True Teachings Of Islam

Azam Ali, An Ahmadi Moslem

Chapter 12

Legend in his own Lifetime

            Father was nearly 79 years old in 1979 when for the last time he visited my family in Rosebud, Missouri. He arrived at the St Louis Lambert Airport in European coat and pants but changed into Pakistani garments shulwar, qamees, topi and a blanket as soon as he got home.

He was very frail. On our asking he told us that he did not eat anything on the plane. He had last eaten at the house of my youngest brother Majid Ali in New Jersey. He had not eaten anything for several hours because he was not sure what kind of food was offered in the airport waiting areas or in the plane during the flight.

We insisted that he ate something right away because we lived in Rosebud that was about ninety minutes’ drive from the airport. Father agreed to if we could get him hot milk and cookies not made with lard because he wanted to ensure that we comply with God’s command.

Hoor-ray-ma  alai  ko-mo ol-mai-ta-ta  waud-da-ma  wa  lauh-ma  ul-khin-zee-ray                                                                                      سُوۡرَةُ البَقَرَة   – Ch: 2, Verse 174                    Prohibited upon you is the Dead and the Blood and the Flesh of swine.                                                                                                                      002:174

We went to the nearest McDonalds located on North Lindbergh Blvd. We requested hot milk and cookies not made with lard. At that time Father’s eyesight was very weak. He wanted assurance that only vegetable oil was used to bake the cookies he ate with his hot milk.

He asked me to verify that cookies had no lard in them. I did the needful. Then one after the other our children read the ingredient panel of the cookie box – partly because Aba Ji asked them to do so to educate them of what was right and partly because of their own curiosity.

Father, my wife, our four kids and I were seven in our group. Restaurant customers noticed the commotion first at the counter where we talked to the manager and then at our table where we sat. Two Europeans from the next table walked up to Father. With visible hesitation and excitement, they requested Father for a handshake and then for a hug, saying it was the first time in their lifetime they met a Living Saint. Yes, that was our father, Ch: Azam Ali.

Moslem Boy

            Maybe Father intending to teach my children luckily found the right opportunity. This unobtrusively created situation became a real chance for us all to see that no matter where one happened to be, one could ask for and should get info about the food and scan for its cleanliness before eating it. I’m sure he would be pleased with another result of his training that followed.

All my life I saw my Father’s nature to never miss a chance to passionately teach and train anyone, any time, any place. At the time of the above incident our youngest son (Shahid A. Buttar, Esquire) was just 5. A few months later in winter Shahid’s Kindergarten teacher asked him if he celebrated Christmas. He replied, “We don’t eat pork; I’m a Moslem boy.”

Watch what you eat

            Nearly one-half century earlier in the fall of 1949, Father went on an inspection tour in connection with his job as Senior Civil Judge. He took with him his 3 teenager sons. I was 13. My half-brother Imtiaz was 12½. My younger brother Hamid was 11½.

We stayed behind in the Rest House when Father went for his work. We had lots of fun climbing up and down the hills near the Rest house like kids that age do when all by themselves. We were extremely hungry by the time Father returned after work, but he planned for us to climb one more hill. Finally, we reached the place where food awaited, and we were famished.

It was a small hut at the south of Attock Bridge. Roof was wild reeds. We had ‘dal’ (lentils) curry with fried fish freshly caught from the river a few-minutes’ walk down below. We sat on a wooden bench facing a small stool with our food. Abba Ji’s words still echo in my ears – thanking God for such a clean food, cooked so specially, served so simply.

Middle of nowhere and nothing around for miles that was the only place where we could eat. No Hilton or Intercontinental around, but the taste of that curry and fish is still fresh and better than all the other foods I have had in many 5-star hotels and restaurants around the world.

In 1965, driving a Beetle Volkswagen from Peshawar to Rawalpindi I wanted to visit that spot at the south end of Attock Bridge. But a flat tire interrupted the plan. I was struggling to change the flattened tire with the spare in car when a big truck stopped by.

The truck drivers changed the tire in no time as we chatted. As a courtesy they refused money for the service. I can’t say they knew Father. They left us advising my wife to cover jewelry on wrists:“Everybody don’t know that you are the daughter-in-law of so great a Judge.”    

