KHIDMAT The Hidden Door to Extraordinary Opportunities

By: Ataul-Karim Gohar Student of Jamia Ahmadiyya Canada

Alhamdulillah, by the Grace of Allah the Almighty, the USA tour of Huzoor Anwaraba was extremely blessed for all of us. We as Jamia students were truly the recipients of a great favour of God upon us who gave us the opportunity to be in the company of Huzoor Anwar in Zion, Dallas, and Maryland.

The week in the city of Zion felt exceptionally historical due to its rich history as a sign of the truth of the Promised Messiahas. Whilst travelling daily to and fro the Mosque, you couldn’t help but have this feeling that this town stands testimony to the victory of the Promised Messiahas over the disgraced Dowie. Seeing some of the landmarks such as the Shiloh House made me ponder over how analogous the case of the Pharaoh being mummified (i.e. preserved) to stand as a sign, is the case of Dr. Alexander Dowie and his defamed town, the pinnacle of which was the Shiloh house – where precisely his house has been preserved from the inside to capture his last days and open to the public to witness firsthand.

Hence, seeing Huzoor Anwar at the Fath-eAzeem Mosque felt all the more special and surreal that the Khalifa of the Promised Messiahas is now stepping in that very town where Dowie had vowed no Muslim could step foot in. The Friday Sermon that Huzoor Anwar delivered was beyond faith inspiring, it gave me goosebumps when Huzoor said that we witnessed one Fath-e-Azeem 115 years ago, and today we are witnessing another Fath-e-Azeem. But then the words that shook me even more and made me realise what our duty is as a servant to the Khalifa was when Huzoor outlined the requirements of reformation needed to our practical conditions so that we may witness the real Fath-e-Azeem which is still to come in the form of the Ultimate Victory of Islam – Insha’Allah!

Despite all of this, there was still this void deep down of not being able to be close to the Khalifa due to the limited access. However we were content because we understood the COVID restrictions and yet we were still blessed enough to be in the presence of Huzoor. Hence this factor played into not wanting to take on too many duties that it might hinder or interfere with our opportunity to pray behind Huzoor in the revered and historically significant Mosque – especially considering that was essentially one of our only limited chances of an interaction or closest point physically to Huzoor.

But that’s what hit me. After a few days, I realised that I had become so tunnel visioned on being close to Huzoor Anwaraba physically that I was depriving myself of the blessings of Khidmat and the boundless prayers Huzoor keeps reciting for volunteers. We hear time and again at every Jalsa that Huzoor Anwar talks about how the volunteers may be far away from him physically, but they are always in his heart. Henceforth, I presented myself for duty in MTA and miraculously – within 24 hours – I got that moment. That moment we all hope and pray for. That golden moment that I too had been longing for. Whereas for the past whole week I had shouted Salam along with the other hundreds of Ahmadis from behind the barricades 30 meters away, here I was standing all alone within 5 meters of Huzoor. My MTA posting had led to me being in the spot where Huzoor was suddenly about to walk past. My heart skipped a beat, my brain felt numb because I couldn’t believe what my eyes were witnessing, yet the testimony of the eyes never lies. Huzoor was about to walk right past me. My nervous system felt like it was glitching – all the electrical impulses stuck in time immemorial – my mouth left speechless and my body motionless. I was telling myself to say Salam but I just couldn’t – I physically could not do it.

It reminded of the time when Huzoor had come to visit Brisbane, Australia back in 2013. The ticker-tape was running in my mind of when I was 9/10 years old and I was chasing next to Huzoor to say Salam. At the first instance I had tried saying Salam, nothing came out of my mouth and Huzoor walked straight past. So I sprinted again and got to another point to say Salam - but again nothing came out of my mouth albeit a small squeak. I had thought I’d missed my chance again when all of a sudden Huzoor said Walaikum Salam. I was dumbfounded and completely startled that

Huzoor had even understood what I was saying let alone getting that recognition and response; I felt like the happiest child alive. Now with this flashback paramount in my mind, I knew I just had to get a sound out - any sound - and my Khalifa will understand.

