brought with them messages of hope and of light as they shone on the flower-laden valleys of Hazara. But those same rays carried the sinister messages of impending darkness and of a horrifying storm brewing for members of the Ahmadiyya Movement, one from whose wrath these unarmed individuals had neither the wherewithal nor any plan or helper to escape. On the one hand, the mob was laden with firearms, dynamite, and other explosives and weapons wielded by the tens of thousands in their ranks. And on the other hand were a few humble individuals who were beseeching Allah with pleas:

O Allah, for the sake of Ahmadiyyat, for the sake of your Holy Prophet and of the Promised Messiah, do please protect us. There is none other than You Who can save us. We entrust unto you our lives, our belongings, and our very faith.

The torrent of devilish people was surging forth from all quarters, and spreading throughout the alleys and bazaars of Abbottabad. The tragic event that was about to take place that day, one that would etch an unforgettable chapter onto the history of the Ahmadiyya Movement, was one in which—through which—the sterling conduct of a few souls entered the history books.

دوسرے منگل کے دِن آیا تھا ایسا زلزلہ

جس سے اک محشر کا عالم تھا بصد شور و پکار

On the second Tuesday came such an earthquake;

Whose human cry created an atmosphere wrought with clamor and pleas

The above mentioned verses of rhyme by the Promised Messiah—containing a reference to a fateful Tuesday—have, in recent years, been interpreted as the fulfillment of a prophecy wherefore the towering buildings of the World Trade Center in New York City were destroyed and wherein many lives were tragically lost. But it would not be an exaggeration to assert that the day of June 11, 1974 was yet another Tuesday, one which beheld a Judgment Day-like atmosphere. 

If the horror of the 9/11 episode occupies a historic place in the international community, then the 6/11 episode is of historic significance in the history of the Ahmadiyya Movement. During the hellish, earthquake-like trembling moments of the latter—the 6/11 episode—the cries of humble individuals reached the Lord of the worlds, the Best of all planners, and He set forth in motion the means for the protection of those individuals. The events which unfolded that day have been captured by Doctor Saeed Ahmad himself, and they appear in the following sections.

Divine Revelation Received by Doctor Saeed Ahmad on the Morning of June 11, 1974, and Preparation

Doctor Saeed Ahmad writes:

It was the morning of June 11, 1974, a Tuesday. The first time that I woke up—or perhaps was about to wake up—the first of the following two Quranic verses was spontaneously on my lips:

ؕتَبٰرَكَ الَّذِیْ بِیَدِهِ الْمُلْك وَ هُوَ عَلٰی كُلِّ شَیْءٍ قَدِیْرُۙ۝۱ ِ۟الَّذِیْ خَلَقَ الْمَوْتَ وَ الْحَیٰوةَ لِیَبْلُوَكُمْ اَیُّكُمْ اَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا ؕ وَ هُوَ الْعَزِیْزُ الْغَفُوْرُۙ۝

Blessed is He in Whose hand is the Kingdom, and He is Possessor of power over all things. Who created death and life that He might try you—which of you is best in deeds. And He is the Mighty, the Forgiving (Holy Quran—67:1-2)

And then on waking up, I read the second of the aforementioned Quranic verses. At that time, the word al-maut [i.e. death, and which appears in the verses above] grated on my state of mind. But immediately after that, the resolve in my heart strengthened. Therefore, once the day had begun—and with the thought that this might be the last day of my life—I intentionally began some preparation: I cleansed my body in every way, with the intent of purifying myself physically. I methodically washed myself in the bath so as to dispel any outward dirt or uncleanliness on myself. Then I dressed myself in the cleanest clothes that were available: A pair of trousers, whose cloth was known as the safufi—it was a popular one, and I had purchased it recently in Karachi at the strong insistence of my daughter, Ayesha, and it was only a few days ago that the purchased cloth had been tailored into a pair of trousers—though I cannot recall with certainty whether I had worn it a time or two since then, I did wear it [the pair of trousers] with great intent, and as part of this preparation. And then I put on a white half-sleeved shirt. After having breakfast, I went to the upper part of the house. It was either Khalil or Ayyub—my clinic assistants—who told me that a handful of patients were waiting for me, and that I should attend to them. Instead of going to my clinic, I attended to these last patients right here in the upper part of my house. Sometimes, when I was unwell, I used a room in that part of the house for this purpose. It was less taxing to do so here.

False Assurances by Officials

Sometime between 11:00 AM, and 12:00 noon, Doctor Saeed Ahmad’s son Abdulla Saeed comforted him over the telephone, saying that he had spoken with officials in the civilian as well and police departments, and they had given him complete assurance that the crowd would gather in the Company Bagh venue in Abbottabad. There, they would perform the Zuhr congregational prayer, following which they would proceed. Marching on from there, from the direction of the Cantonment, they would head for Mansehra Road, and return to Company Bagh and hold a convention, pass a resolution, and then disperse. That they did not intend to either approach the house of Doctor Saeed Ahmad or to enter the city. And that, Abdulla Saeed conveyed to Doctor Saeed Ahmad, the officials were satisfied. God forbid, if the marchers did head for Malikpura—that part of Abbottabad where the residence of Doctor Saeed Ahmad was located—then complete preparations had been made to stop them right there. So there was no need to worry.

Doctor Saeed Ahmad writes:

While Abdulla Saeed may have been completely satisfied, I did not find myself free from apprehension and worry after receiving that news. Nonetheless, around 12:00 noon, I stowed away all my belongings—the various medical instruments which I would use for examining patients—except one stethoscope, which is extremely dear to me, and one which Pasha (Abdul Karim Saeed) had brought for me from New Zealand, and which remains in my active use to this day. I put that [stethoscope] in my briefcase and brought it with me. I could have brought several other things down with me, but I left them there. That was to be my final passage to that part of the house and to that room.

