Hayat-e-Saeed

بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِیْمِ 

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

نحمدہٗ و نصلی علٰی رسولہ الکریم

We praise Him (Allah), and we pray for His most honorable Prophet.

Certain members of the Ahmadiyya Movement in general, and Raja Muhammad Afzal in particular, have approached me with the request that I commit to writing my recollections of the [anti-Ahmadiyya Movement] sectarian crisis which had engulfed Pakistan in 1974. That, of course, was the time involving the culmination of the grievous troubles that the anti-Ahmadiyya Movement forces had been fomenting for years, the egregious violence which targeted the members of our Ahmadiyya Movement chapter in the Frontier Province, and in particular those aspects of the violence that engulfed my residence [in Abbottabad, Dar-us-Saeed] when it was made the target of terrorism—bombing, arson, firing, vandalism, and looting—which was carried out by a mob through the methodical scheming of “Those Seeking to Honor the Name of the Holy Prophet” and “The Protectors of the Finality of Prophethood.” It was in that context that Raja Muhammad Afzal wrote to me the following letter:

بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِیْمِ 

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

نحمدہٗ و نصلی علٰی رسولہ الکریم

Glorifying and elevating the status of the Merciful Messenger

March 6, 1975

Baddo Malhee

Honorable and highly respected Khansahib Doctor Saeed Ahmad,

Assalam alaikum wa rahmatullahe wa baraka’atuhu,

It is my hope that you, friends, and the members of the Ahmadiyya Movement are all well. May God be your Supporter and your Helper. You will recall that you had remarked during one of our Annual Conventions that you did not wish to relate these personal matters [involving your being made the target of terrorism during the anti-Ahmadiyya sectarian crisis of 1974], and how I had—in the presence of a full audience—expressed my belief that we all earnestly wish to hear about those matters. And when you still had not agreed to do so, I had humbly pointed out that innumerable such incidents are present in the Holy Quran: The deliverance of Prophet Moses from legions of Pharaoh’s followers; the Pharaoh’s destruction; and the escape of the Holy Prophet and [his companion] Hazrat Abubakar from the clutches of the enemy. These events serve to renew and reinvigorate our faith: Not only will the narration of these incidents serve to refresh our faith, future generations will also benefit from them and, in turn, renew the vitality and strength of their faith. You had grown somewhat quiet at that moment, but you still had not shared with us those personal matters. At that point, Professor Khalil-ur-Rahman had related  [on your behalf] those matters involving you, and which had clearly served to strengthen the faith of the audience [at that time.] Many days later, and once again in the presence of the members of the Ahmadiyya Movement in the mosque in Dar-us-Salam, I had expressed to you how people had heard from Professor Khalil-ur-Rahman those events involving you. And I had remarked that even if two individuals attempt to narrate their recollections of what they had heard, nonetheless—due to the natural weakness in the accuracy of recalling from memory what they, respectively, thought they had heard—their narratives would diverge, perhaps even greatly so. Therefore, it would be best to have those events published, bit by bit, piecemeal, in Paigham-e-Sulah [i.e. the flagship magazine of the Ahmadiyya Movement] and thereby safeguard the accurate recording of the events. You had replied that the events as narrated by Professor Khalil-ur-Rahman lack the full details. Even he was unaware of certain facts: He had been inside his house, whereas I [Doctor Saeed Ahmad] of course had known well the [the details of the] events that had occurred in Dar-us-Saeed. And while those events are still fresh in my memory, I now intend to write them down, and to give that narrative the shape of a book. I have expressed these observations in my Friday sermon. So it is my hope that you will have written down those events by now. And the sooner they are published, the sooner the members of the Ahmadiyya Movement can benefit from them. Moreover, one never knows when one’s life will come to an end: Every week, our friends perish and pass away, one by one, from this perishable world. Otherwise, things are alright. May the entire jamaat accept the salam on my behalf.

Wassalam,

Raja Muhammad Afzal,

Government Muslim High School,

Baddo Malhee, Narowal Tehsil,

Sialkot District.

It is the thinking of Raja Muhammad Afzal that those matters involving agony and tribulation, those moments of teetering between life and death, and the demonstration of patience and steadfastness, have historic importance; that they will be a source of reinvigorating one’s beliefs; and that coming generations, too, would surely discuss them.

There can be no doubt that when it comes to the domains of developing community life, of shepherding its future, and of governing its progress, this chapter in the book of history, as it were, ought to contain subject matter—suitably underscored as meriting great significance—which captures the past in its historical context, and with the help of which the promotion of enthusiasm and the development of refined taste (and its allied sentiments) are first imbued and then cultivated in members of future generations. Moreover, the history of our Ahmadiyya Movement is particularly unique: It is replete with examples of religious service, of dedication and selflessness for the service of religion, of enthusiasm and zeal, of patience and steadfastness, and of faith-enhancing sacrifices made with wealth and with their very lives. That is our identity. Those are our traditions, ones which were at the forefront of the mind of the late Maulana Muhammad Ali—and to whose further shepherding and adherence he was drawing the attention of the youth of our Ahmadiyya Movement—when he had made the following remarks:

I will again say to my young friends. And I will say it again and again: Keep alive the traditions of your community. Adhere to the Islamic code of morals and behavior; read the Quran; listen to it; ponder over it; and act upon it. Make it your hallmark that your very identity is defined by the ideal of respecting the commandments of Islam. That day will come—for each and every one of your elders—when you will bury their bodies in the ground with your own hands. And your descendants will do the same with your bodies. My young friends, I advise you—indeed I urge you—to not bury your traditions along with the bodies of your elders. Keep your traditions alive and take them forward, lest people say that our community is dying away.