1967 was the last time I passed that south end of the Attock Bridge. I wanted to eat fried fish freshly caught there. This was my third and last overland driving trip between England and Pakistan. This time we drove nearly 10,000 miles taking northern roads in Iran and Afghanistan of rough terrain, often with no road but just stones travelled and trampled over by many like us.

I drove a Zephyr with my wife and two sons, aged 21 mo and 9 mo. My sister-in-law drove Hillman Imp with her niece, mother and help Jugno. The timing didn’t permit us to stop but I said that someday I’d like to take them there and refresh my memory of Father’s words.

Near to that dream during the life of Father was when we bought fish in Herman (above photo) caught from Missouri River and cooked for him at our home in Rosebud. Mo. But Now the American invasion of Iraq and events in Afghanistan have made those roads and routes, gems of unsurpassed beauty, outside the reach of peacefully travelling citizens of the world. My children enjoying economic statuses and comfortable lives may never see that simple place where Father while having simple food had most wonderfully expressed thanks to the Almighty.

Legend in his own lifetime

Father was an ordinary human born to a farmer family. But his hard work and honest ways gave him the habit of always working persistently, always going the extra mile, always outshining his own previous performance. He became a legend in his own lifetime by practically illustrating another rule.

           Nae-ma  uj-ro  ol-aa-may-leen                                                                                                                                 سُوۡرَةُ آل عِمرَان   – Ch: 003, Verse 137 & سُوۡرَةُ الزُّمَر – Ch: 039, Verse 075                         The best rewards are for those who act.               003:137  &  039:075

Abba Ji’s and his children’s names were copied by other mothers in our village Kirto when they named their children, hoping and praying that they would emulate some of our Father’s greatness.

Father’s co-villagers yearned to be near him to gain from his temporal and spiritual knowledge. His colleagues sought suggestions regarding complicated issues of law and order. Even strangers came and asked for the benefits of his nearness to God by requesting for prayers.

For example, he was visited by the parents of a sick, dying girl with a terminal disease. Doctors finally discharged the kid from hospital and sent her home to die as they knew no cure. Father prayed to God Almighty for child’s recovery as “a proof to her parents the manifestation of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian as Mehdi and Promised Messiah, a. s.” Yes, God Almighty graciously restored full health to the kid. I believe she lived long enough to be a grandmother.

Abba Ji generously obliged anyone who came to him and requested advice and help. He gladly shared with anyone to try the time-tested methodology by beseeching God Almighty with a prayer and receive results usually far better than the requested. He pointed out that God Almighty had Himself urged all to try His following guarantee.

         O-jee-bo  dau-wa-tay  id-daa-aiy  ezaa  da-aa-nay                                                                                                                                                          سُوۡرَةُ البَقَرَة – Ch: 002, Verse 187                              I accept the caller when he calls Me                                          002:187

Practicing all above and other rules laid out in the Holy Qor-aan was what turned my father from an ordinary person at the time of his birth into an extraordinary person by the time of his death. Thank GOD, He made me a son of this great Achiever, Go-getter, Grateful, Legend in his own lifetime and Peacemaker.

Azam Ali, Ahmadi Moslem

Chapter 09 – Illustrations

                Illustrations of Rules of Universal Application

            The Holy Qor-aan is an embodiment of Directions. Some authors have divided them into Commandments and Prohibitions like that was done by some translators of other Scriptures. This sight treats them as Rules of Universal Application because obeying or violating those rules invariably produces the foretold consequences.

The application of these rules keeps providing illustrations in all places, in all scenarios. Some materialize on personal levels of individuals. Some occur on a much wider scale on community or national levels.

Some of those rules of universal application spelled out in the Holy Qor-aan are that I personally saw Abba Ji following them all our lives as stated in Tr – Azam Ali, an Ahmadi Moslem – Ch – 20 – Universal Rules. His life of obeying those rules extended over 80 years. It provided an untold number of illustrations in the following and many other arenas.

