© A Lahore Ahmadiyya Publication In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful The HOPE Bulletin Health, Ongoing Projects, Education Worldwide Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement (AAIIL) A California Jama‘at Project. Approved by Central Anjuman Lahore In Memory of Jalal-ud-Din Akbar Ibn-i Abdullah, Sacromento, California February 2013 (Supplement) Acting Editor: Nasir Ahmad, B.A., LL.B. May Contents Page Editorial Note… 3 A Brief Life profile of Mrs. Akhtar Jabeen Aziz, 4 by her family A Remarkable Mother-in-Law 16 Selim Ahmed 17 Teacher was an Inspiration The Slough and Royal Borough Observer Condolence Messages… 18 1 In loving memory of The late Akhtar Jabeen Aziz “The work of translation of (Mujahid-I Kabir) was undertaken by Mrs. Akhtar Aziz, M.A., M.Ed., who retired as a teacher of English in U.K. schools after 28 years of service, following an earlier teaching service of 13 years in Pakistan where she rose to Headmistress. She also obtained a certificate from the University of Texas at Austin, USA, in teaching English as a Second Language. She has also been an experienced translator for various bodies in the U.K. 2 legal and justice system, receiving a Police Award for her work.... Mrs. Aziz had written out the entire translation by hand painstakingly and meticulously…” (From Preface, p. ii by Dr. Zahid Aziz, in A Mighty Striving, English translation of Mujahid-i Kabir). A true Dream related by Maulana Muhammad Ali: “I have just seen a wonderful vision. I saw that I was an infant and sitting in the lap of a very comely, handsome person. I was made to understand that he was Allah Himself. This person clasped me to his bosom with love. This expression of love also made me restless so that I unbuttoned his shirt (as if even the shirt did not intervene between them), put my arms around him and clung to Him. These words then escaped my lips: Allāhumma, anta muḥibbī, faj‘alnī min aḥibbā’ik — O Allah, You love me, so make me from among those who love You.” (Mujahid- i Kabir, English translation, p. 523). ***** Editorial Note … Dear Brothers and Sisters, Assalamu alaikum We are publishing this Supplement in memory of the late Mrs. Akhtar Jabeen Aziz. She was mother of Bro. Shahid Aziz, secretary of the UK Ahmadiyya Anjuman and Dr. Zahid Aziz, author and translator of several books and whose recent revised edition of the English translation of the Qur’an by Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Ali, is a valuable contribution in its own right. The deceased was a distinguished teacher of English and a well-known interpreter and helper of the Asian community. We express our regret that so far we have not been able to complete the memorial issue of the Bulletin in memory of our late Bro. Jalal-ud-Din Akbar Abdullah. We are trying to compile to the best of our efforts Hazrat Ameer, Prof. Dr. Abdul Karim Saeed’s tour of Trinidad and Guyana to be published in the February monthly issue of the Bulletin about which late brother was very keen to cover . Details of Hazrat Ameer’s tour of Suriname and UK will be published, Inshallah, in the March issue. We hope February issue will take another week or so. Meanwhile we are issuing this Memorial Supplement dedicated to the memory of late Mrs. Aziz. May her soul rest in peace! Janaza prayer for Mrs. Aziz was offered on the back lawn of her residence at 22 Barton Road, Langley, Slough. It was led by Mr. Nasir Ahmad. All her children, grandchildren, relatives, members of the Jama‘at, friends and admirers attended the funeral service. The body was driven to the well-known Brookwood Cemetery near Woking, Surrey and her body was laid to rest with prayers seeking Allah’s forgiveness and mercy. The monthly meeting of the UK Jama‘at held on 3rd February at Darus Salaam, Wembley was dedicated to the memory of the late Mrs. Aziz. Mrs. Sumera Azhar-ud-Din Ahmad contributed a detailed account of the late Mrs. Aziz’s life and her dedicated services in the field of education and social work. We are thankful to Dr. Zahid Aziz and other members of Mrs. Aziz Ahmad’s family for providing the material and photographs. Editors: Hope Bulletin Team 3 A brief life profile… Mrs Akhtar Jabeen Aziz Compiled by her family Mrs Akhtar Jabeen Aziz, daughter of Maulana Abdul Haq Vidyarthi, died in England on 11th January 2013 at the age of more than 86 years — innā li-llāhi wa innā ilai-hi rāji‘ūn. She was the Maulana’s eldest child from his second wife, Badr-un-Nisa, whom the Maulana married after his first wife died in the 1918/19 world-wide influenza