The Zuhr and Asr Prayers in the Mosque

On hearing the call to prayer at 1:00 PM, all members of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Abbottabad gathered in the mosque to perform their Zuhr prayer. Doctor Saeed Ahmad was performing the first four sunnah rakahs, whereas Professor Khalil-ur-Rahman had already done so. On overhearing some conversations coming from the direction of his house next door, Professor Khalil-ur-Rahman stood up and went to that mosque window, the one which overlooked his house. He saw that two officials were having a conversation with the guard commander of the Frontier Constabulary and the policemen who had been stationed there. Since that morning, they had been standing alert and ready to carry out their duties. Professor Khalil-ur-Rahman overheard the Superintendent Inspector introducing the other officer who was accompanying him as the magistrate, and telling them that they were obliged to obey every order issued by the magistrate. The magistrate then asked the guard commander whether they had any club-like sticks. On hearing the answer in the negative, the magistrate instructed them that they were not to use their firearms under any condition.

Naturally, Professor Khalil-ur-Rahman was alarmed upon overhearing that conversation. He told Doctor Saeed Ahmad that the situation was not looking good and that the instructions issued by the magistrate were all too telling. Doctor Saeed Ahmad remained quiet, and on approaching the window, he saw those officials leaving and, on reaching Jail Road, heading in the direction of the city.

Before starting the congregational prayer, he said to the members of his congregation: “We will combine the Asr prayer [with the Zuhr prayer.] Who knows whether we will have the opportunity to perform the second prayer [i.e. the Asr prayer] or not.”

Doctor Saeed Ahmad writes as follows:

As to the depths from which those words emerged from my lips, and the sentiments which they bore, all that is permanently etched in my memory. On completing our prayers, we beseeched Allah and reminded ourselves to place our trust in Him. And that we should return to our houses. I, too, returned to my house.

Professor Khalil-ur-Rahman has recounted this incident as follows:

Our reliance was solely on Allah. After performing our combined Zuhr and Asr prayers, we bid farewell to one another, acutely aware of the fact that we might not meet one another again in this life. After that, we went and bunkered down in our houses—fearful and hopeful at the same time—awaiting the onslaught of the impending storm that was gathering. (—Autobiography of Professor Khalil-ur-Rahman)

Ahmadi Families in Dar-us-Saeed

It was approximately 2:00 PM. Doctor Saeed Ahmad and the members of his household had barely finished their lunch when, one after another, women, and children from several Ahmadi households began entering Dar-us-Saeed, while the men began to gather in the mosque. Neither any planning nor any consultation had been done in this regard. But considering Dar-us-Saeed as a sanctuary, all women and children assembled inside that abode. The members of Professor Khalil-ur-Rahman’s household remained in their house, situated right next door as it was. Kamal Heydel, a student from abroad, was present in one of the guest rooms in the mosque.

Arson of Jamal Building in (Sadr Bazaar, Abbottabad)

It was approximately 2:15 PM when that Ehsan, the son of the Ahmadi missionary in Multan, Maulvi Muhammad Ali, updated Doctor Saeed Ahmad via telephone exchange that Jamal Building had been set on fire, and that a large crowd—one extremely agitated, and in a state of fury—was milling all around, and had created a war-like atmosphere. So there were 12 shops in Jamal Building, one hotel, a café, an inn plus numerous apartments in the upper level. Among those shops were the medical stores of three Ahmadis: Master Asghar Ali, Ahmad Sadiq, Illahi Baksh. And it was their medical stores that had been the crowd’s perverted motivation for arsoning that building.

Consultation with Colonel Feroze Alam Khan and his Arrival in Dar-us-Saeed

On learning about the arson of Jamal Building, Doctor Saeed Ahmad called his son-in-law Feroze Alam Khan over the telephone to seek his advice on the course of action, should his residence, Dar-us-Saeed, be attacked. Other than this call to seek advice, nothing more came to his mind. He had barely begun his conversation when Feroze Alam Khan replied: “I am having a meal, I will be right over.” On hearing this, Doctor Saeed Ahmad grew silent. Not more than a few minutes had passed when Feroze Alam Khan arrived at Dar-us-Saeed, saying that he would stay with them till the evening. Doctor Saeed Ahmad repeatedly insisted that Feroze Alam Khan should return to his home and not leave his family alone. But Feroze Alam Khan comforted him, saying that an army friend of his, along with his own family, was with Feroze Alam Khan’s family as guests, so there was no need to worry. On hearing this, Doctor Saeed Ahmad grew silent.

Arrival of the Mob and Their Onslaught on Dar-us-Saeed

What follows is an excerpt from the writing of Doctor Saeed Ahmad:

It would have been approximately 2:45 PM. Only a few minutes had passed when we began hearing the yelling and chanting of people. The air soon began to fill with calamitous noise—apocalyptic, really—which continued to grow, moment by moment. And then the noise of vandalizing and wrecking became audible. I picked up the landline telephone, with the intent of calling Abdulla [Saeed.] But my telephone line was dead. (Later, Ehsan— he is the son of the Ahmadi missionary in Multan, Maulvi Muhammad Ali—told us that he had tried to call us through the telephone exchange, and that the operator, who was a friend of his, had confided that the deputy commissioner himself had given them instructions that our telephone line should be cut off. Eshan has related this.) At that moment, the thought crossed my mind that my senior wife, the mother of Abdul Hayee Saeed, was present in that part of the house where the mob had made an attack. Feroze Alam Khan ran up the stairs—the ones which allowed a passage from the lower yard to the upper level—and with great swiftness he safely brought her downstairs. She had not been able to fully comprehend the rapidly evolving danger of the situation. Meanwhile, the student guest in our home who had come to seek religious missionary education—Safura from Guyana—had until that moment been asleep in one of the rooms in the western area of our home. My junior wife, the mother of Mohammad Saeed, ran and woke Safura up, making her aware of the danger, and brought her safely along with her. All these women and children were gathered in the farthest rooms of the mezzanine of our house.