And then Huzoor was right across from me; it was either now, or forever hold my regretful silence. It seemed as though the entire universe went quiet, the ground had been prepared and the stage was set, it was like God was inviting me that this is your chance. Hence as if divine intervention was the response to the divine invitation, suddenly something came over me and out of the blue, I mustered all the remaining strength left in my body to the extent that my legs were about to crumble and laboriously – whilst still succumbing to my nervousness and anxiety – said “Assalam-o-Alaikum Piyare Huzoor”.

Huzoor Anwar was looking down and all of a sudden he looked up and gazed directly at me. It was just me and my Khalifa in that moment. Huzoor’s piercingly warm eyes penetrated my soul to the brinks of collapse. I made direct eye contact with Huzoor and Huzoor waved back at me saying Salam. That was a special feeling in itself that Huzoor had said Salam to me and me only, perhaps something we took for granted in times gone by when our access to Huzoor Anwar was so open/free. It makes one ponder about the times to come when hundreds of millions will enter the fold of Ahmadiyyat and will all strive with that same longing for the Khalifatul-Masih. Hence, I felt really blessed that even in this post-COVID restricted atmosphere, I got to witness such a sign. I was just left frozen and mesmerised, I couldn’t speak nor even form thoughts. My heart was feeling numb and my stomach was full of butterflies I didn’t even know existed, making me feel like my guts might spew out; that’s how taken aback I was by the whole scenario.

One may ask why the heightened emotions? After all it was just a regular interaction when compared to some of the exceptional stories we’ve heard in the past? But one has to take into account that we were literally about to leave

Zion and head for Dallas in less than one hour, and this was practically my last chance of an interaction in Zion as well. But it’s God who is the most Benevolent and Master of the Universe who performs such miracles even for the weak, that he bestowed me in that last hour an opportunity I hadn’t gotten all week, and neither could I have gotten it without God’s grace, help, and mercy. It all happened within an hour’s frame that 2 days ago did not even exist, because our plan initially was to leave Saturday morning before the Reception Dinner. It just doesn’t cease to amaze me when I think about the mysterious ways God works and his glorious wonders.

Similarly, I was lucky enough to witness another miraculous marvel of Allah the Almighty which was even more astonishing and phenomenal than the first one. I did not think that my experience in Zion could be surpassed and I was fully content that I had gotten my personal unique moment. It had wiped away the fatigue of the long drives and the tribulations of the weather; all the physical, financial, emotional pain had now been worth it - yet God had other plans. His manifestation of love was just beginning. We were now in Dallas, Texas and the week was coming to a close again. I had a dream a few days prior that I was physically hugging Huzoor Anwaraba but I did not think much of it as I believed that my conscious thoughts had just permeated into my subconscious dreams, and that it did not have any divine connotations.

Hence, despite a wish for this to manifest in the physical realm lingering at the back of my head, I moved on and made no physical progressions myself because I knew everything was running under a strict system especially due to COVID - so it was practically impossible. Nonetheless, I knew that there was only one “Tadbeer’’ that I could do which was to narrate this dream to Huzooraa in a letter.

Only 2 days had passed since this letter had been submitted to Huzoor, and I do not know if Huzoor had read that letter or not but it was God who had already started pulling the strings. It was the day of the Dallas Reception

Dinner and all day, in the tormenting heat, we had been setting up the reception hall for the dinner: fixating the lights, running fiber cables, carrying camera kit, etc. The duty sheet for the event had already been released and it was clear to me that I would not be in the reception hall in the vicinity of Huzoor.

