From the Sadiq Mosque we proceeded to the town of Zion in Illinois, which is well‐known to all Ahmadis, as the town of the false prophet John Alexander Dowie.
We drove through the Chicago city centre on‐route to Zion and were able to drive past Lake Michigan. We did not stop but just from driving past it was clear that it was a really beautiful lake.
As we drove past it, I thought to myself how the vast majority of people would choose to stop and enjoy such a beautiful and scenic sight. But Hazur‐Aqdas was not concerned for his own pleasure or enjoyment but was simply anxious to get to the next stop where the Ahmadi Muslims were waiting for him. It was another reminder of how fortunate Ahmadis were to have the institution of Khilafat – an institution that is a truly selfless. Our Khalifa desires only the well‐ being and progress of his Jamaat.
Zion is a small town, with a population of less than 30,000 people. I found it to be a depressing and sad town. The one exception was a building that had been purchased by the Ahmadiyyat Jamaat. It was there that Hazur’s Qafila arrived and where he was again greeted by hundreds of Ahmadis, the majority of whom were African‐American.
As Hazur departed from his car, slogans of joy were raised and Nazms were recited. When I saw this, the very first thought that came to my mind was that in the same town where John Alexander Dowie had once cursed the Promised Messiah (as), today hundreds of people were there to welcome and greet his Khalifa. Whilst Dowie had long been forgotten, love for the Promised Messiah had permeated the hearts of many of the locals. It illustrated once again the Help and Support that Allah had blessed the Promised Messiah with.
Hazur‐Aqdas spent the next couple of hours meeting with local Ahmadi Muslims. Each of them queued in the heat for long periods without any complaint because they were just anxious to meet with the Khalifa. And when they emerged from the Mulaqat their faces were either beaming with huge smiles or they were overcome with emotion, tears flowing from their eyes. This too was something that I would witness again and again during the course of the coming month.
After the Mulaqats, Hazur‐Aqdas was given a tour by car of the town. We drove to the cemetery where Dowie was buried and also the building where he lived. As I thought about Dowie I felt satisfaction, that through his evil acts, the world had come to see a real and clear proof of the truth of the Promised Messiah.
Dowie’s insults had led to Allah taking action in favour of the Promised Messiah, which led to the famous headline in a US newspaper that ‘Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is Great’. Seeing the love for Khilafat in Zion more than a century after the passing of the Promised Messiah (as) was yet another sign that truly ‘Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is Great’. Alhamdolillah.