An interesting meeting with Mohammed Ishaq, previously known as Ashok Kumar (This is linked to Babri Masjid and Balbir Singh too)
Ahmed Awwah: Assalaam o alaikum w Rehmat Ullah e w Barakatuhoo
Mohammed Ishaq: Waalaikum Assalaam
Q: Dear Ishaq bhai, we have met after 7th December, last year. Last night Abba told me that you had called that you are coming to Delhi. Abba last night only told me that i have to interview for the magazine.
A: Yes Ahmed bhai, Maulana Sahib told me today in the morning that i have to be interviewed for Armughan and that this interview will be published this month. I said that i will be very embarassed but he told me that my interview will encourage people in the field of Da'wah. Fear and apprehension of those who are working in this field will lessen and you will earn ajar, hence i agreed.
Q: Ishaq bhai, please give us your familial introduction...
A: Ahmed bhai i am from the famous district of Ram Pur in UP. I was born in a village near the town of Tandah Badli, in the Saini family on 7th December, 1967. My given name was Ashok Kumar. Pitta ji's name was Shri Pooran Singh, who was an educated man. Till class eight, i studied in the local high school, after which i shifted to a school in Ram Pur from where i did my intermediate. Then i went to Lucknow, from where i earned my diploma in Civil Engineering. I got employment in a private construction company. I was a very angry child and many a times in got into bad situations with my teachers because of this anger. Even in my place of employment i got into tiffs day in and day out, eventually i left my job because of that. I had two very close friends, and we had studied together from class one to Intermediate. One was called Yogesh and the other was called Yogendar Singh. We were all from the same community. In a way we were like brothers, we used to study together and even did exercise together. For some time we also did wrestling in an akhada. When riots broke out because of Ram janam bhoomi and Babri Masjid, then we all wanted to take part in it and had ourselves registered with Bajrang dal. We joined Advani sahibs rath at Alyaar, and travelled with them for four days. Our families were very happy at this decision of ours. One day Yogesh's father who was a teacher in the school, invited us and our respective fathers to his home. He said that we are leaving you three brothers in the service of Ram. If you die in the service of Hindism, then we don't mind and we would be very proud of you. We request you not to turn back once you start on this path as even if you die, you will be known as martyrs. They tied an angocha (a shoulder cloth in yellow color) on our heads and bid us farewell. This act on the part of our fathers really encouraged us and further fuelled our passions. On 30th October, we reached for our religious services and were immediately arrested. We were taken back to Ram pur in the train and left there. We were blazingly angry, we also beat up quite a few police officers on our way back but they tried to calm us down by saying Mulayam Singh Yadav's govt. will fall pretty soon, and when our govt. comes into power, you can fulfill your dreams of demolishing Babri Masjid. In November, 1991, to fulfill this dream of razing Babri Masjid to the ground, we reached Ayodhya. It was cold but we were not prepared for that. We stayed at various Ashrams and were quite astonished when many Sadhus forbid us from taking part in this heinous crime and tried to scare us by saying that something horrible will befall us if we took part in it. One Sadhu even said that if Ram Chandar Jee had been alive right now, then he himself would have defended Babri Masjid with all his might. We got very angry at these Sadhus. On 6th December, a huge crowd collected around Babri Masjid. Our Sanchalak or manager of the event had told us that when you receive an intimation from us, you can attack the Masjid. Uma Bharti made the war cry and we all attacked! Yogesh fell down in the crowd and people tread on him. Someone saw him and helped him up, but as a consequence he fell ill for a long time. His ribs had broken. Very happily we came back with one brick each in our possession. On our way back people were welcoming us back and our family members held a huge celebration for us. We were weighed in flowers and people kept on showering accolades on us for years on ahead.
Q: Tell us about how you accepted Islam?