Nonetheless, I had not signed up under the condition that I would only do special jobs, but Khidmat as a whole - wherever it might be. So as I was sitting at the back in the U-Haul truck sizzling away in the heat, tired from the day’s work, and wiping away the sweat; Touqeer bhai (who had come from UK as part of the MTA International team) called me over and randomly asked me to help find him the case full of batteries. I did not think anything special of it and simply obliged in helping him find it but his hands weren’t free so he told me to just follow him. I was extremely confused because I did not remember anything in the reception hall being battery powered, but then suddenly he turned into the Mosque. I was still trying to fathom the situation and merely assumed he had to grab something from the mosque when, much to my surprise, the little foyer area of Bait-ul-Ikram Mosque was being prepared for Dignitaries to meet Huzoor Anwaraa

Anyways, I still thought my sole purpose was to hand over the battery case to him but one thing led to another until all of a sudden Huzoor entered and I found myself behind a camera - stunned to the extent of almost forgetting to even press record (The exact shot angle below). I could not believe it. I was in the same room as Huzoor standing right in front of him and I just couldn’t wrap my head around how blessed I was in that moment. It’s not every day that a random Australian is put behind camera in the presence of Huzoor in a touring country. It made me reflect over my grass root beginnings doing MTA work in a relatively small town of Australia (Logan, Brisbane) and how the blessings of Khidmat from that day on and the sacrifices made over the years had compounded slowly but surely that Allah the Almighty - for it was Him Who was the real entity behind this whole disposition - had put me on camera in the direct service of Huzoor Anwar. It was truly a sentimental moment that plucked at the deepest chords of heart. Not only was the stress of carrying out my duty paramount in my head, but the fact there was no room for errors with Huzoor right in front of me was making all my pores sweat out profusely. I was trying to act calm and professional but my state on the inside was beyond describable. I had to calm myself down by only looking through the lens of the camera and manipulating a fake aurora on myself that this was just a regular TV frame I was viewing on MTA. But then as soon as I would look up outside of that 3-inch screen, all the stresses would creep back in to the crevices of my soul.

But Allah’s blessings and grace knows no bounds. My experience did not just end there. Despite my thinking Huzoor was now leaving, all of a sudden someone called Huzoor back and said there’s a bit of time left before the start of the dinner. So Huzoor came back and sat down. Now it was just Huzoor, two or three Qafila members and me in that room. I was left mesmerised pondering over if this was even real. Where was the line between reality and wishful thinking? Because I could not seem to discern it. It did not seem viable that I could genuinely just be standing in front of Huzoor in a light-hearted environment while he is casually chatting to a Qafila member.

Then as Huzoor got up to leave, he looked directly at me. Even though during the recording of the VIP Mulaqat, Huzoor had gazed at me, this special look felt different. There was only one other person between me and Huzoor, even all the Hifazat-e-Khas members were standing to the side. It seemed surreal to be able to see Huzoor in such a relaxed and natural environment, the exclusivity of which is so rare for a regular Ahmadi. Deep down I was confused because it almost felt like Huzoor was advancing towards me and might talk to me. All I had to do was sustain that attention and say Salam; and I really desperately wanted to. It was like a torn force inside of me, the strings teetering against each other - even more so than Zion. The concoction of emotions, the height of passion inside of me at that moment was beyond words - it was a completely different feeling that no description can do justice to. It was quite literally just an empty room and all I had to do was utter Salam, but I just clenched my jaw and kept it in - I thought better of it and decided not to, realising I was on duty and not there for personal purposes. I do not regret my decision because I know Huzoor would have still noticed me and that I did not break the sanctity of the moment and my position.

All in all, I could not be more grateful to Allah the Almighty who gifted me opportunities I was not even remotely deserving of. It is merely through the sheer blessings of devoting one’s life that I am even present here in the first place; otherwise I would have just been sitting at home in Australia watching what could have been on MTA. There were countless beautiful instances throughout the trip, and these were just two small recounts from only two different days. In reality each new day, each new week, each new location, brought forth its very own new, wonderful, and faith-inspiring moments.

May Allah enable us to continue to benefit from the countenance of our Khalifa so that our faith keeps getting revived and build an unbreakable bond with him, Ameen.