Officially-stationed Guardians Themselves Open the Gate for the Barbarians

The barbaric mob set afire the upper level of our house as well as our two storey medical building. Feroze Alam Khan—when he had run up the flight of stairs to bring downstairs with him the mother of Abdul Hayee [Saeed]—had caught a glance through the door, or perhaps through the windows,and saw that the attackers milling outside were engaged in breaking the lower door with hammers, axes, spades, etc. But the assistant sub inspector, who was in charge of the police guard, and who had been stationed inside the gate, in the room inside the garage, ran out and personally opened the gate for the mob. It was thus that the mob surged into the yard of our house.

Distress of Women and Children, and Prayers

When the sounds of yelling from the wicked mob grew—and the clamor of their vandalizing activities besides—the distress among our women and children began to grow. My junior wife, the mother of Mohammad [Saeed], was, in her anger, yelling at her maid servant, Sarwar Jan, asking her to refrain from some activity or the other. I urged everyone to remain quiet, and to stay calm. After that, the gathered women and children began bowing down before Allah, beseeching Him for help. A series of prayers commenced with great intent and a hushed silence befell them all, one which continued through till the end. From among them, a solitary woman or two would occasionally come to the veranda or to the yard.

The location and structure of our house is such that the upper portion of the house—regardless of what may be happening along its side and at the street level—nothing could be seen from that vantage point. And neither could any human form or face be espied either. And nor could anybody’s eyes glance in from outside and into that portion of our house, where the women and children were gathered in the larger portion of the yard. Our maid servant, Sarwar Jan, is a markedly brave and daring woman. For the greater duration of the time, she could be seen running to and fro in the yard and in the veranda. She would repeatedly attempt to glance outside from the corner in the yard to see what was happening outside. And that was what had evidently provoked the mother of Muhammad Saeed to scold Sarwar Jan. Safura, with a copy of the Holy Quran in her hand, repeatedly emerged into the veranda and yard, beckoning to me with the words, “Aba, Aba,” raising her hands up in prayer. Her following words echo in my ears to this day: “O Allah! Save us for the sake of your Promised Messiah.”

Allah was listening to these prayers of this distressed child, Safura, as well as to those of many other distressed women, as well as to the wailing prayers of the children. I later learned that some children—boys and girls—had fallen into prostration in the inner room, remaining in that state for how long, nobody really knows. Some women had become engaged in reading the Holy Quran. I am not an eyewitness to this description: Because, though I came to the veranda several times, I never glanced inside the room. And there was no need for that besides.

Presence of Some Nominal Firearms in Dar-us-Saeed

In Doctor Saeed Ahmad’s own words:

As soon as we sensed that our home was under attack, Feroze Alam Khan asked me for the first time if any firearms were present in the house. I replied in the affirmative. And it probably did not take me more than five minutes to bring the firearm and put it before him. The matter of these firearms is a strange one. And it bears testimony to the great strength of Allah’s planning. When Allah intends something, and when His dealings with someone are accompanied by His grace, then He arranges for events to unfold in a way that reflects His assistance and His Protection.

The story of those firearms is briefly like this. At the beginning of my employment—this would have been the year 1926—I had purchased a two barrel shotgun. I rarely got the opportunity to hunt. In 1930, or perhaps it was 1931, when I was convalescing from an extended illness, I had fired upon a pair of doves perched inside a tall tree. (In those days—to convalesce—I used to live in a jungle near the top of the hill in Bheengra.) One of the doves fell from that tree and into the nearby ditch, tumbling down, while the other [one of the pair] flew away. In that way, I came away, empty-handed. It was the time following the Asr prayer. The impression of that spectacle left such an indelible impression on me that I vowed to never again fire on an animal by way of hunting, a covenant that I kept throughout my life. In 1929, while in Peshawar, I purchased a pistol. Later, I exchanged that pistol for a smaller one that  was of 38 caliber. The previous one—being of 45 caliber—had been much heavier. I purchased a three nought three rifle at the time of Pakistan’s formation, when interest in firearms was widespread. A friend had told me that a rifle was on sale at a nominal price. So I went ahead with the purchase. Now it is essential to learn the proper technique of using firearms. However, I did not have any special interest in it. So these items remained scattered around my house, and I did not even remember which item was located where. Then, in 1968, when martial law was enforced during the time of [General] Muhammad Yahya, orders were issued for the collection of firearms. At that time, and after much effort, those firearms and cartridges, etc. [in my house] were gathered in one place. A handful of boxes containing cartridges and bullets for the rifle—numbering no more than two dozen—were present. All those items lay packed in a box at the time. I had affixed a label to the firearm in the box and had it submitted in the police office. After two days, when those items were returned to me, I had placed them in an almirah in my bedroom. This room was nearby. Merely a door was in between. I retrieved all that [i.e. the packed-away box] in a matter of minutes because I remembered exactly where they were. Today, then, was the day for the use of those firearms, destined as such by Allah, the Knower of the Unseen.