A: After demolishing Babri Masjid Ahmed bhai, the three of us had fulfilled our dreams, but we lived in a state of constant dread thereafter. We were perpetually scared that something horrible will befall us and there was a feeling of impending doom on us. Sometimes, it felt as if a pillar of fire is about to descend upon us from the skies and consume us . It was especially difficult for us every year on the Babri Masjid anniversary, i.e. on 6th December. Last year i was more apprehensive than the previous years. We were so scared that we even refused to leave our houses. Once the day passed, we would finally breathe a sigh of relief. On the morning of 7th December, 1992 we left our houses, i had some work to do in Rampur and my friends also accompanied me. On the Rampur bus station we met an old classfellow of ours by the name of Raees Ahmed, when he saw us he came close to us and jokingly said that, "Ashok, get ready, it's your turn now." I said, for what? He replied, to first lose your senses and then to turn towards Islam and accept it. I told him to shut up, he replied, " Have you read the newspaper or not?" I asked him what's in the newspaper? He extracted an Urdu newspaper by the name of Sahara from his bag and read the news of Mohammed Amir and Mohammed Umar's acceptance of Islam. We were engulfed by anger and terror simultaneously. I said that it is an Urdu newspaper, what is the guarantee that it is genuine? Then he took out two Hindi newspapers and showed me the same story in both. I told him to read me the story printed in detail from the Urdu newspaper again, in a haze of anger we three friends decided to go to Phalat and enquire as to why this false news has been printed in the newspaper? We decided to take the people behind this false news to task. This rumor mongering had to stop, otherwise God knows how many Hindus will lose their faith and Sanskriti. From Rampur we sat in the bus for Meeruth and then reached Kathauli. From there we sat in a jugaad and reached our destination of Phalat. After enquiring about Maulana Sahib's address we reached his home. Maulana Sahib had gone to say his salat, when Maulana Sahib returned, one person told me that this is Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui. As I was extremely angry, in a harsh tone in enquired from Maulana Sahib that what sort of rumors are you publishing in this newspaper? The three of us were speaking in a typical Punjabi Jatt style, which is quite loud and intimidating. But God knows what sort of clay the Creator has constituted Maulana Sahib from? very softly and kindly he spoke to us and said that you are my blood brothers and you have come to my house, these misunderstandings have happened in the past and will continue in the future, please first tell me where you have come from? We told him that whe had come from Rampur Tanda Badli, then Maulana Sahib addressed us and said that my brothers, you have travelled so far in such cold weather, you must be really tired. This is your house, please come in and i will answer all your questions to the best of my ability. First come in and have breakfast and take rest. We haven't published this news, but this news is genuine. We had cooled down considerably at Maulana's treatment of us, but after hearing him say that the news was authentic we again heated up and blurted out that how can you say this is true? Are you trying to spoil honest people's faith? Maulana Sahib affectionately replied that if you want to believe it to be true then well and good if not then even i am ok with it. Coincidentally, Mohammed Amir and Mohammed Umar were in Phalat at that time with group of new Muslim reverts. Because Maulana sahib had been unable to find an ameer for this jamaat, they were staying at Phalat. In this group of new Muslims, three were from Haryana, two from Gujrat, four from UP and two amongst them were also ex Sadhus. Maulana Sahib called hafiz sahib and told him to call M. Umar (Yogesh from previous story). After a few minutes M. Umar came. Maulana Sahib introduced him to us and told us to ask him if the news was true or not? With M. Umar we went to the room next door and sat down with him, before we could settle down Maulana Sahib called out to Umar. Later on Umar told us that Maulana Sahib had called him & advised him not to get angry and to deal with us patiently, he also requested him to make prayer to Allah for us in his heart, that i will also go home and pray two rakat for them and for your help. After some tme we were presented with a lavish breakfast spread, we were all feeling quite cold, at Umar's insistence we had two cups of hot tea each, all the while he told us that both Amir and I were with Advani Sahib's rath yatra and we were also at the shootout on 30th October, in some time lunch was also served and we realized that the feeling of doom that had descended on us was most certainly true, I asked Umar feelingly with a lot of dread in my heart that what are we supposed to do now? He told me that the torment of this dunya is nothing, the real deal will hit you after death on the day of ressurection, you need to take the Shahadah and accept Islam. We were about to leave the room to consult with each other in private, when Umar told us that i have something important to do, you guys sit here and discuss. The three of us after some time reached the conclusion that we will have to accept Islam, and then we called out to Umar bhai and told him our decision. Umar bhai told us that he had gone to say two rakat in front of the real Lord and Creator for us as had Maulana Sahib, very happily Umar bhai called out to Maulana Sahib and asked him to help us take Shahadah. Maulana Sahib asked us to recite the Kalima, Ahmed Bhai we cannot describe the feeling that overtook us as we were reciting the Kalima. It was as if a dress made of thorns that had been scratching our body and soul had been taken off of us and replaced with comfortable attire. The fear ingrained in our heart took flight and we felt that we had been transported from dangerous territory to a strong fortress. Maulana Sahib named me Mohammed Ishaq, he named Yogesh, Yaqub and Yogendar was given the name Mohammed Yousuf. Then he told us the story of Hazrat Ishaq, Yousuf and Yaqub, and told us that many people had been calling him apprehensive that because of this news someone might take exception and cause rioting, Maulana Sahib used to tell those callers that as he had not had that snippet of news published, he had nothing to be worried about and that Insha Allah everything will be ok. Maulana sahib then hugged us and congratulated us on our Iman and gave us his book, "Entrusted to you, In your service"
What happened after that?
