At Huzoor’s instigation tomorrow, Khuddam and possibly some Ansar will be doing some 26-mile walk towards Islamabad. Could you kindly tell us some background of this? People are not very clear about it. I mean people do take such excursions, don’t they? They make such excursions normally and Khuddam should also participate in these healthy activities and there doesn’t have to be any other explanation than this. You know they go for marathon races and things and Ahmadiyya should be tougher than the ordinary people living in the same country.
In Pakistan for instance, Jamia Ahmadiyya expects their students after they have submitted their PhD to go through some strenuous exercises before that, unless they have done it, they will not be given any degree and the walk is from Rabwah to Sargodha and back. I think the race, the running or jogging is between Rabwah and Sargodha, but as far as the walk is concerned, it’s much longer, from Rabwah to Peshawar or 200-300 miles in some direction, with the condition that they cannot carry money, they cannot beg anything, beg anyone for food or anything. But if somebody offers them food, they can expect it.
They can go and sleep in the mosques, if they please, but they shouldn’t even beg for some, you know, lodging place, something. So this they do and with the grace of Allah, they return successfully whole and alive. Sometimes they have to undergo great hardships. Sometimes they have told me for 24 hours, nobody offered them anything and they had to shift without anything, just for themselves. So this is a tradition of Jamaat. In Qadian, Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya participated in all exercises, games and healthy pursuits outstandingly. I mean, there is no comparison between the Jamaat’s activities and the activities around or in the country as well.
For instance, in most of the games, not most but in some games, the Qadian was outstanding despite its very small population. I mean, what was Qadian as compared to Lahore or even Amritsar? There is no comparison in population and resources. And the Qadian football teams used to defeat Khalsa College, Amritsar and some colleges of Lahore and the Rabwah hockey team used to defeat the entire Punjab team, Qadian hockey team, not Rabwah. And in swimming too, we produced some champions.
In cycling, we produced Indian champion, Asian champion. And as far as shooting and games are concerned, I mean, bird games, almost every adult person of Qadian was a sort of shikari. If he did not own a gun, he would have a gulel, a catapult or he would go for fishing. So because Qadian discouraged unhealthy pursuits, luxurious pursuits, so there had to be a national event. And this was it, because there was no cinema, no theatre, nothing, no nightclub and things. So man must live with some pleasure.
So if you obstruct one passage, another passage is opened, which is held here with the U.S. Awala. So this is why it was directed. Now here in England, it is even more necessary, because the pleasure offered to the Ahmadiyya youth here are out of proportion, much more and more hazardous and dangerous than the small pleasures which could be available to Qadiani population. So this is why I started it. I wanted Khuddam to participate in ordinary healthy pursuits, in games, in shooting, in karate, you know, these things. They would keep them fit, they will be better equipped to serve the cause of Ahmadiyyat and also it is their right to have some source of pleasure.
And this provides a very good pleasure. Go first to the microphone, please. First go to the microphone, first ask for permission for this, go to the microphone and then address me, right? Yes, please, please, please. There was a talk about this exercise and some people criticized it, but I told them that in every army there is an endurance test and that is normally thirty miles walk and that is a precondition before the passing out parade.
So you are the God’s army and if you take up this exercise of twenty-six miles walk, certainly you will be befitting yourself and equipping yourself with the necessary vigor required for you. So they were satisfied. I think the criticism might be very small because the response was very generous and forthcoming. You know, I didn’t expect that more than one hundred people, one hundred youths from England would participate in this. I think there are more than one hundred now, they are participating, one hundred and twenty-four. And Ansar and over and above this, some Ansar have insisted and participated and also some Atfal, the children have insisted that we must also participate.
So the response here is very encouraging. And rather the trend is so useful for the future of Ahmadiyat in that particular area where they have to establish their name, fame and everything. Yes, yes, yes. And you are also a young Ansar, aren’t you? How old are you? Seventy-six and a half. Seventy-six and a half. You should take lesson, draw lesson from him. He was once our missionary in Hungary and I sent him on a mission to Hungary this time and he went and fished out the old contacts and he was surprised to find those people who were younger than him when he was there, looking much older than he was now. So I encouraged them and told him, look, I mean, be brave and feel young about it. Why have you grown old? Look at me. You know, I’m doing the work very well.
