Asif Munir, New Zealand
As Jalsa Salana Germany approaches, we are reminded of the deeply inspiring history of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in Germany. We must not forget devoted individuals like Hadayatullah Hübsch Sahib, who dedicated his life to the cause of Islam Ahmadiyyat. He wrote countless books on Islam and Ahmadiyyat, organised numerous tabligh events, and helped wherever he could. He was always available, and everyone could count on him for assistance – but this had not always been the case. No one would have imagined that he would one day join Islam one day and change the course of his life. Before embracing Islam, he had been a Christian, a Buddhist, an artist, a poet, and a hippie. However, when he discovered Islam, his life took a new direction. He continued to express himself as an artist and a poet, while leaving the other things behind.
Before accepting Islam Ahmadiyyat
Hadayatullah Hübsch Sahib was born on 8 January 1946 and was born in a middle-class Christian family in Chemnitz, East Germany. His name before accepting Islam was Paul-Gerhard Hübsch.
From a young age, Hadayatullah Sahib had a keen interest in literature, arts, poetry, and philosophy. He would hang around with people who shared these interests, listening to rock music and exchanging poems. He was impressed by the lifestyles of some rebellious poets, such as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. He also became politically active, often criticising the use and manufacturing of nuclear weapons.
Hadayatullah Sahib became well known because of his poetry. He published his poems in various magazines. He also became the programme manager at one of the most popular literary-political clubs in Germany at that time, ‘Club Voltaire’. There he met the first hippies, who showed him a completely new way of life. He realised what great contradictions there were among the socialist students and so, in the spring of 1968, he resigned from his work at Club Voltaire and turned to the hippies.
Search for God Almighty
Hadayatullah Sahib was in a state of despair as he searched for inner peace. He studied Zen Buddhism and believed that he had found a new purpose in life. After experiencing all the highs and lows of worldly life and its artificial paradises, at the age of twenty-three, he had a frightening experience during a road trip in Morocco. Out of total despair, he ran naked into the Moroccan steppe, wearing only a rosary with a crucified Jesus around his neck. There, he experienced a miracle. He felt that an invisible force held him in place. Although he was more familiar with Buddhism and Christianity, he looked towards the sky and pleaded: “O Allah, please purify me.” He was left in a complete state of bewilderment, not even knowing who “Allah” was.
After this experience, his struggles continued. He returned to Germany via Spain, where he was arrested and institutionalised before being released on bail. Back in Germany, he witnessed a second miracle. While meditating according to yoga practices, he saw a white flash of light that seemed to lead him to a Quran on his bookshelf. Upon reading it, he immediately felt that it contained the absolute truth and decided to become a Muslim.
Hadayatullah Sahib began searching for information about Islam and how to practise it. He struggled to find a mosque in Frankfurt, eventually locating the Nuur Mosque through the Lebanese consulate. Despite his unkempt appearance – a shaved head from his time in Spanish prison, dirty jeans, and a torn leather jacket – the imam of the mosque, Masud Jhelumi Sahib, welcomed him warmly. The imam provided him with a better Quran translation, a book to learn Islamic prayer, and a booklet called “Our Teaching” by the Promised Messiahas.
Life-changing Incident
One day when he went to the mosque, it was the day that was destined to change his life forever. Hadayatullah Sahib writes about that day:
“I was twenty-five, and every mosque I visited was turning me away, except for the Noor Mosque. I immediately went to the prayer room and began my prayers. All I wanted was to pray, to learn how to pray. At that time, non-Muslims were often not allowed to touch the Quran. This was the struggle I faced. However, the Ahmadiyya Muslims allowed me to attend their service. The room wasn’t yet filled with people when an elderly man with a large white turban and a flowing white beard stood gracefully on the pulpit and spoke in a foreign language. I quietly sat down, fearing I might be turned away again. I wondered about the identity of this distinguished figure and the language he was speaking. Suddenly, he fell silent and, for a moment, seemed to be hidden behind the pulpit. My curiosity grew about what was happening. When he stood up again, he looked directly at me, and I saw a powerful, radiant light emerging from his eyes and piercing mine. I went blind and could not see anything until the prayer service began. The entire experience was unique and bewildering. Later, I realised it was Jumu‘ah, and the holy man at the pulpit was Hazrat Mirza Nasir Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih IIIrh. I embraced Islam, and the Caliph gave me the name Hadayatullah, meaning ‘the one guided to Allah himself.’” (Ibid.)
People join the community for various reasons and in different ways, and this reason or method tends to influence their personality throughout their lives. Hübsch Sahib joined the community not due to intellectual arguments or anyone’s preaching but through spiritual experiences, which shaped his relationship with Allah and his understanding of prayer and trust in a unique manner.
Hadayatullah Sahib took bai’at in July 1970 and from that day he began a new chapter in his life. The blessed meeting with Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IIIrh became the foundation stone for the love he developed towards Khilafat. Later in his life he had the honour to serve the mosque as an imam.