This, then, was the circumscribed universe of our weapons. And the man whom Allah had chosen to put them to use was my son-in-law, lieutenant colonel Feroze Alam Khan, an upright soul, a man of demonstrably high models, and a scrupulous individual.

Introduction to Feroze Alam Khan

Doctor Saeed Ahmad writes as follows:

Feroze Alam Khan is a member of an upright Pathan family from Allahabad in India. His six brothers—all of them served in the armed forces that are the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force—and, like him, served Pakistan in the War of 1965. They won medals and various other honors, which serve to acknowledge their having served the nation with valor and with daring. Feroze Alam Khan himself had participated in the Wars of 1965 and 1971. In 1971, he was the commander of the battalion which had made incursions into The Jhamb region of Kashmir. This region remains a part of Pakistan to this day, and is now known as Iftekharabad.

Allah had chosen Feroze Alam Khan for the honor—one to be granted to him in the heavens—which would become his for defending and protecting helpless and beleaguered individuals on June 11, 1974, an act of righteous valor during which he himself sustained a severe injury. He was in the company of individuals whose destruction it was that a mob was bent upon simply because—acting on God‘s directive to be with the truthful ones—these individuals had committed the “crime,” as it were, of choosing to associate themselves with Allah’s appointed leader. That, and that alone, was “their crime.”

Note: Two of Feroze Alam Khan’s brothers achieved martyrdom prior to 1971 while performing their military duties. In this way, all nine brothers—including Feroze Alam Khan—were professionally associated with the land,sea, and air forces.

Feroze Alam Khan’s Military Tactics and the Defense of Dar-us-Saeed

Doctor Saeed Ahmad writes as follows:

The destruction of the upper section of the house and the clinic buildings, as well as the smoke and fire, were the backdrop for the yelling of the mob that was falling on our ears. As for the lower section of the house—the one in which we were confined and sequestered—the mob was seeking to set it afire, hurling flammable material into the lower yard, and at the same time trying to barge into the area itself. In the northern section of this portion of the house, Feroze Alam Khan was all alone, defending us by his use of the firearms, being assisted by my youngest son, Zahid Saeed. On being directed by Feroze Alam Khan, he would sometimes fire in that direction with a rifle. There was a high wall in that direction. And it was from the other side of that wall that they were being pelted [by the mob] with stones. And in one section grew a hedge, which consisted of tall and dense trees, as well as bushes along which ran a barbed wire. The mob was attempting to make its way in, all the while hurling abusive language and yelling. Using his knowledge of military strategy, Feroze Alam Khan placed some sacks on the floor, onto which he poured kerosene oil, and thereby started a small fire. In that way, with a fire kindling, a smoke screen was created to give the impression to the mob that this area was already on fire. It was through these strategies of Feroze Alam Khan that Allah provided the means for our protection. Otherwise, had the trouble makers glanced even momentarily, they would have been able to clearly spot us. But we remained in Allah‘s protection through His Great Grace.

Feroze Alam Khan is Injured

The violence level of the mob escalated as they now took up the use of flammable firearms. The walls of Dar-us-Saeed were getting riddled with bullet holes. Many bullets impacted and shattered the windows, bursting inside the room in which I was present. In this rapidly evolving situation, a bullet hit Feroze Alam Khan in his leg—right below his knee—and blood began to flow profusely from that wound. At first, he was laid down in the outer room, where Abdur Rahman Niazi was lodging as a guest. Then I took Feroze Alam Khan into the inner room and applied bandages to his wound. But the profuse bleeding could not be stopped. For a while, Feroze Alam Khan was able to, with great discipline, summon self control, but then physical weakness overwhelmed him. In this way, he became disabled. Meanwhile, the milling mob had receded from that front.

Attack on Dar-us-Saeed Through the Backdoor

After just a little while, the maid servant Sarwar Jan came, shrieking that the mob had broken down the rear door, the one which directly led from the courtyard in the house to the mosque. She said that the mob was on the verge of entering the house proper. Just past that door is a gallery passage—approximately 14 feet in length—including some limited open space where a decidedly weak and decrepit door is located. And that weak and repaired door was all that stood between us and the bloodthirsty mob of thousands. Feroze Alam Khan immediately directed Zahid Saeed to go in that direction, and to fire with his cartridge rifle from the courtyard area. With great swiftness, Zahid Saeed fired two rounds. No sooner had he done so than that surging sea of destructionists quelled immediately. Chaos permeated the violent crowd, and they retreated, running back in a state of confusion. To this day, pock marks from that brief volley of firing [by Zahid Saeed] can be seen in the walls of the passage. That weak and decrepit door remained intact in that very state. At both ends of that passage lies a door each. One leads into the garage, and the other into a room. The destructionists then broke down the door leading into the garage. But they were unable to inflict any further damage. This proved to be their final effort. They were under the firm impression that my son Abdulla Saeed must certainly have stationed a batch of soldiers inside, and who were defending our house. In this way—smitten by the Unseen, by Divine awe—they ran away.

On the one hand, the destructionists lost hope when they were awed by a display of divine working of Allah through the hand of Feroze Alam Khan. And on the other hand—through someone’s leaked identifying information—they turned to the rear door. But when a round or two was fired from that quarter, and perhaps a pellet or two from the scattered fire shot had impacted a few among the mob, they were convinced that the defense was strong, causing them to retreat.

The Display of Courage by a Member of the Frontier Constabulary

Meanwhile, an individual from the Frontier Constabulary—he had been stationed on the rooftop of Professor Khalil-ur-Rahman’s house for merely outward show, and had a sub machine gun mounted near him—Allah worked His working on that individual’s heart in such a way that, without even having received any official directive or permission, he fired two bursts from the machine gun into the air. The noise from those bursts doubtless fell on the ears of those in the mob that was milling below, causing their resolve to weaken.