So with the grace of Allah, he performed his mission wonderfully, beautifully and traced back some very old contacts which will inshallah be very useful to our preaching in Hungary now. Also in Poland, he did very well. Nobody could imagine that by looking at him that he is seventy-eight. Cheema sahib, how old are you? I’m sixty-nine now. See, and you look older than he is, don’t you? Only in one thing you are younger. You still intend to marry and he has lost all hope in that direction. And he is junior in the number of marriages we made. You did four? I see. Is that the secret of your youth? You married four times? Four times. I see. One after the other or consecutively?
Sir, as you built this Kharia for the Greenal Khuddamul Ahmadiyya gathering, at that time I had three at a time in those three motifs around me. Mashallah. Now, Cheema sahib, can you compete with him? And I think still he can walk more than many young men here in England, longer distances. You know, there was one, in old days, Ahmadis were very tough, in fact. And because of these exercises, their interest in games and things and shikar, they used to walk miles and miles without tiring. And because of that training, I did once 34 miles here in London while I was here. And during our visits to the hill stations, we used to walk 20 miles, 22 miles ordinarily. I mean, that was not any tough or tiring job at all.
So this was the general background of people born in Qadian and brought up in that atmosphere. An old Ahmadi met me in Nasirabad state. He is about 115 years old or more. After assessing his age from various directions and having various witnesses, this was the minimum age established for him. Even though he himself claims he is about 125 years old. And he is the grandfather of an old man who is about 70 years old, you see. And he can walk from Nasirabad to Kundri, that is 6 miles, and back at this age, and he walks straight, see. So, I don’t know why we have lowered our standards of fitness.
Here, even the, I mean, in England, although the people are supposed to be luxurious and easy in ways of life, yet they are quite advanced in every direction. In games and toughness, they have set very, very high records and standards. So, Ahmadis should compete with them in good things and beat them at their best. This is the true spirit of religion. It is said of one Muslim saint, that it was Ismail, Maulana Ismail, or some, what was the name? Suleiman. No, no, no, Ismail. Ismail, Ismail. Exactly, yes, you know the incident, yes, exactly. How long did he spend there? How many years?
Do you remember that anecdote? No, I only heard from Hazrat Musleh Maud. He mentioned it in one of his khutba sermons. That there was a talk amongst the people that that Sikh is a man-class person. And Hazrat Ismail Shaheed, he had a Sikh, non-believer. He had Ismail Shaheed, that’s it, now I remember. Yes, yes, I know, I know. And after practicing for some time, he became interested in it and he surpassed. Right. Hazrat Maulana Ismail Sahib Shaheed is reported to have heard somewhere during his tours that there was a Sikh here who is an excellent swimmer and nobody can surpass him. He is fearless. So he said, a Sikh, fearless and a Muslim can’t beat him? I can’t tolerate this. It hurts me.
So he stayed there, deferred his journey and stayed there for some years. He learned how to swim, then he practiced and he did not leave that spot until he had beaten that Sikh hollow in his own department. And then he left. So that is what we call gharat. How do you translate gharat in English? Any idea? Kalam Sahib, you are an expert in translation. That’s one word that beats me. I asked Imam Rahim, he said, yes, you get to enjoy it. No, no, no, no, no, no. Nasir, how would you translate this? Kalam Sahib? Any idea? Well, I think hurt, pride, that is the nearest thing. Pride. Gharat. Hurt or injured pride. Pardon? I thought you wanted to offer some words. Gharat. Is hurt pride. In some cases, not always. But it has a connotation. Gharat, pride come some other words would make, would explain the meaning. In different context, different word would be required. But I don’t find one single word for gharat. No, no, ego is different altogether.
Pride in the sense that you have attachment for a cause, and that pride for that cause, if that is hurt, and you are sensitive to that, that is called gharat. You don’t want that pride to be hurt. No, vanity is absolutely vain word, don’t mention it. It doesn’t come near. There is another Urdu translation of the word. Anyway, so that should be the moving spirit here. You vie with others for the sake of Islam, having, feeling a pride in Islam which must not be hurt or injured in any way. Guard it jealously like a mother. That is called gharat. And to walk 26 miles is just a small thing, just an ordinary thing here in the western country. And to consider we have done a very great thing or in Urdu we say bada teel mara, this is just a childish thing. It should be taken as just a small start towards a great goal.
