Obituary: Mian Fazl-i Ahmad Sahib
The Light (UK), May 2007 Issue (pp. 1–2)
It is with the deepest regret that we announce the death, in Lahore on 1st April [2007], of Mian Fazl-i Ahmad sahib, a senior-most figure in the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Lahore — inna li-llahi wa inna ilai-hi rajiun. He reached 89 years of age on the day of his sad demise. The Mian sahib was a son-in-law of Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Ali and son of Shaikh Mian Muhammad who had held the office of President of Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam Lahore for a time in the 1950s. The Mian sahib himself was for long Financial Secretary of the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Lahore and Chairman of its Foreign Missions Committee. In this latter capacity, and by virtue of his many visits outside Pakistan, he was well known in the foreign branches of the Anjuman in Europe and North and South America.
The Mian sahib gave much time, money and energy for the work of the Anjuman over many decades. He extended his warm and gracious hospitality to many visitors from Ahmadiyya branches abroad who went to Lahore and he helped them in every way during their stay. While being a wealthy industrialist, he was at the same time a highly refined and cultured man. He was sociable and genial with everyone equally, whether they were high or low, rich or poor. He addressed gatherings of the Jamaat [Movement] on many occasions and his speeches, usually impromptu, always suited the moment and captured the mood of the audience perfectly.
The Mian sahib was a very engaging raconteur and conversationalist. One incident he related was that once he went to see a friend, a leading businessman, and he found there another visitor already with his friend. The visitor was a leading Maulana of the Jamaat Islami, a religious-cum-political party in Pakistan which is in the forefront of branding Ahmadis as non-Muslim. The friend introduced the two, and told his visitor that Mian sahib was a Lahore Ahmadi. The Mian sahib instantly said to the Maulana:
“Please make me a Muslim”,
referring to the fact that Ahmadis, of course, already do what is required to make a person a Muslim, namely, profess the Kalima. The Maulana laughed and replied:
“Let it go, Mian sahib. All this is just politics”.
Here, then, is a confession, albeit privately, by a leading figure of the Jamaat Islami that declaring Ahmadis as non-Muslim is nothing other than political power play, having no connection with any religious issue. We extend our condolences to Mian Fazl-i Ahmad sahib’s wife, Tahira begum, and other family members, and pray that Allah grants him forgiveness, receives him into His mercy, raises his grades in the Hereafter and makes him join the righteous servants who departed earlier — Ameen.