• Remembering Allah at every step in his life – 013:029
• Showing by his conduct that he was commanded to be the best of the Obedient and not be of the Idolaters – 006:015
• Showing by his conduct that he was commanded to be the best of the Obedient who did not recognize any partner of the Almighty God – 006:164
• Showing by his conduct that he was commanded to be among Believers – 010:105
• Following the Best Exemplar – 033:022
• Praying far beyond the Five daily prayers the Ish-raaq and Ta-huj-jaud – 017:079
• Being aware of and praying about the weakening of body – 036:069
• Being congruent in saying and doing the same thing – 061:003
• Never telling others what he didn’t do himself – 061:004
• Always praying before eating and finishing food – 026:080
• Always seeking increase in knowledge – 020:115
• Always seeking his entries and exits as a Truthful person – 017:081.
• Always praying before travelling for safe journey– 011: 042
• Always praying for recovery from illness. Initially I didn’t understand why he was praying for himself so fervently when in good health. Now I understand. – 026:081
• Raising family with the same values with which he lived — 002:129
• Administering judgeship – 004:059
• Never fearing death that was inevitable and just a Transition to a better everlasting life — 003:186, 021:036, 029:058 and 026:082

Father often did things instinctively. In the initial stages of course, he must have tried hard, like memorizing long portions of the Holy Qor-aan particularly where the Almighty God has perceptualized prayers offered by the past Prophets. But he was so used to them by the time he got so many of us that he did them all the time as our example to follow.

Father’s life was witnessing himself and drawing others’ attention to similarly innumerable illustrations that precipitated results when those rules were followed or violated. Pleasant memories were left when those rules were followed. The opposite was equally true  and he quoted illustrations when the rules were disobeyed and untoward consequences ensued.

Bhutto

One example that everybody saw with their own eyes was Zulifqar Ali Bhutto. He ruled Pakistan as a dictator with an iron-fist dressed up to look like a genuine democracy. He got his way by greasing the cooperation of corrupt clergy and perpetually hungry politicians.

Father had a clear, candid and convincing opinion about their political motives and actions. He lamented about Bhutto’s alliance with clergy and atrocities they committed as the Government. Father expressed resentment in the High Court Bar against such misdeeds

Law recognizes a process known as eminent domain. It allows the government to acquire private property for community benefit by paying fair market value to its owner. Three elements must exist for the legal process to be triggered.

• Firstly, it must relate to land which means any property whether developed or not.
• Secondly, it is needed for the larger good of the public.
• Thirdly, fair market value is paid to the landowner whose property was taken.

Corrupt governments in uncivilized countries have abused the law of eminent domain to usurp developed properties. They snatch away income-producing, productive or developed property from its owner to benefit one of their cronies appointed as a hired employee to run, operate and control it.

Bhutto was a law graduate who knew how to abuse a legal process by dressing it to look like it was under the law. He labelled his highhandedness with the patriotic sounding noble process of Nationalization. His crooks and thugs took over other businesses without compensating their owners. They nationalized Rice Husking factories.

After years of hard work my younger brother had bought a small piece of land and put machinery there to operate his small business as a rice husker. The Bhutto regime nationalized his rice husking business, land and factory without compensation and disallowing any legal recourse to impugn such a high-handed illegality.

• They nationalized rice husking factories.
• They paid little or no compensation.
• They totally outlawed all judicial remedies which citizens ordinarily had.

One day my brother was a small businessman with his own business raising a family and paying bills. Next day he had no job, no work and no money. And worst of all, he had no judicial remedy since any legal recourse had been outlawed by the very corrupt Bhutto.

Father had been a Judge. All his life he had fairly provided justice to others and judicially struck down injustices of all kinds. He knew what eminent domain meant. He was highly disturbed by the brazen day-light robbery by Bhutto junta.

And then he saw the worst kind of abuse of the process of law by manufacturing the commission of lawless and at the same time ousting any recourse to law to seek any correction. This damage to his son hurt Father beyond words. He often said, “What can the people do when the government itself becomes the oppressor.”

Bhutto regime amended the Pakistan Constitution on September 7, 1974, and declared Ahmadis as non-Muslim. Millions of them were labelled as a minority. Sharp teeth were later sown into legal processes that ensued. For instance, their greeting us-sa-laa-mo-alai-koom (peace on you) was made punishable with three years’ imprisonment under the Pakistan Penal Code. Other examples of similar harsh legislation are detailed elsewhere on this site.

