munirahmad2009

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In his own words: “I was born april 7th, 1926 in Oxford, Missisippi. At that time you grew up and got drafted in WWII in 1944. I served in Europe from jan 1945 – july 1945. Then went to the pacific (Japan) and to Philippines. After the war, I came home and was discharged in 1946, having served 26 months of duty. I then came back from mississipi, and got married 2 years later. From there, we moved to St Louis in 1951, where I went to barber college. Imbrahim Khalil was an Ahmadi who owned the barber shop where I started my apprenticeship. I was listening more than he thought I was, as I accepted Islam Ahmadiyyat in 1953 along with his wife. I started going to the meetings on Sundays and my wife started coming along as well and met some sisters there. One of my most memorable keepsakes from those days is a letter signed by Hazrat Khalifatul Masih II. Eventually, I was elected vice president and I tried doing the best I could.

We raised four children, 3 girls and 1 boy. In St. Louis, we worked hard to establish Islam … in 1955 Abdul Shukoor Kunzi (german missionary sent to U.S.) came to St Louis and was placed in charge of the Midwest circle. We were very close and worked together for 5 years and he influenced me a lot. He told me that ‘You and your wife are going to play a great role in Ahmadiyyat in St. Louis - to help young people to keep things going.’ I never aspired to hold office. The Pakistani community wasn’t that large but they supported me.

I had become vice president in 1953-54 and became effective president soon after. Brother Rasheed Ahmad came in 1955 the same year as Brother Kunzi. Brother Rasheed Ahmad left St. Louis 1957 and then I became president. I was president till 2006.

Before I was president I had a dream that I was leading the prayers. I guess that was an indication of what was to come and to prepare me mentally. I attended all of the conventions, my first was in 1954 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

We always had jumah services even though we had jobs, and kept all the basic activities together. We did the best we could to teach each other. We just kept going and praying that a day would come when we could get a teacher to help us.

Now we have a mosque that is being built and will be finished in 2008, insha Allah. We started with 2,300 dollars that came from selling the old building … We had an old building that we were using located in a rundown part of the city. We would gain a convert here and a convert there. We started holding meetings in a hotel. Some of us had two jobs. We did quite a bit of publicity, talk shows, inter-faith meetings. We hated that our children had to go to non-Ahmadi schools. This is one of the areas where we think we failed. I think that was an area where we lost a lot of people and we are still paying a price for that.

We met Khalifatul Masih III in 1975 and met Khalifatul Masih IV there except he wasn’t a khalifa then. But we had a chance to visit their home. We went to Rabwah for Jalsa Salana in 1975 and 1976. It was very inspiring for us to go and come back and share our experiences. From Rabwah we went to Qadian. The Ahmadis from Qadian met us at the border. It was quite a lovely experience, we liked it very much.

I am 83 now. And now hope that some of our young people hold fast to the rope and use their education not only for their own careers but for the movement as well.

The message to Khuddam is the same as the message to jamaat - We need to keep working and talking about how to spread true Islam and Ahmadiyyat. The best way is to practice it as it should be and to increase our own knowledge and then teach it to others. Also, Ahmadis being so spread out is a big problem. Khalifatul Mashi III indicated that nuclear war was hanging over our heads and encouraged us to acquire properties in areas outside of industrialized, city areas. We bought these plots, but we were not able to interest high officials and make the plan come to fruition where our children could live together, African-Americans and Pakistanis.

We kept it going - that is the main thing. We kept it alive. Maybe not as fast as we wanted but we kept it going. Sadiq enterprise started in 1972 and kept that going 1978. We bought the house that we used as a mosque in 1972. It is still there.

We live in some great, tough times and we have to realize that. And those of us who have kids have got to be thinking ahead. We have some racial problems that the country is affected with. But we have to remember the teachings of Islam. We have teenage boys who want to get into loud music and so on, and we are not getting our children married like we should. We need to get our kids married in the movement as much as possible. We were not able to avoid some of the influence of Elijah Muhammad and Farrakhan because this country has 300-400 years of slavery and people have developed complexes over the years. … but we were very friendly with Pakistanis and they were very friendly to us, my wife had no problems with Pakistani sisters ….”

Contact Information:
Muthamim/Director of Tarbiyyat NauMobaeen (Coverts)
Email: naumobaeen@mkausa.org