Right next to Professor Khalil-ur-Rahman’s house and the adjacent mosque was milling a massive crowd, which had unsuccessfully sought to arson his house. Nonetheless, no damage had been done, and the fire did not spread. At that time, those in the mob had not had the opportunity to turn their attention toward the mosque and, with their resolve having weakened, they lost hope. As for the Frontier Constabulary individual who had—of his own volition—fired those two bursts from his machine gun, Professor Khalil-ur-Rahman has explained the background as follows:

The commander of the Frontier Constabulary had stationed one of his men—one armed with a machine gun—atop the second storey of my house, alongside the water tank right there. When that man got thirsty, he came down to request some water to drink, and saw that my wife was cradling in her arms a child—Asim—and walking distraught in the northern yard, crying and beseeching Allah with the words, “O Lord, can You not save us from these tyrants? What is our fault that they are inflicting such wrath upon us?”

Witnessing all this, that man was greatly moved, and addressed my wife and said with great emotion: “Lady, please go inside, those people will be able to get to you only after walking over our dead bodies.” And without so much as taking a sip of water, he returned to his designated post and immediately open-fired in the air, causing the mob to momentarily pause. However, they succeeded in entering one part of the yard. They set fire to the curtains in one of our guest rooms, but members of the Frontier Constabulary immediately put out the fire. Then they—the people in the mob—began getting ready to stack the wooden bed frames one on top of another in the veranda with a view to setting them on fire when the individual stationed atop the roof open-fired in the air, causing the mob to panic and run away.

Attempt by the Mob to set the Mosque on Fire, and Their Being Driven Back

Doctor Saeed Ahmad writes as follows:

Approximately at the same time, when the two rounds of fire from Zahid Saeed‘s gun had caused the mob to change its mind about entering Dar-us-Saeed—effectively giving up the idea of doing so—those who were sequestered inside Dar-us-Saeed heard the firing in the air by the Frontier Constabulary. Following that, the mob withdrew from even that street which was located between Dar-us-Saeed and Professor Khalil-ur-Rahman’s residence.

Approximately at the same time when the mob had attempted to barge into the mosque, with the intention of arsoning and destroying it, a stalwart army man had loudly drawn their attention to the beautiful kalimah which adorned the façade of the mosque. Allah made that army man’s bold announcement so effective that the crowd gave up its sinister plan. Coincidentally, a few moments later, a machine gun burst—fired into the air—took place and created confusion among the mob, and they began to run away. In this way, Allah saved the mosque from coming to harm. All praise is for Allah. Again, all praise for Allah.

What follows is an excerpt from Professor Khalil-ur-Rahman’s writing:

Those people also intended to cause harm to the mosque. But the commander of the Frontier Constabulary stood in front of them and announced: “Look, see the kalimah adorning it? Inside are copies of the Holy Quran. Do you seek to burn the kalimah and the Holy Quran, and to destroy them? I ask that you desist from doing so. Otherwise, we will [be compelled to] carry out our duties.” Seeing the commander’s firm resolve, those people shrank back.

Doctor Saeed Ahmad further writes:

I think that Allah accepted my prayers in connection with the mosque. From our yard, we can see the roof of the mosque as well as its upper level. I would repeatedly come out of my room to glance at it, to find whether it had been set on fire or not. And each time—on finding it intact in its glorious and peaceful state—my heart would be set at rest.

Doctor Saeed Ahmad was sensing that Allah would surely bless those prayers with the honor of acceptance with which they had been offered, right from the time when the specter of danger had been looming. Among those prayers being offered, at the top were those for the safety of the household, and those for the safety of the mosque.

My Prayers

It has been for a while that I have been offering a prayer as part of my routine. The words of the prayer are like so: O Allah, as for the dangerous situation that is going to befall us, if it has been destined by You, then keep our faith intact. And with that, the sketch of a test of faith would fill my visualization: That I am surrounded by enemies who seek to kill me. Along with that, being cognizant of the questioning and answering, a certain resolve would arise in my heart—and consonants with the words of the following Hadith—would often arise: 

وَلَاَنْ اُقْتَلَ فِیْ َسبِیْلِ اﷲِ اَحَبُّ اِلَیَّ مِنْ اَنْ یَّکُوْنَ لِیْ اَھْلُ الْوَبَرِ وَالْمَدَرِ

I prefer being killed in the way of Allah over living in a village or city 

—Sunan Nisai, Chapter Tamani al-Qatl fi Sabeel lillah, Hadith Number 3166)

After praying for the continued sanctity of faith, I would [in the second place] seek in my prayer the honor and continuity of my household members. And in the third place, I would pray for the protection and honor of the Dar-us-Saeed mosque because our opponents were bitter enemies of that mosque. And among all mosques—rather, among all the buildings in the world—the Dar-us-Saeed mosque is especially beloved. In the fourth place, I would say that my worldly possessions and wealth have been granted by You. If You safeguard it, then it would be Your Benevolence. In truth, all these things belong to You.

With that—in that order and with that meaning—I beseeched Allah with regularity for at least two or three years. In addition to my household [members], I included the members of the Ahmadiyya Movement. How can I ever thank Allah that He accepted my humble prayer—I think that He accepted it in its entirety—in that Allah, the Most High manifested the acceptance of this prayer on the day of differentiation with glory. As for the damage to my possessions, when I turn my attention to the acceptance of the greater and remaining part of the prayer, Allah the Most High erased even the grief on account of that loss. This, too, is entirely through His grace. So all praise is for Allah.

