Mohammed Sbahuddin Rafiuddin, UK
In January 2022, I was given the honour to serve as the Regional Nazim Tabligh for Majlis Khuddam-ul-Ahmadiyya Hertfordshire, UK. I travelled to each qiadat [local majlis] within my region to engage in tabligh (preaching). Before my trip to Cambridge on 10 January 2022, I wrote a letter to Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Vaa stating that I would be travelling to Cambridge for the purpose of tabligh and requested his prayers. Beloved Huzooraa replied to my letter and said, “May Allah bless your tabligh efforts, and may your tabligh reach worthy souls.”
So, on 10 January 2022, I travelled to Cambridge and stood in the pouring rain outside the Cambridge Grand Arcade Shopping Centre, handing out leaflets containing brief information and the message of Ahmadiyyat. However, despite my efforts, everyone ignored me and simply walked past, showing no interest whatsoever. Then, one man stopped and asked me what I was doing. He mentioned that he had been observing me for a few minutes and had noticed my determination to distribute leaflets despite the rainy and cold weather. This left, he said, an impression on his heart, prompting him to approach me and ask questions about the message I was spreading.
I explained that I was from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat and provided him with a brief introduction to the Jamaat’s beliefs. He mentioned that he worked in Islamic Finance and expressed interest in learning more about the Jamaat. I then collected his contact details, and we agreed to meet up for further discussions. Subsequently, we met at a coffee shop a few weeks later, where I had the opportunity to get to know him better. During our conversation, I discovered that he had been a senior lecturer in Economics with a specialisation in Islamic Finance for over 17 years.
I had weekly meetings with him starting in January 2022, during which I answered, to the best of my ability, his questions about Islam and Ahmadiyyat. Over time, he became increasingly eager to learn more. The first book I gave him was The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam, which he loved. Following that, I provided him with the book An Introduction to Ahmadiyyat, which he also greatly appreciated. He then independently purchased The Great Western Revival from the internet and read it with great enthusiasm, along with Jesus in India and many other books from the Jamaat. His interest in Ahmadiyyat continued to grow.
He explained to me that during his 17 years of working in Islamic Finance, his heart had grown closer to the teachings of Islam. This was due to Islam’s emphasis on equity, absolute justice, and fairness, which he had encountered in Islamic Finance.
However, over the years he worked in Islamic Finance, he encountered many senior scholars and muftis from Sunni Islam, Shia Islam, and various other branches of Islam, but none of them could answer his questions about Islam, nor did any of them satisfy his heart. During this time, I assured him that if he was sincere and honest in his search for the truth and prayed to Allah sincerely, then Allah would open his heart to accepting the truth of Islam Ahmadiyyat. I subsequently took him to meet Ataul Mujeeb Rashed Sahib and Naseem Bajwa Sahib, both missionaries of the Jamaat, who answered his questions. He expressed that he was deeply moved by their humility and knowledge.
During this time, he began watching MTA regularly and listened to the English translation of beloved Huzoor’saa Friday Sermons. Additionally, he personally wrote a letter to beloved Huzooraa every Friday, requesting prayers for his journey to the truth. Subsequently, he had some dreams that revealed the truthfulness of Ahmadiyyat to him, which transformed his interest in Ahmadiyyat into an absolute conviction of its truthfulness. These dreams had a powerful impact on his heart.
In one particular dream, he found himself in a warzone with bombs detonating all around him, creating a life-and-death situation. However, the instruction in the dream was clear: he had to stay close to me at all times, as I was there to guide him amidst the bloodshed and violence of the war. This dream immediately convinced him that it was a sign from Allah in response to his supplications for guidance and to determine whether Ahmadiyyat was the truth or not. After a year of research and prayer to Allah for guidance, he embraced Islam Ahmadiyyat on 10 December 2022. Alhamdulillah.
However, since becoming an Ahmadi, some of his family members have disowned him, and he has lost several employment contracts with Islamic universities where he used to teach Islamic Finance. These universities no longer want him to lecture their students because he has now embraced Ahmadiyyat. He is also enduring a battle with cancer, which persists in its spread. He is encountering multiple trials and hardships, but he remains grateful to Allah for blessing him with the gift of Islam Ahmadiyyat, and he remains steadfast in his faith.
He is currently deeply engaged in tabligh activities within the Cambridge Jamaat and is on a mission to assist in building the first purpose-built Ahmadi Mosque in Cambridge, England. Eamonn Sweeney had the blessing of a mulaqat with beloved Huzooraa on 25 June 2023, along with Ibrahim Ikhlaf Sahib, Secretary Tabligh, Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya UK, and myself. During this meeting, Eamonn and my humble self shared with beloved Huzooraa the inspiring and amazing story of how Allah guided an English Jewish man to embrace Islam Ahmadiyyat. Alhamdulillah.
Indeed, it is solely through Allah’s grace that a person is guided towards the Truth. Hence, our hearts brim with gratitude for divine guidance, fervently hoping that this story of faith continues to inspire many souls. We pray that God bestows upon Brother Eamonn steadfastness, grants him a swift and complete recovery, and blesses him with a long, healthy life in the service of Islam Ahmadiyyat.
