The Rider of Rasheed City: Brother Hany of Egypt
The Rider of Rasheed City: Brother Hany of Egypt
By Naveed Malik, Boston, USA.
Cairo, Egypt – Hany is a kind-hearted, thoughtful and soft-spoken 23-year-old Egyptian Ahmadi Muslim. His story is remarkable. Before I tell it, let me tell you how I came to befriend this brother. After the US Jalsa, I flew to
The Ameer of the Jama’at kindly allowed me to stay at the guesthouse. My second day in
I had already heard about a well-known scholar who had accepted Ahmadiyyat some years ago (more on him later). So I took a cab to the home of Mr. Mustafa Thabit (who appears on MTA al Arabiyya), where Jumah prayers are held. After the sermon, several people came up to me to introduce themselves. One of them was Hany.
Hany was pleasant and welcomed me in English. Later that evening, he and Syed Fathy Abdel Salam, the scholar I just mentioned, came to the guesthouse. Syed Fathy sahib’s routine is to spend the weekend at the guesthouse serving the cause of the Jama’at. Hany came along to learn and assist, and while here, I got a chance to learn about him. Hany was born into a Wahhabi Muslim family. But he never really believed in some of the things he was taught.
Even as a youngster, he would ask his Qur’anic teacher, “How come tawaffah means death everywhere in the Qur’an except when it refers to Jesus?” He was given answers that left him unfulfilled. Around this time last year, meaning the summer of 2007, he came across the concept of Ahmadiyyat. He heard it from a non-Ahmadi, and what he heard wasn’t very flattering.
“I never liked to learn about a religion from a person from a different religion. So I went to learn about Ahmadiyya myself.”
Hany went to IslamAhmadiyya.net, which is the Jama’at’s official website in Arabic. He also logged on to watch MTA3: Al Arabiyya.
“I was shocked,” says Hany. He could not believe that Ahmadiyya existed, and was amazed that he had never heard of it. Now he realizes how the mainstream clerics have actively tried to suppress the message of Ahmadiyyat in many Muslim countries. Hany read ‘Aina Kamalat-e-Islam”, one of the Promised Messiah’s Arabic books, and was in awe of the Promised Messiah’s command of Arabic.
At this point in the conversation, I mentioned that I wanted to memorize “Al Qaseedah” (the Arabic poem the Promised Messiah wrote in praise of the Holy Prophet Muhammad), and Syed Fathy sahib asked me, “Which Qaseedah?”
“What do you mean ‘which Qaseedah?’”, I retorted, “You mean there’s more than one?”
Syed Fathy sahib quickly went and retrieved a thick book comprising the Promised Messiah’s Arabic poetry, which includes a poem comprised of more than 500-verses in praise of Prophet Muhammad (sa). When I asked this former
In a deliberate and magnificent tone he said, “It is of the highest caliber there is! The only way an Indian could have written these poems is with the Help of Allah. It is a simple equation: An Indian man plus the Help of Allah equals these poems. Without the Help of Allah, there are no poems. They are a proof of his truth! The benchmark for judging the Qur’an itself and the poems of the Promised Messiah are … the same,” he explained. “It is written in an ancient, classical style, which is also used to assess the quality of the Holy Qur’an. It has never happened in history that a poem of 500 verses was written in the same form and with such unprecedented command of Arabic.” And this is just one of several.
That left me tingling. Hany added, “Oh yes, his Arabic was so great. It was one of the reasons I accepted Ahmadiyya, because I could not believe that any person, especially from “Al Hind”, meaning
He then told me about a dream he had in those days, last November. In it, he was riding a horse, and leading the people of
He wrote to the Jama’at and said he wanted to meet Ahmadis in
And while I thought the story ended there, that was just the beginning. He returned to
“My friend Hasan, who is 25, came to me”, recalls Hany. “He is very wise”, Hany said to me, with a smile on his face. “Why?”, I asked, “because he accepted Ahmadiyyat too?”, I guess. “Yes!”, Hany exclaims. Now there were two Ahmadis in
Egged on by his brother, Hasan’s father wrote a letter to him, disowning him and instructing him to leave their home. But before leaving, Hasan recalled that when he would explain Ahmadiyyat to his mother (and neither his mother nor father were religious), his mother would be in awe, and remark “Now that sounds like Islam to me!” Nonetheless, Hasan moved out of his home and city and is doing well these days.
The story continues. Ahmad, the brother-in-law of Hany’s so-called friend who reported the news of his conversion everywhere, came to Hany. Ahmad was 27, my age. He pulled Hany aside and asked him, “Have you accepted someone saying he is Imam Mahdi?” “Yes,” replied Hany in a humble voice. “Tell me, what does he say about Dajjal.” When asked this very direct question, Hany thought to himself, “Why is he asking me so much a direct question about Dajjal, and not the basics?” As soon as he finished explaining the Promised Messiah’s beliefs on Dajjal, Ahmad said, “I want to do bai’at.” Now there were three. Mind you, it has been less than two weeks since Hany’s own bai’at. We’re still in November 2007.
And yes, the story continues. Muhammad, 20, Hany’s former neighbor, heard about Ahmadiyyat in his own town. When he was visiting
But as I mentioned earlier, Hany was receiving all sorts of attention, and not all of it was positive. One night in April, just a few months ago, he heard a knock on the door. When he answered it, a man asked him if he was Hany Mohamed and he replied in the affirmative. The man said, “I am Osama, and I am with the Secret Police. Come with me to the station.”
Hany thought this had to do with a visa application to the
Hany is all those things I mentioned at the onset of my piece, but Hany’s not a salesman. He just soberly states the facts, which his friends (and most others around him) have never heard before, and of them, a handful has already accepted the message. Let’s pray Allah ta’la continues to grow and care for our Nau Muba’een, especially in places where secret police goes around knocking doors in the night.
The Jama’at in
Why? It’s a product of MTA3: Al ‘Arabiyya, IslamAhmadiyya.net, and Tabligh by new converts, like Hany. The message is spreading. If the mullas ban Ahmadi books, the website finds its way into people’s homes. If Ahmadis cannot build mosques, they can launch television programs. Little by little, Jama’ats in the
As for Hany, he graduated college recently and just moved to
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