In the morning, we were grouped with Muslim reverts and a mufti sahib was appointed as our ameer. Two other people were inducted in the group to teach us about our new faith. All in all there were 15 people in this group and we stayed for one day at Meeruth. The three of us got certified as Muslims over there and then the jamaat got ready to go to Agra and Mathura. We spent a total of forty days over there. Once or twice we got into minor squabbles. One day the three of us fought with someone and decided to leave the jamaat. At night we decided that we will go away at the break of dawn, that night Yusuf saw a dream in which he saw Maulana Sahib who told him that Allah brought you on the straight path, and yet you are ready to forsake that and run back towards the darkness from which you were relieved. In the morning he told us about his dream, there and then we decided that even if we lose our lives in this quest, then even will we complete these forty days and go back to meet up with Maulana sahib. Alhamdolillah after that we stuck out till the end.
What happened after you came back from the jamaat?
Maulana Sahib asked us what our future plans were, and advised us that it would not be safe for us to go back home immediately, but we told Maulana Sahib that we are not children and that our faith and belief is our personal matter and it is our right to believe in what we think is right! We said that we will go home and try to work on our family members and we are not at threat from anyone. When we went back home, we found out that the whole atmosphere there was extremely tense and that everyone there thought that we had been murdered by the Muslims. We went to our respective families and told them very clearly about what we had done and what we had decided. After that the whole community went into mourning, a meeting was called and relatives came over from far and wide, journalists also came who were bribed and sent back after they had promised that they would not publish this particular news of our conversion to Islam as that would jeopardize other people and their Hindu faith. Our community members and relatives pressurised our family members to bring us back into the fold of Hinduism, but that somehow further strengthened our resolve and faith. Many cruelties were visited upon us by our own family members, our wives and children were sent back to our susrali homes, under duress we had to leave our village and go back to Phalat. We were very embarassed to go back to Phalat as we had refused to listen to Maulana sahib's advise, first we went to Delhi and from there one gentleman took us to Patna, where we had a very difficult time. We took on odd jobs for our survival in Patna, drove a rickshaw, did menial jobs here and there, later on i was taken to Calcutta by another gentleman and both my friends also joined me there. Alhamdolillah! our difficult time passed away very quickly and now we are set in our lives. During this time the three of us were granted ziarat of Rasool Allah (PBUH) in our dreams, which strengthened our resolve. We were missing Maulana Sahib, but somehow we did not get the opportunity to visit with him, with Allah's mercy we have met him today and after seeing Maulana Sahib, it is as if those ten difficult months never happened, all our pain has abated.
Did you try to get in touch with your family members?
We have spoken to them by telephone. We usually get in touch with our siblings and mothers, but somehow we haven't been able to get in touch with our fathers. InshaAllah, time is the biggest healer and we will one day be able to talk to our fathers too. My wife and my children are still in my susraal and they do not communicate with me, i had sent my friend to them who had sent another member of their family who had accepted Islam with my message, my wife replied that i am willing to follow you to the ends of the earth whenever you call me, she said that i am not friendly with my sisters in law and i want to die a married woman. Today i have discussed this with Maulana Sahib and i will somehow or the other bring my wife and children back to me.
Did Abba talk to you about Da'wah?
Maulana Sahib has taken a vow from us that we have to think about those who were involved in the razing of Babri Masjid and we have to work on them to bring them back to the true faith. We have also promised to pray for our own family members. InshaAllah i will go with the jamaat pretty soon and will work on my own family members and the workers, inshaAllah.
Do you have a message to relay for the readers of our magazine Armugan?
Islam is the need of every human being. If you see someone who is violently against Islam, do not for a moment think that there is no hope for this person's reversion to the true faith. Whoever is against Islam, is against it because they have no idea about what Islam is and they are absolutely ignorant about it. Before coming into the fold of Islam, we were Bajran dalli and Islam and Muslims were our biggest enemies, and now here we are, the same people who when we think that had we died on Hinduism (crying heavily) we would surely have been doomed for all eternity. How we would have borne the pain of Allah's wrath and punishment in hell makes me cringe.