epidemic. Mrs Aziz was a retired secondary school teacher of English to immigrant children in England, first in the city of Southampton, 1966–1971, and then in the town of Slough, 1971–1991. She had also acted as interpreter for the Police, Courts, Social Services and the Probation Services, in cases involving people from Pakistan and India, from the mid-1960s till she reached 80 years of age. Living in Pakistan till 1963, she was headmistress of a school there before migrating to the UK. Life in Pakistan Akhtar Jabeen was born in Lahore in August 1926 and lived in Bhatti Gate when she was a child. This was the time when Maulana Abdul Haq Vidyarthi (1888–1977) used to be sent by the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam Lahore as missionary, orator and debater to places all over British India, especially to combat the fierce Arya Samaj campaign to convert Muslims to Arya Hinduism, as well as the Christian missionary attacks upon Islam. In the early 1930s, the Maulana built a house in the then distant suburb of Muslim Town, where several notable figures of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement were building their houses to move out of the congested centre of Lahore, and his family moved there to the address 24 Muslim Town. Maulana Abdul Haq Vidyarthi, Badr-un-Nisa, Author of Muhammad in who was daughter of Hakim Shah World Scriptures Nawaz of Rawalpindi, well known Ahmadi scholar. As the Maulana was frequently away from his family, and earned only a modest salary as a missionary of the Anjuman, his wife Badr-un-Nisa (1904–1957) played a most important role in bringing up the children, running the house, and even earning a livelihood. It may be added here that the Maulana often used to take his own mother with him on his missionary tours. Mrs Aziz’s mother, known generally as Apa Ji Badr, was a teacher in a girls’ primary school, later becoming headmistress. She was renowned in the Punjab in her profession as an excellent teacher, strict disciplinarian, and efficient organiser, who had extraordinary courage, clarity of mind and strength of will. She applied the same qualities at home. Unfortunately, Apa Ji Badr suffered from tuberculosis from 4 a time when Mrs Aziz was a teenager and this meant that Akhtar Jabeen, being the eldest, had at times to take care of her mother, the house and the younger siblings. In connection with her mother’s tuberculosis, Mrs Aziz accompanied her when she went for a lengthy stay for treatment at the Dadar sanatorium in 1944, where the late Hazrat Ameer Dr Saeed Ahmad Khan sahib was Superintendent. As Dr Saeed Ahmad did not consider it safe for the teenage Akhtar Jabeen to reside in the sanatorium, he accommodated her in his own house. Here she used to see his family members every day. This was before the present Hazrat Ameer Dr A.K. Saeed was born. She also had her younger sister Rehana with her, to look after. Twice daily Mrs Aziz had to perform the arduous task of cooking food for her mother and then carrying it on foot to the sanatorium which was a long distance from the house. Eventually, Dr Saeed Ahmad advised that a full treatment would require a much longer stay, and Apa Ji Badr decided that this was not practical and they returned to Lahore, where she resumed her school teaching. Mrs Aziz used to say that her mother believed that what matters is not whether you are holding a high post or a low post, but that you do your job to the highest standard. A school cleaner excelling in his job, Apa Ji Badr used to say, was more valuable than a teacher not doing her job properly. Hearing of the renown of the school where Badr-un-Nisa sahiba was headmistress, the British governor of the Punjab, along with his wife, once came to visit the school. Apa Ji Badr sent a message outside saying that as it was a girls’ school, and the parents had entrusted their daughters to her supervision, so while the governor’s wife was welcome, he being a male was not allowed inside. The governor was impressed by her boldness and remained outside while his wife visited the school. Apa Ji Badr also strongly encouraged education within own her family. Due to this, her elder son Abdus Salaam Sheikh (d. 2011) obtained a Ph.D. in Chemistry (Australia) and was a renowned homeopathic practitioner in Lahore, and her younger daughter Gul Rehana (d. 2000) became a medical doctor. Both sadly pre-deceased Mrs Aziz. Apa Ji Badr believed that teaching should be started from a child’s earliest age, and she wanted both boys and girls to be educated to the highest level they could reach.