Dear Chaudhry Sahib
Assalam o alaikum
My name is Hamid Ahmad Khan and I am an ex-student of Taleem ul Islam College, Lahore and later Rabwah. I am older brother of Mahmood Ahmad Khan whom you have mentioned as pilot. Mahmood as popularly known as Captain M. A. Khan who retired as Chief Pilot after a distinguished service in PIA covering over four decades. He now lives in Karachi and is a successful agriculturist in Sind as well as Punjab. His e-mail address is duee42@hotmail.com .
I joined T. I. College Lahore in 1952 as pre-medical student for two years but could not continue in the field due to lack of interest. I rejoined the college at Rabwah in 1954 as a student of economics and graduated in 1958. For 6 years I helped my father on his land in Sargodha. Then in 1964 I joined National Bank of Pakistan where I was Manager of its Gulberg Branch Lahore until 1965. Then I was selected for foreign Exchange training by the United California Bank, Los Angeles for one year. Upon completion of the training I served the Foreign Department for a brief period at the Head Office in Karachi. I was transferred to Hong Kong in 1971 and then to New York, Chicago and Bahamas where I was Manager of Nassau Bahamas Branch. I resigned from NBP in 1979 to join The Fuji Bank of Japan as its Operations Manager at its Chicago Branch. After three years of serving the Japanese Bank I was hired by BCCI at its American Operation to head its International Trade Finance Area at Miami to supervise its operation in Miami, Caribbean and Latin America. I was an unfortunate victim of its demise in 1990 when this great bank was forced to close down globally. Since then I have been more or less retired and pursue my passion for travel and photography.
I joined T. I. College Lahore in 1952 as pre-medical student for two years but could not continue in the field due to lack of interest. I rejoined the college at Rabwah in 1954 as a student of economics and graduated in 1958. For 6 years I helped my father on his land in Sargodha. Then in 1964 I joined National Bank of Pakistan where I was Manager of its Gulberg Branch Lahore until 1965. Then I was selected for foreign Exchange training by the United California Bank, Los Angeles for one year. Upon completion of the training I served the Foreign Department for a brief period at the Head Office in Karachi. I was transferred to Hong Kong in 1971 and then to New York, Chicago and Bahamas where I was Manager of Nassau Bahamas Branch. I resigned from NBP in 1979 to join The Fuji Bank of Japan as its Operations Manager at its Chicago Branch. After three years of serving the Japanese Bank I was hired by BCCI at its American Operation to head its International Trade Finance Area at Miami to supervise its operation in Miami, Caribbean and Latin America. I was an unfortunate victim of its demise in 1990 when this great bank was forced to close down globally.
Since then I have been more or less retired and pursue my passion for travel and photography.
The addresses of Sahibzadgan which you have sought is very simple. Just write the name of the Sahibzada Sahib then Mohallah Darul Sadar then Chenabnagar (Rabwah), Pakistan. For instance the address of Sahibzada Mirza Hanif Ahmad Sahib would be:
Sahibzada Mirza Hanif Ahmad
Mohallah Darul Sadar
Chenabnagar (Rabwah)
Pakistan.
Other Sahibzadgan should be addressed similarly and the correspondence will reach them positively.
I have fondest memories of the college. Its loss has saddened me and hurt the new generation profoundly. The college provided a fantastic crop of great leaders for the Jama’at. I look around and see its old students serving in the true tradition of Ahmadiyyat all over the world. I was reading an article on the Internet written by an enemy of Jama’at who rejoiced that by loosing the college Ahmadiyyat has lost the institution which produced its core leadership. He said that we were happy when this great instrument of power was taken away from Ahmadiyyat through Nationalization. But we were always fearful that this dynamic Jama’at will soon reconstruct their vital organization. However to our joy and surprise the leadership after its second Khalifa lacked the farsightedness and never rebuilt its college. The author, mistakenly concluded that now it was just a matter of time when all the old students of Rabwah College would be dead and then the Jama’at will have no true leadership on the patron of its original culture which was the back bone of its success.
No people have ever commanded respect and power without knowledge, culture and higher education. The example of ‘Jews is most vivid. We are still a young community. We can loose our identity in the sea of hostile cultures if we do not rebuild T. I. Colleges or similar institutions. We can build a better college with far bigger role to play in the future to shape and ensure continued growth of the original Jama’at of Hazrat e Aqdas (as).
Congratulations on your great effort. I was moved by the messages of Kanwar Idrees who was my senior and then my professor of economics and also that of Imam Bashir Rafiq whom I remember so well and also of Chaudhry Mohammad Ali my favorite teacher and mentor. May Allah bless them with long productive life and when the time come may God accept us all in His Forgiveness and Mercy and keep us in His loving care. May Allah bless the soul of Hazrat Mirza Nasir Ahmad Khalifatul Masih III and others who have parted us in time.
Wassalam
Hamid Ahmad Khan