The final day of the USA tour was filled with mixed emotions.
From my perspective I was happy to be able to travel onwards with Hazur to Canada for the next part of the tour, but I also saw the sadness in the eyes of the members of the USA Jamaat. Some of them had travelled with Hazur since our arrival in Chicago and the sadness at having to hand over their duties was visibly evident.
We left early morning from the hotel at 8.55am and went straight to the Hadee
Mosque where hundreds of Ahmadis had gathered to see off Hazur.
People of all ages had tears streaming down their faces as they contemplated having to part with their Khalifa.
Hazur waved and smiled at them before a final silent prayer was offered before the start of the journey.
As we sat back in the cars I pulled down the window and looked at the Ahmadis who were waving goodbye to Hazur. In their eyes you could see the desperation and hope that Hazur would see them from his car. To a non‐ Ahmadi such devotion would perhaps seem strange or even unnecessary, but that is because they had never felt the love of Khilafat.