Wherever he was sent

As a waqif-e-zindagi he did not choose where he lived. He was posted, and he went: from a small town in Punjab to Damascus, to West Africa, and to Germany, four continents in ninety years. The postings came at short notice and they were not free of cost. His own manuscripts carry a chapter on parting from his wife and children once again, and he wrote of the state his wife and young daughter were in as he boarded the train at Rabwah. Each place below carries what the documents record about it, and where that record can be read.

1. Bhera

   1927

   Born 16 April 1927 in Bhera, Punjab.

2. Qadian

   1944

   He passed matriculation from the Government High School in Bhera in 1944 and entered the Talim-ul-Islam College that opened in Qadian the same year. He writes: "I was given Roll Number One. In this respect I can say that I am the first student of the Talim-ul-Islam College." Roll numbers in that first intake were allotted by marks obtained in the university examination. He was given Roll No. One a second time in the college's first degree class at Lahore, and notes that he does not know why, since his F.Sc. marks were by no means the highest: "it was a strange coincidence that, as in the Intermediate class, in the degree class too I had the honour of being the college's first student." He tells the Roll Number One story in Frankfurt against the retired mayor Dr Wilhelm Fay, whose car carried the number plate F AY 1, F being Frankfurt's letter, which is what prompted his reply.

   His own Urdu manuscript¶25
3. Damascus

   1956

   The Tabshir office had told him in advance that he would spend six months in Damascus before going on to Ghana, to gain command of Arabic. In the event he stayed nine: he left Rabwah in February 1956 and reached Accra in November 1956. The planned six months were running out just as the Suez war broke out; a state of emergency was declared, flights to and from Damascus and Beirut were suspended, and his departure was postponed indefinitely. He left in November 1956.

   His own Urdu manuscript¶219
4. Ghana

   1956

   He travelled by car to Beirut and flew via Benghazi to Accra, arriving on a day in November 1956. Because he had sent no word ahead, nobody met him at the airport.

   His own Urdu manuscript¶221
5. Rabwah

   1960

   He came back from Ghana in February 1960, and spent his four months of earned leave teaching science to the ninth and tenth classes at the Talim-ul-Islam High School in Rabwah. Before the leave was over he was told to report to Jamia Ahmadiyya as a professor, under Rector Syed Mir Daud Ahmad.

   His own Urdu manuscript¶114
6. Hamburg · Frankfurt

   1964 to 1967

   His first period in West Germany ran from June 1964 to December 1967. He reached Frankfurt by way of Karachi on 20 June 1964. The German mission's central office was then in Hamburg, in the charge of Chaudhry Abdul Latif; the Imam of the Frankfurt mosque at that time was Chaudhry Mahmood Ahmad Cheema. After one night in Frankfurt he went on to Hamburg.

   His own Urdu manuscript¶249
7. Nigeria

   1968 to 1972

   The memoir heads this chapter "My first mission period in Nigeria (July 1968 to September 1972)" and states elsewhere that he came to Nigeria as Amir and Missionary In-charge in mid-1968, taking over from Sheikh Nasiruddin.

   His own Urdu manuscript¶127
8. Frankfurt

   1972 to 1977

   His second period in Germany ran from 1972 to 1977, as Amir and Missionary In-charge, resident in Frankfurt.

   His own Urdu manuscript¶428
9. Gambia

   1982 to 1983

   He was posted to The Gambia as Amir and Missionary In-charge from July 1982. He describes the telegram from the centre that recalled him, after nine or ten months there, to take charge in Nigeria.

   His own Urdu manuscript¶856
10. Nigeria

    1983 to 1986

    He served a second term as Amir and Missionary In-charge in Nigeria from March 1983 to 1986. He writes that during this second term, after a tour by Hazrat Khalifatul Masih III (rh), a computer and a new printing machine were acquired, and the newspaper Truth began to appear in a considerably better format. The year of that tour is cut short in his writing and reads only "19"; the site does not supply it.

    His own Urdu manuscript¶859
11. Frankfurt

    1988

    He crossed the border into Austria on the night of 25 December 1988, reaching Linz, then Munich, then Frankfurt. Schwalbach followed, from January 1989 to May 1989.

    His own Urdu manuscript¶898
12. Obertshausen

    2017

    He died on the evening of 4 March 2017 at Langen in Hesse, in his ninetieth year. His last home was at Obertshausen, in the country he had first been sent to as a young missionary in 1964 and had later served as Amir. His wife had died before him. Thirteen days later, at the Baitul Futuh Mosque in London, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V (aba) led his funeral prayer in absentia.