What follows is an excerpt from the writing of Professor Khalil-ur-Rahman:

Following the repulsion of the mob, when we went inside to meet Doctor Saeed Ahmad, he asked us only this: “Did the mosque escape injury?“ And on our reply in the affirmative, he said, “All praise to Allah.“He had no sorrow for the loss of the hundreds of thousands of Rupees of his property. If he was happy, it was an account of the mosque having remained intact.

Professor Ijaz Ahmad’s impressions

In the year 1974, Professor Ijaz Ahmad was a young student. But he was an eyewitness to the tragic events that took place involving Dar-us-Saeed. In his article entitled Alhumdulillah, published in the November/December 1997 issue of Paigham-e-Sulah, he writes:

The real target of the thousands in the mob was Doctor Saeed Ahmad. Thousands of ill-intentioned troublemakers—armed with machine guns as well as other firearms—having burned down his medical clinic, then arsoned the upper storey of his house. During that interim, glory be to God, the only individual to sustain injury was his son-in-law Feroze Alam Khan, who sustained a bullet wound, whereas Anwar Ahmad and Doctor Saeed Ahmad’s maidservant Sarwar Jan got hit by pellets from the scattershot fire. Other than that, everyone remained in the protection of Allah. Surrounded by fire, and thousands upon thousands of troublemakers besides, nobody was able to inflict even the slightest damage to them. And during this entire process, the attention of Doctor Saeed Ahmad remained focused on the mosque. Repeatedly, in a loud voice, he would beseech Allah with these words: “O Allah, please keep your house—this mosque—safe.” And through His immense power, Allah not only kept His house [the mosque] safe, He also kept the worshipers safe, being the ones who would gather to remember Him.

The Mob is Pushed Back, and the Arrival of Senior Officials

Doctor Saeed Ahmad writes:

This series of troubles—one which had begun at approximately 2:45 PM—tapered down after 6:00 PM. So there are three quarters below that part of the house in which we had remained besieged. And in front of them is a deep ditch. The attention of the mob had turned to that area as well. However, they had not gone down in that direction. It was impossible to pass through the ditch. It was for that reason that they had not turned in that direction. On the other side of the ditch lies the neighborhood of Dar-ul-Khair. In front of that neighborhood—on the street and in vacant areas—hordes of troublemakers and spectators had gathered. We could see them from our side, through the windows in my bedroom. They were raising a ruckus and yelling as they viewed the spectacle. As the raging fire on our side would bring down the roofs, they could hear the crashing sounds as well as the spark of fire, and would clap their hands in jubilation.

The bleeding from Feroze Alam Khan’s wound had not stopped even by that time. Reduction in bleeding had certainly taken place, but despite my applying bandage after bandage, not much time would pass when fresh patches of blood would emerge through the bandages. It was approximately 6:30 PM when the Deputy Commissioner for Hazara and the Senior Superintendent Police entered my house from the door located in the direction of the mosque and came into our room. They expressed a certain degree of sympathy. I said to them, whatever was going to happen, has happened. Thank you very much. I have only one request, which is to have arrangements made to get Feroze Alam Khan immediately transferred to a hospital because his life was in peril. They said okay. After that, they went outside into the courtyard, and began a discussion among themselves. Much time passed, so I went outside and repeated my request. They responded that they would do so in five minutes. With that, they left the house. The Senior Superintendent Police returned approximately two hours later that evening. However, the Deputy Commissioner was next seen for the first time, after an entire week, in Kakul.

The Arrival in Dar-us-Saeed of a Longstanding Friend

In the words of Doctor Saeed Ahmad:

In the interim, when the aforementioned people had come inside, a long-standing friend, Atai Khan of Battgram—accompanying him was his six year old child—entered my room. He was a former patient of mine and also happened to be the brother-in-law of the well-known magnate, Khan of Alai Mohammad Ayyuub. I was greatly mystified. He immediately expressed immense sympathy with Feroze Alam Khan and began conversing with him in the Pashto language. The thought crossed my mind that perhaps he knew Feroze Alam Khan. Momentarily, leaving the child with us, he [Atai Khan] went outside. The child grew worried and began to cry. After attempting to console him, I also gave him a sweet drink after which he calmed down. Atai Khan returned, and asked me to tell him what service he could render for me. I gave him the telephone number for Abdulla [Saeed], asking him to notify Abdulla [Saeed] of the events that have taken place. Later, I learned that he [Atai Khan] had indeed telephoned him [Abdulla Saeed], although Abdulla [Saeed] had been notified by an official at 4:00 PM about the events that had taken place. I asked Atai Khan whether Khan Alai had also come. He said yes, he was in Abbottabad, and that he had seen him.

پلٹے جو تیر کھا کے کمین گاہ کی طرف

اپنے ہی دوستوں سے ملاقات ہو گئی

On turning in that direction, having been hit by an arrow;

We came to meet—our own friends.

— Hafeez Jalandhari

I learned through a source that he, too, was a leader of the troublemakers. He—Ayyuub Khan—used to get treatment from me not only for himself but also for his family. And only a week ago, he had taken a [medical] prescription written by me. I seldom charged him any fees for my medical services. However, Atai Khan was a big hearted individual, highly intelligent, and sweet in the ways of conversation.

