The Light May 2020 05

May 2020 The
Light 5
imam, Moulvi Nasir Ahmad, said to Majeed that
he is a trouble maker and should not go back
there. So, Majeed Ali, Hoosein Gani and M. B. Yasin,
who was going to a different mosque in
Queenstown, decided to form their own Jamaat.
This is how the Jamaat in Guyana started. They
created the Ahmadiyya Anjuman.
Three or four times a week, we used to
meet at the sea wall and discuss what to do.
Majeed Ali and M. B. Yasin and a few others
whom I didn’t know put their funds together
and rented a building for a mosque, in Lousia
Row. There was an imam who came from Kitty
to lead the prayers on Fridays. Maulvi Rasheed
became the imam later. Majeed Ali usually came
to pick me up three or four times a week. I got
married to Akela in 1955. She used to be very
annoyed when I went out, leaving her alone. So
I had to explain to her our purpose gradually
and eventually she understood and got involved
with the ladies section.
We used to put big boards with slogans of
Islam and the name Guyana Ahmadiyya Anjuman
at the bottom. Muslims would refuse to
have the board in their yard, but we put them up
in the property belonging to Hindus and Christians.
These boards had slogans like: “Mankind
is a single nation.” “Muhammad is the Last
Prophet”. “There will be no prophet after me.”
These were written in florescent paint which
could be seen at night. This had a high impact
on publicising the Anjuman. Then gradually we
had a magazine – The Muslim Times with Hoosein
Ganie as editor. All our literature and the
magazine were free. As time went on, we had a
radio programme called ‘Back to the Quran’. We
had a song group led by a guy named Alli. He
was a good singer.
In those days you could not go to the masjid
with short sleeve shirts or not wearing a hat. As
far as women were concerned, they were not allowed
near the mosque. There was a bold sign
at the Queenstown Mosque saying “Women Not
Allowed”. All these barriers we broke down,
gradually one by one. I can very well remember
that on the last Friday of Ramadaan, my grandmother
used to go to the masjid to listen to the
khutba but she was not allowed to go in or even
the gallery. She had to be standing outside all
the time, and quietly leave when the khutba finished.
When we went to weddings, we had to
carry the invitation with us to show when challenged,
if we were indeed invited. And there we
distributed our literature to people who were
present.
In many cases, there were arguments over
the articles. But it was effective in a way because
the Anjuman became more popular. One wedding
I attended and a prominent member of
Sunni Jamaat was there eating from a plate,
which had the name Ahmadiyya Anjuman written
on the back, and he was saying horrible
things about the Anjuman. So I told him: “Do
you know that the plate of food you are holding
belongs to the Ahmadiyya Anjuman”. I said: “Lift
it and read the name on the back”. He dropped
the plate with food on the floor and started
cursing and left the wedding and went home.
This is how bitter was the opposition.
There were many incidents of this nature,
but we were not disheartened. We just carried
on regardless because we were on the right
track. Many times after our meeting we would
end up at Mr Kamaladeen’s shop, eating fried
chicken. He was an excellent supporter, and he
is Rehanna’s father.
When I came to the UK in 1960, I went to
Woking Mosque and met Maulana S. M. Tufail.
He was quite interested to learn what was going
on in Guyana. After that meeting, I kept in touch
with him until 1974 when we formed the present
Jamaat that is holding the convention today.
You know the rest. Despite all the opposition
this Anjuman still survives and in it is in existence,
doing the very best under current circumstances.
I am so sorry I am not able to be
there. But carry on regardless. Best wishes and
Allah be with you all. (Return to contents)
Islam and Mental Health
By Gavin AbdulHamid
Bushe
(Editor’s Note: Gavin Bushe
is a member of the Lahore-
Ahmadiyya Community
Lahore Ahmadiyya Community