Indeed, things like this happen when the coming of divine punishment has become inevitable. The above nationalization was on Father’s mind when on December 26, 1974, Father and I were at the end of the Annual Conference in Rabwah. Father took me with him to meet Khaleefatool-Massih III r.a. of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam.

During the meeting Father said that such grave injustices generated Bud Doaa (invoking curses) from the core of citizens’ hearts against their own government. The Khaleefa knew the effectiveness of Father’s prayers and quickly said, “Chaudhry Sahib, don’t wish bad for Bhutto. He needs our prayers.”

Father bowed in silence. But the Rule of Universal Application had been violated. It had been ordained to be avenged, as we humans conclude, very severely.

Wa  ka  zaa-lay-ka  ja-ul  naa  fee  kool-lay  qur-ya-tin                                                              Aa-kaa-bay-ra  mooj-ray-mee  haa  lay  yum-ko-roo  fee  haa                                                Wa  maa  yaum-ko-roo-na  il-laa  bay  un-fo-say  him                                                                Wa  maa  yaush-o-roo-n                                             سُوۡرَةُ الاٴنعَام – Ch:006, Verse 124

And like this We made in every town                                                                                    Its wrongdoers the leaders for scheming in it.                                                                  And they do not plan except with themselves                                                                    And they do not realize.                                                                            006:124

The deep-rooted hurts in the hearts of so many God-fearing people are not dissolved by the mere words spoken kindly by their worldly or even spiritual leaders. The Bhutto regime for years had crushed its own citizenry. Someone somewhere saw it all.

It was no surprise to us when Father dreamt that a pig climbed a few steps up on a ladder and then fell flat on his back with all four legs raised like a dead stray mutt. Father right away interpreted this dream to mean that Bhutto’s end was near, and in death he would be disowned, discarded and dishonored like a pig or stray dog.

Not too long after this dream, this formidable dictator of Pakistan was imprisoned, tried for scheming and causing an opponent’s murder in the first degree, convicted, and sentenced to be hung by the neck till dead.

Bhutto was finally executed by hanging. Reading the details of Bhutto’s execution illustrated the fate perpetually sketched in the Holy Qor-aan for all wrongdoers.

Yoe-ra-fo  ol-mooj-ray-moo-na  bay  see-maa  hoom                                                                    Fa   yoe-kha-zo   bay  in-na-waa-see  wa  ul-uq-daam                                                                                                                                                       سُوۡرَةُ الرَّحمٰن – Ch: 055, Verse 042                   

The criminals would be recognized by their marks                                                      Then they will be caught by the forelocks and feet.                      055:042

The Judicial records show that Attorney Ahmed Raza was the intended victim. His car was sprayed with a machine-gun burst. Due to a last-minute change his father Nawab Ahmed Khan drove the car and died, while Ahmed Raza who sat in the front seat got saved.

A book titled Last 323 Days is available on the market. Its link on-line is as follows.                    https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/10/04/bhuttos-fatefulmoment                         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3BrhlvS2aM

The book was written by the Military commander Col Rafiuddin. He had been commanded to supervise Bhutto’s execution. He wrote that Bhutto was alert and in good health but feigned faintness as a last maneuver to avoid execution. He was carried by the guards by head, hands and feet to the execution chamber – just as outlined above.

The one who got credit for inflicting on Bhutto humiliating death was his own favorite army General Zia-ul-Haq whom Bhutto had brought forward and promoted – allegedly out of line, seniority and merit – with the sole qualification that the General used army’s muscle to implement nefarious designs which the scheming mind of Bhutto conjured up.

But General Zia-ul-Haq who became an instrument to inflict the punishment on the violator Bhutto, himself became the perpetrator of adding further teeth to the bite that Bhutto had originally sunk into the Ahmadiyya body fourteen (14) years ago on September 7, 1974.

Eventually on August 17, 1988, the military plane in which General Zia-ul-Haq was flying with an American diplomat and 27 others exploded soon after taking off. Even an investigation by Governments failed to find and nail who had planted, detonated and exploded the Air Force plane. An unsolved mystery of 21^st Century? Who knows?