The arrival of Atai Khan in our house in this way—in particular with a small child accompanying him—had been a mystery for Doctor Saeed Ahmad, and one which later on got cleared up as follows: Some individual mentioned to him that the roiled crowd, once its resolve had fizzled away later on. (And the cause of that loss of resolve was the firing that was going on from inside the house from both directions, giving the impression that a batch of army men must be stationed inside by his son, Abdulla Saeed.) At that time, people from the mob were arguing with the officials and insisting that a few of their compatriots—those who had entered the house—had gotten killed. So, they were insisting, they wanted their corpses to be handed over to them. But all attempts by the officials to convince the crowd that the case was otherwise were proving futile. And so it was that Atai Khan—accompanied by his little boy—had come inside Dar-us-Saeed with the idea that if events had transpired as they thought they had, then the treatment that they—Atai Khan and his son—would be given would be acceptable to them.

Therefore, Atai Khan had come inside the house and surveyed. Then, returning outside, he had told the crowd that neither was any of their compatriots being held inside nor had anyone been murdered or their bodies hidden. On the contrary, Atai Khan reported, the situation on the ground was in complete contrast to the conjecture of the crowd: A member of the Dar-us-Saeed household himself had been injured by their firing and was in the throes of life and death. This recounting by Atai Khan, based on his first hand observations, somewhat placated the crowd, and their anger and wrath dissipated. Eventually, the crowd dispersed. And by evening fall, they all had left.

Feroze Alam Khan is Transferred to the Hospital

Soon after the Deputy Commissioner, and the Senior Superintendent Police had left, two officers from the Frontier Force Center—both were personal friends of Feroze Alam Khan—arrived. Also, the Deputy Inspector General Police, Gohar Zaman Khan and his brother, Major Haidar Zaman Khan, also arrived. Gohar Zaman Khan congratulated Zahid Saeed for demonstrating bravery. And on Zahid Saeed’s remarking that their cartridges had all been used up, Gohar Zaman Khan immediately took out a box from his pocket, one containing 100 cartridges. Then, placing those cartridges and his pistol on the table, he said: “Here, this gun and cartridges are yours.”

Doctor Saeed Ahmad made the request that Feroze Alam Khan be taken to the hospital because his life was in danger. Before the Deputy Inspector General could say anything, Major Haidar Zaman Khan said: “Let’s go, brother, let’s bring our Jeep.” Seeing his brother Gohar Zaman Khan in a state of indecision, he said to him: “Don’t worry, I will drive the Jeep.” In the interim, Feroze Alam Khan—as he lay on the portable bed—was brought to the door and helped into the Jeep. After approximately half an hour, Haidar Zaman Khan came back and consoled us with the news that doctors were attending to Feroze Alam Khan’s wound.

Feroze Alam Khan’s Own Recounting

Feroze Alam Khan had given his written account—in the English language—to Doctor Saeed Ahmad, and what follows is an excerpt from it:

In view of potential sectarian violence, the officials had appointed members of the police and Frontier Constabulary to guard Dar-us-Saeed. On June 11, 1974, my father-in-law—Doctor Saeed Ahmad—asked me to come and survey the arrangements made for safeguarding them. Therefore, at approximately 9:00 AM, I went to his residence, and saw the arrangements made by the police and Frontier Constabulary. I also had a conversation with them. The Magistrate and Sub Inspector Police who were designated there gave me all kinds of assurances that the events that were expected that day would be of merely a routine nature, and that there was no danger whatsoever of any kind of loss to lives and property.

In the afternoon, at approximately 2:00 PM, I arrived on foot at Dar-us-Saeed from my house. The Magistrate and Sub Inspector Police repeatedly assured me that there was nothing to worry about, and spoke with markedly comforting talk. I went downstairs into the residence of Doctor Saeed Ahmad and his household. Only a few minutes had passed when we could see smoke rising from a little distance. We learned that Jamal Building had been set on fire. Seeing that, I swiftly went upstairs. The appointed guardians again assured me that nothing of that sort was going to take place here. I began to await the arrival of the crowd, which did indeed arrive in a few moments. I saw that a few individuals were speaking with the police. Soon, the crowd began to pelt that side of the house with a barrage of stones. As I watched, the police opened the gate, the one which served as the main entrance to Dar-us-Saeed. I was amazed, and shocked beside, and naturally became extremely apprehensive. A sea of humans surged inside. The car was hauled out of the garage and set on fire. Then the crowd entered the upper level of the house as well as the medical clinic and began their vandalism, setting fire to the rooms. I came downstairs and having got the available firearms available at home—the three nought three rifle and one 12 caliber double barrel shotgun—I positioned myself at the entrance of that level so I could stop the crowd from that end. In the interim, the Magistrate—along with the stationed police—had vanished from the scene. Two bursts of a light machine gun were fired by the Frontier Constabulary. After that, however, where they went, nobody knows.

By that time, the entire house had been surrounded by the mob. The air was echoing with depraved yells, foul invectives, and threats. And it was being proclaimed that this would be our last day. To stop the crowd from making inroads into the mosque and the medical clinic, I began firing. Those people then sought to set fire to the lower level of the house by soaking sacks and other material with kerosene oil and gasoline, and hurling those soaked sacks downstairs. Nonstop volleys of bullets were being fired by the mob in our direction. With the help of Doctor Saeed Ahmad’s youngest son, Zahid Saeed, I kept them all in check. Suddenly, I sensed that a bullet which someone had fired from a rifle had struck me below my knee. After taking me to the nearest room in this wounded condition, Doctor Saeed Ahmad began looking after me, tending to my wound and applying bandages.