Devotion to the Jamaat
Hadayatullah Hübsch Sahib changed his life completely by dedicating his life to Islam. He moved away from his friends and wrote many books and articles for the Jamaat, such as Der Weg Mohammeds (The Way of Muhammad); Prophezeiungen des Islam (Prophecies of Islam); and Fanatische Krieger im Namen Allahs (Fanatical Warriors in the Name of Allah) and even translated the classical Islamic work, Tadhkirat al-awliya’ , into German.
Hadayatullah Sahib was a main pillar of the German Jamaat. He spent all his time spreading the true teaching of Islam. Since 1990, Hübsch Sahib served as the director of ‘Der Islam’, the publishing house of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, and acted as a spokeman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in Germany. He dedicated himself to interfaith dialogue and travelled across Germany to give lectures on the Jamaat’s teachings. He used to write for one of the most famous nationwide newspapers of Germany, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
In 1991, Hadayatullah Sahib wrote his autobiography called “Keine Zeit für Trips,” meaning, ‘no time for trips.’ Trip is a colloquial term for a psychedelic experience. He described in a compelling manner his past, the confusion he faced, and the vision of light that guided him to Islam. He was a man who possessed many great qualities, which made him a great servant of Islam. A humble and quiet man, until someone attacked Islam, he passionately defended Islam with great zeal, and his work stands as a testament to this dedication.
Hadayatullah Hübsch Sahib travelled to Qadian and Rabwah and came to love these sacred places. He became so intrigued that he decided to move to Qadian. The unfamiliar tongue did not stop him, for he felt he had found his true purpose. Qadian always had a special place in his heart because it was the birthplace of the Holy Founderas of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat. He recommended every new convert to visit Qadian, as he believed that anyone could attain the true teaching of Islam in Qadian. In 1977, Abdullah Uwe Wagishauser Sahib, the current amir of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in Germany, arrived in Qadian and met Hadayatullah Sahib. The two Germans were a thousand miles away from their home. Together, they were at the forefront of tabligh when they came back to Germany. Hadayatullah Sahib’s understanding of the young generation was something special. Not only young people relied on him, but also new converts.
He was an academic and an eloquent speaker who would deliver speeches at the Jalsa Salana and at ijtemas. He also had the privilege to teach German at Jamia Ahmadiyya Germany. He passed on his knowledge of Islam through books and many people would read these books and accept Islam Ahmadiyyat. By the grace of Allah, he wrote many books and articles, which can be found on www.ahmadiyya.de.
Relationship with Khilafat
Hadayatullah Sahib had a great relationship with Hazrat Mirza Nasir Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih IIIrh. Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih IVrh, knew Hadayatullah Sahib prior to his Khilafat because he met him in Rabwah and multiple times in Frankfurt. He had a close relationship with him.
Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmadrh would visit Germany frequently. Whenever he held a Q&A session, Hadayatullah Sahib had the privilege and honour to be the translator. While translating, he showed a skill that no one had seen before. Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmadrh would sometimes talk for over fifteen minutes and then realise that he had forgotten to tell Hadayatullah Sahib to translate. Surprisingly, Hadayatullah Sahib would start translating immediately, which left the audience astonished because his translation would be accurate despite the length of what he had to translate. Hadayatullah Sahib however would always stay humble and would always be in the background and did not want to be at the centre of attention due to his important work.
In the year 2003, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IVrh passed away. This left Hadayatullah Sahib and the whole Jamaat devastated. Hadayatullah Sahib was also part of the electoral board for election of the fifth caliphate.
Demise and Message from Huzooraa to all German Ahmadis
Hadayatullah Hübsch Sahib passed away at home on 4 January 2011, due to heart failure. As soon as the members of the community were informed, there was an outpouring of grief and condolences from all sides. Many people, coming from near and far, attended the funeral at Südfriedhof in Frankfurt. Huzooraa sent respected Abdul Majid Tahir Sahib, Additional Wakil-ut-Tabshir, as his representative from London to attend the funeral, who also led the funeral prayers. On 7 January 2011, during the Friday sermon, Huzooraa also mentioned Hadayatullah Hübsch Sahib with appreciation:
“Hadayatullah Hübsch Sahib was a simple and sincere person. He excelled in trust in God, belief, faith, fidelity, love and sincerity. He loved Khilafat and did not desire to have any differences. He offered pre-dawn prayers. He invited me to his home and showed me his library. He was ecstatic that I was visiting him. He was a scholar […] Sixteen newspapers ran his story at his death. The Minister of Religious Affairs commented on his death. German Ahmadis should follow in his footsteps and expound the supremacy of Islam.”
Huzooraa once mentioned that Allah Almighty would bless Germany, recalling how Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra had once said: “A time will come of great progress of the Jamaat in Germany, and it will spread.” Also, Huzoor’saa respected mother, Hazrat Sahibzadi Nasira Begum, saw in a dream that she was presented the keys to Germany.
Indeed, the Jamaat in Germany has witnessed how Germans accepted Islam Ahmadiyyat and one of the greatest examples was Hadayatullah Sahib. He was not only guided by God Almighty Himself, but he was the source of guiding many other Germans to Islam Ahmadiyyat. May Allah Almighty bless us with other great personalities such as Hadayatullah Sahib and may Allah Almighty raise Hadayatullah Hübsch Sahib’s status in heaven. Amin.
(Originally published in Majallatul Jamia, 2018)