Thanks Ishaq bhai, Thanks to all three of you, we will talk to the two of you later on, Assalaam o alakim w rehmat ullah e w barakatuhoo
Waalaikum assalaam w rehmat ullah e w barakatuhoo...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wO3uFt6uU4
What happened after that?
In the morning, we were grouped with Muslim reverts and a mufti sahib was appointed as our ameer. Two other people were inducted in the group to teach us about our new faith. All in all there were 15 people in this group and we stayed for one day at Meeruth. The three of us got certified as Muslims over there and then the jamaat got ready to go to Agra and Mathura. We spent a total of forty days over there. Once or twice we got into minor squabbles. One day the three of us fought with someone and decided to leave the jamaat. At night we decided that we will go away at the break of dawn, that night Yusuf saw a dream in which he saw Maulana Sahib who told him that Allah brought you on the straight path, and yet you are ready to forsake that and run back towards the darkness from which you were relieved. In the morning he told us about his dream, there and then we decided that even if we lose our lives in this quest, then even will we complete these forty days and go back to meet up with Maulana sahib. Alhamdolillah after that we stuck out till the end.
What happened after you came back from the jamaat?
Maulana Sahib asked us what our future plans were, and advised us that it would not be safe for us to go back home immediately, but we told Maulana Sahib that we are not children and that our faith and belief is our personal matter and it is our right to believe in what we think is right! We said that we will go home and try to work on our family members and we are not at threat from anyone. When we went back home, we found out that the whole atmosphere there was extremely tense and that everyone there thought that we had been murdered by the Muslims. We went to our respective families and told them very clearly about what we had done and what we had decided. After that the whole community went into mourning, a meeting was called and relatives came over from far and wide, journalists also came who were bribed and sent back after they had promised that they would not publish this particular news of our conversion to Islam as that would jeopardize other people and their Hindu faith. Our community members and relatives pressurised our family members to bring us back into the fold of Hinduism, but that somehow further strengthened our resolve and faith. Many cruelties were visited upon us by our own family members, our wives and children were sent back to our susrali homes, under duress we had to leave our village and go back to Phalat. We were very embarassed to go back to Phalat as we had refused to listen to Maulana sahib's advise, first we went to Delhi and from there one gentleman took us to Patna, where we had a very difficult time. We took on odd jobs for our survival in Patna, drove a rickshaw, did menial jobs here and there, later on i was taken to Calcutta by another gentleman and both my friends also joined me there. Alhamdolillah! our difficult time passed away very quickly and now we are set in our lives. During this time the three of us were granted ziarat of Rasool Allah (PBUH) in our dreams, which strengthened our resolve. We were missing Maulana Sahib, but somehow we did not get the opportunity to visit with him, with Allah's mercy we have met him today and after seeing Maulana Sahib, it is as if those ten difficult months never happened, all our pain has abated.
Did you try to get in touch with your family members?
We have spoken to them by telephone. We usually get in touch with our siblings and mothers, but somehow we haven't been able to get in touch with our fathers. InshaAllah, time is the biggest healer and we will one day be able to talk to our fathers too. My wife and my children are still in my susraal and they do not communicate with me, i had sent my friend to them who had sent another member of their family who had accepted Islam with my message, my wife replied that i am willing to follow you to the ends of the earth whenever you call me, she said that i am not friendly with my sisters in law and i want to die a married woman. Today i have discussed this with Maulana Sahib and i will somehow or the other bring my wife and children back to me.
Did Abba talk to you about Da'wah?
Maulana Sahib has taken a vow from us that we have to think about those who were involved in the razing of Babri Masjid and we have to work on them to bring them back to the true faith. We have also promised to pray for our own family members. InshaAllah i will go with the jamaat pretty soon and will work on my own family members and the workers, inshaAllah.
Do you have a message to relay for the readers of our magazine Armugan?
Islam is the need of every human being. If you see someone who is violently against Islam, do not for a moment think that there is no hope for this person's reversion to the true faith. Whoever is against Islam, is against it because they have no idea about what Islam is and they are absolutely ignorant about it. Before coming into the fold of Islam, we were Bajran dalli and Islam and Muslims were our biggest enemies, and now here we are, the same people who when we think that had we died on Hinduism (crying heavily) we would surely have been doomed for all eternity. How we would have borne the pain of Allah's wrath and punishment in hell makes me cringe.
Thanks Ishaq bhai, Thanks to all three of you, we will talk to the two of you later on, Assalaam o alakim w rehmat ullah e w barakatuhoo
Waalaikum assalaam w rehmat ullah e w barakatuhoo...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wO3uFt6uU4
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