An Excerpt from Brigadier Abdulla’s Writing

On June 11, 1974—the day when the mob put their plan into action—no defensive effort was made by the civil organizations or by the police. Although a police guard had been stationed at many strategically sensitive locations to protect human lives and property, the police remained silent spectators, vacantly standing by the side. The reality is that the guards who were stationed at Doctor Saeed Ahmad’s house—it is situated in Malikpura near the District Jail—had been given clear directions by the Magistrate and Assistant Sub Inspector who were present on the scene that they were not to fire under any circumstances. An eyewitness has related that the Assistant Sub Inspector himself had opened the main entrance gate, allowing the mob to surge inside. And as soon as that mob gained entry, it set the car on fire, looted the house, the medical clinic, and then set the entire building on fire.

Impressions of Mubarika Alam Khan

On June 11, 1974, no sooner had Feroze Alam Khan seated himself at the dining table for this meal—having come home from work, and having changed his clothes—than he received a telephone call from Janji [Doctor Saeed Ahmad was affectionately known by that name.] Feroze Alam Khan quickly finished his meal. As he put a pistol in his pocket, he simply said to me that Janji had summoned him. That our guests would be arriving soon, and that we should not wait for him for the tea because he might get delayed.

Not much time had passed since Feroze Alam Khan had left when our orderly—Mohammad Jan—came and announced: Dar-us-Saeed is burning. I ran outside. The flames from the three-storeyed Dar-us-Saeed building—it is located behind the tall Jail building—could clearly be seen. I was acutely perturbed. Surrounded by enemies as my very own loved ones were, a wall of  fire had reared up between them and me. I would go outside the house, distraught, and return inside, helpless, beseeching Allah the Most High, which would then fill my heart with faith that Allah the Most High was with us, that He has power over all things, and that He would save these innocent people through a display of His Power, not letting them come to any harm. The thought never even crossed my mind for a moment that I would never again meet my loved ones alive in this world.

The sun had set, but the fire had not stopped raging in Dar-us-Saeed. Nobody knew the condition of the besieged people inside Dar-us-Saeed. The darkness of night had spread when our guests said to me: “Feroze Alam Khan was slightly injured, and he has been taken to the Central Military Hospital.” Other than silently shedding tears, there was nothing else I could do. Our guests continued to console me; their presence helped me maintain my morale. Meanwhile, Colonel Shakur Jan arrived and asked me to go to Kakul with him, saying that this place was no longer safe for us. I was unwilling to leave our house in the absence of Feroze Alam Khan. While he was insisting, my brother Abdulla Saeed entered the house and stayed for a few moments. He comforted me, and told me to go to Shakur Jan’s house along with my children. So I agreed to go.

The next day, I went to meet Feroze Alam Khan in the hospital and found him in a state of calmness. He expressed no complaints, and as usual he did not even make any mention of his pain. He had fought in two wars to defend the country, and had always remained safe. Allah the Most High destined for him to protect these unarmed and persecuted individuals. I firmly believe that Allah the Most High granted him [Feroze Alam Khan] many great honors in the next world’s life for this selfless service by him, for his courage, and for his sacrifice. And I rightly feel proud that through his association with me, Allah the Most High blessed Feroze Alam Khan with this opportunity, one which will be a source of a great reward in Allah’s court. Janji once said to me: “In your grandfather’s being led by Allah the Most High to name you Mubarika, it is perhaps the placing of blessings by association with your name, and which Feroze Alam Khan proved through his valor.”

The sun of June 11, 1974 set after bearing testimony to a saga of oppression, mercilessness, and a spectacle of cruelty as to make one’s soul tremble, a saga in which on the one hand His creatures symbolized anger, rage, hatred, and utter ruthlessness. And on the other hand, the expression of the powers of mercy and kindness of Allah, the Most High. The Lord of the Kaaba designates weak birds to protect his house, and an entire army is vanquished. And when the Lord of humanity wishes to protect His righteous servants, He appoints one individual in the form of Feroze Alam Khan: And a sea of armed individuals is rendered helpless in their evil designs. If this was not a manifestation of the powers of Allah the Most High, then how was it that Feroze Alam Khan and two young and inexperienced boys—Zahid Saeed and Anwar Ahmad—along with their helper, a woman, Sarwar Jan, that day were able to hold back that violent mob? This is the manifestation of Allah that He also creates the means for the accomplishment of His plans.

Hazrat Mirza Sahib has expressed this marvelously by way of the following verses of rhyme in the Urdu language:

قدرت سے اپنی ذات کا دیتا ہے حق ثبوت

اُس بے نشان کی چہرہ نمائی یہی تو ہے

جس بات کو کہے، کہ کروں گا یہ میں ضرور

ٹلتی نہیں وہ بات، خدائی یہی تو ہے

He gives proof of His existence through signs of His power;

The manifestation thereby of His Face, as it were

Whatever He intends to do, that He will have come to pass;

That decreed thing is unalterable, this, then is Divinity

This day of differentiation, the discrimination between right and wrong, was also the day for the fulfillment of the glad tiding which Allah had given to His pious servant—Doctor Saeed Ahmad—many years ago, going back to the summertime of 1946. So it was that while Doctor Saeed Ahmad was resting at night on the rooftop of his house in Debgaran, with the cool expanse of the starry firmament above him, he had received the following divine revelation:

یٰنَارُ كُوْنِیْ بَرْدًا وَّ سَلٰمًا عَلٰۤی اِبْرٰهِیْم

We said: O fire, be coolness and peace for Abraham

(Holy Quran—79:61)
The modern day “fire of Nimrod” was, by the order of Allah the Most High, made cool for the “progeny of Abraham.” After approximately four hours, this sinister game, the diabolical dance as it were, had reached its climax: Yet, as for the individual for whose destruction the fiendish game was being played—Doctor Saeed Ahmed—the fire was not able to even touch him. And in this way, the promise of Allah the Most High was fulfilled.