Obituary: Mr MB Yaseen, President Guyana Ahmadiyya Anjuman

The Islamic Guardian (UK), October to December 1982 Issue (Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 30–31)

With the deepest regret, we record the passing away of Mr MB Yaseen, President of the Guyana Ahmadiyya Anjuman, in New York in October — “We belong to God, and to Him do we return. [The Holy Quran, 2:156]” Having joined the Jamaat in the late 1950s, he had been President of the Anjuman for about twenty years.

Mr Yaseen’s contribution to the propagation of Islam and the Ahmadiyya Movement in the West Indies and South America is enormous and truly incalculable. His example will serve as the brightest guiding light to those he has left behind. He was an industrialist who served God and spent his wealth profusely in the Divine cause, carrying out the great “Jihad with one’s life and property, [The Holy Quran, 9:88]” as the Holy Quran describes such struggle. But, like the true Muslim and Ahmadi that he was, never for a moment did he consider himself, on account of his wealth and means, to be more than an ordinary man. He was utterly humble and thoroughly unassuming.

In his native Guyana, Mr Yaseen used to deliver speeches on radio religious programmes. He also financed his Jamaat’s advertisements in the national newspapers of Guyana. All conferences and conventions of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement would receive his fullest support and backing. It will be remembered with fondness here that he came to London in 1975 as a leading participant in the convention of that year.

Mr Yaseen’s great passion was to construct a grand mosque for the Jamaat in Guyana. The land was bought and the work began about two years ago. It is situated in the best area of the capital, Georgetown, and will be the largest mosque in the country.

Alas, he was not to see the completion of his dream. Doctors diagnosed a fatal heart condition and he had to go to New York for treatment. Even with his end approaching, his greatest concern was the welfare of the Jamaat and the mosque project. He telegrammed his brothers to come to New York, and there he charged them with the task of continuing his life-long work after him.

May God shower His blessings upon his soul, and raise him to the highest ranks in the after-life!

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