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| Houston, We Have a QRC! A Memoir |
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Houston, We Have a QRC! A Personal Memoir by Safeer Bhatti Philadelphia Majlis Many Astronauts have been quoted throughout history. Two such astronauts aboard the US Apollo 13 faced a difficulty. Immediately, they paged Houston and used the famous popular cultural term we use today: “Houston, we have a problem.” As a young child... I was fortunate to assimilate many clichés, metaphors and different colloquial sayings. One such saying was the above mentioned US Apollo 13 quote, “Houston, we have a problem.” On November 16th 2007, I had the chance to be the ten year old aspiring astronaut and explore Houston. But, I regret to inform that I did not have a problem in Houston and the popular phrase, “Houston, we have a problem,” should be revolutionized to “Houston, we have a QRC!” Replacing problem with QRC was challenging because I was changing the system of colloquial speech, but I felt that QRC was more appropriate to describe Houston or at least what I miss of it. QRC stands for: Qaideen Refresher Course. It is a course designed for Qaideen across the country to have a three day conference about understanding their goals, assessing their challenges and resolving their conflicts. It was a conference about the enhancement of leadership at the Majlis level. But, it was also about continuing the theme of MKA Ijtema 2007: Brotherhood. Setting foot off a good flight and exhausted from the day’s activities, brotherhood was met at the airport when Qaid Columbus grabbed my bag and exclaimed “QRC,” as if it was a secret code or terminology I was familiar with and good thing I looked it up before I boarded the flight and responded, “Yes!” My agreement was his assurance of brotherhood. Along my journey to the Baggage Claim Belt, I met Masood Ashraf Sahib who greeted me with such love and later Naib Sadr Muhammad Chaudhary Sahib said, “I was worried sick.” His worrisome was due to the fifteen minute Baggage Claim wait of my flight, but it was an everlasting concern. We boarded our transport that flew threw traffic to ensure our save arrival at the National Amila Meeting. Getting off the vehicle and entering into the doorway, I was greeted by Nasir Tanauli Sahib and my old friend, Nasir Malik Sahib. After getting settled, I walked into the first meeting of QRC. We were set off with a good start by eating Glubjamin. After we retired to our quarters at Bait ul Samee Mosque, I could not sleep. Being a younger brother, I had to meet my family at QRC. Long awaited with patience, I met and hugged my big brothers with love and joy feeling as if I was torn apart from them for years. The next morning, we started off with Tahijjud and Sadr MKA Nigeria led the Dars. Some of us went back to bed while I remained wide awake because my laughter of joy could not stop. Saturday was a beautiful warm day with great assessment workshops and entertainment by National Amila Members. Lunch was delicious and it prepared us for the Resource Fair that helped all of us meet National Amila Members and many Qaideen and Regional Qaideen. For break, we had Glubjamin, Barfee, and Jhelebi. After prayers and a Nizam e Jammat question and answer session, our Houston Welcoming Dinner was ready. We started off with cheese burgers, followed by Priscuit Steak, five-ten different assortments of pie and later if some had room: Ice Cream. The responses of many people were that we ate like no man before. Tired and exhausted from the exercise we received from Dinner and from the day, many of us turned in early to wait for a new day. We were also blessed this occasion by my first Sadr MKA USA and now Naib Amir, Munum Naeem Sahib, who led a beautiful question and answer session describing how he has Jammat work, work, family commitments, Humanity First, etc. His response was: “you have to keep a balance in your life.” The next day Abid Haneef and Rashid Sahib both told us their lovely tales about Tabligh of Jammat e Ahmadiyya in the United States over fifty years ago. They touched our hearts and revived our pledges. Former Qaideen were able to also receive plaques for their hard work for the whole year. Regional Qaideen: East, NY Metro, Midwest and Capital Metro all received awards for bringing all their Qaideen to QRC. Bringing 100 percent of all Qaideen was never before and never did 179 people come to a QRC for training and spiritual enhancement. Many local Amila members came as well. After the day ended, we were given good-bye presents by Hamid Sheikh Sahib who packaged Chicken Gyros for us to eat for Lunch. Our team of five: Qaid Philadelphia, Qaid Willingboro, Ataul Aleem Sahib, Asadullah Chaudhary and myself came early to the airport. As I passed by “Starbucks C-34,” I never knew this place was to become the farewell train station for attendees at QRC. It was amazing however. When I walked in, Qaid Saad Tariq and Naib Qaid Amir Rehman were sitting in the corner on a big table. Soon, the table was surrounded by many chairs. We walked in and also sat with them representing all the Qaideen from our region and Regional Amila members. As Regional Qaid Anas Mirza Sahib, Motamid Nasir Ahmad Sahib, Naib Sadr Muhammad Chaudhary Sahib, Qaid Hammad Malik Sahib and Naib Sadr Rahim Latif Sahib walked in, I had my third tear. As Starbucks was a public place, it was becoming taken over by the love of Jammat e Ahmadiyya. Sadr Sahib later walked in as well and joined people lifting off from Continental Terminal. Regional Qaid Zeeshan Hamid and Qaid Asad Bajwa came by and gave their farewell greetings. Anas Mirza Sahib gasped for breath to say, “I am sorry, but my entire region is here,” a phrase that I will remember for ever. He was apologizing to Naib Sadr Sahib who wanted to talk with him too. We were planning for our Regional QRC/Tarbiyyat event in January and completed our planning. It was a wonderful experience and a sad one to leave. Brotherhood was around that table under a football game inside Starbucks C-34. Brotherhood was everywhere. As we hugged and said good-bye to our brothers, Sadr Sahib asked me, “What I meant before about the parameters of success was that did you shed any tears this weekend?” I am famously known for pouring tears out of my heart, so I responded and stated, “yes, both were by you. One was Friday night and one was Saturday morning.” Little did he know and perhaps I forgot to mention, but the last tear was in Starbucks C-34. It was shaped like a raindrop curved in a sharp shape filled with immense oxygen breathing brotherhood. -Safeer Bhatti QRC 2007 participant |
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