Regarding adhering to the aforementioned sentiments, I, too, thought that it can—and should—be done. But in this way, all of those matters which are narrated verbally, or which are otherwise written down by way of verbal discourse, some element or another—of hyperbole or of inaccuracy—can enter that discourse. Recall that my companions and I [during the traumatic attack on Dar-us-Saeed in 1974] included men as well as women, the old as well as the young, and boys as well as girls. We were being made the direct target of the vast mob of terrorists who were attacking with bullets, dynamite, and arson. Their basic objective, outwardly at least, was to murder me, and I was caught in their trap. The flames of their hatred, oppression, and tyranny were raging all around me. As an eyewitness to all that—events which make one’s soul tremble—I had promised Raja Muhammad Afzal that I would write down those events to the best of my abilities, Insha’Allah [Allah willing.]

As and when I was afforded moments of free time and composure, I continued to write down my recollections of the circumstances surrounding the tribulation and associated events. Now in the summertime of 1985, when I am in Dar-us-Saeed and away from Dar-us-Salam in Lahore for a few weeks, I have been afforded a certain amount of tranquility. It is the month of Ramadan. So I thought of giving structure and organization to this disorderly manuscript.

In the beginning, the purpose of this writing was to narrate the tragic events of 1974 in Hazara. Thanks to Allah that it was completed. Right along with it, and at the instigation of our dear friend, Professor Bashir Ahmad, it was considered appropriate to write something on two subjects: A Glance at the Ahmadiyya Movement, and Hayat-e-Saeed.

واﷲخیر

And Allah is better

Included in the work A Glance at the Ahmadiyya Movement are the foundation and goals of the Ahmadiyya Movement, beliefs, viewpoints, outlook, its enforcement, its influence, its opposition in general, and in particular its influence in the Hazara region. Many religious movements have taken birth within the perimeter of Islam. But the Ahmadiyya Movement has a particularly prominent status among them all. Where it gained (on the basis of its unique characteristics) an elevated and honorable status, plus popularity and fame, in the history of the governments, and religious history at an international level, there, too, it was opposed with vehemence and deafening outcry. Despite intense opposition and seemingly insurmountable obstacles—confounding and fully capable of making one’s head spin—our Ahmadiyya Movement managed to pass through a sea of troubles and tribulations, carrying along with it its goal and primary purpose, and continues to flourish. What, then, are the causes and reasons that have, from time to time, led to its opposition—typically through the creation of oppressive obstacles and often culminating in violence—and with their continued occurrence in the future being entirely conceivable. What, then, does this movement have going for it? What force and power does it have which it has deployed in its defense against these oppositional activities? Therefore, on the topic under consideration, I will try to shed some light on these reasons and causes, and on the aforementioned force and power.

 توفیقہ تعالیٰ

May Allah enable me to do so.

In Hayat-e-Saeed, the biographer has sought to briefly narrate the relevant familial and personal events. The purpose of narrating one’s life—decidedly brief and transient as life happens to be—is neither motivated by vanity nor is it to the end of self-aggrandizement or vying for others’ attention. On the contrary.

 واﷲ اعلم ما فی الصدور۔ و انما الاعمال بالنیات 

And Allah knows best what is in the hearts. And actions are based on intentions.

Rather, the objective is that the reader may glean some lessons—cautionary or edifying—perhaps from some angle or from some corner of the narrative about my life. And that the reader may chart for themselves a better course of life for the future on the basis of comprehending this narrative. I am neither an author nor a historian. I also do not lay claim or have any airs to being “someone-of-elevated-status.” So no attempt should be made to judge this narrative and writing from the standards of literature or literary criticism: I have sought to straightforwardly narrate only that which I have seen and that only that which I have felt.

 وما توفیقی الا باﷲ العظیم

And my success is only through Allah the Great.

Today is June 11, a Tuesday, and it is a strange coincidence that, exactly 11 years ago—to this very day and at this very location—the violent mob besieging us had caught me in their snare, having surrounded my property, my household, the members of the Ahmadiyya Movement, and of course, me. Despite the long span of 11 years since that violent attack—an attack whose remembrance carries with it all the sensations of the horrifying events that took place on June 11, 1974 in their full vividness—it feels as if that span of time has vanished and those sensations are again active in my mind. It feels as if it all happened just earlier today.

سبحان اﷲ العزیز۔ کل امر

Glory be to Allah, the Mighty, in every matter.

Saeed Ahmad

June 11, 1985.