Said Demir

When I saw the text message from Ahmed, one of the Muslim students I met in Nepal, which read: “A very saddening incident took place in Nepal today. General Secretary of Nepal Islamic Association Faizan Ahmad was martyred as he was coming out of a mosque,” I immediately took a look at news portals of Nepal to see what was happening. The news was correct. Faizan Ahmad, whom we named as the “Alija of Nepal” with the friends we went to Nepal together, had been martyred.

I met him in capital city of Kathmandu where we went to last year to examine the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation’s relief activities in Nepal. He impressed us greatly with his smiling face, his confident speech and decent personality. I spent more than 10 days with Faizan Ahmad during programs in Nepal which I joined twice. He provided guidance to us in both occasions and invited us to his house.

A Muslim face in Nepal!

Just as we were making ablution before a Friday prayer during the time we were in Nepal, Faizan Ahmad told Mustafa Ali who was wearing a T-shirt with a picture of Muhammad Ali: “Brother Mustafa, I don’t know what the case is in your country but people, on this side of Asia, do not generally welcome people coming to the masjid and praying with clothes bearing photos and they may look at you with reproachful looks, which may disturb you.” He made this warning with such a courtesy that we were all impressed by his gentleness.

When I told him: “Mr. Ahmad, please accept my apologies, I cannot speak either Arabic or English fluently so I use both English and Arabic words together when I speak with you,” he replied: “Words are tools for us to understand each other. We, Muslims, sometimes communicate with words but sometimes words lose their meaning and we communicate by only looking into each other’s eyes and finding a way that goes to our hearts. You just don’t care about this issue.”

Last duty

I had the chance to go to Nepal again during the past Eid al-Adha. We strongly felt the absence of Ahmad in every phase of our program. We visited his grave in Sunsari district and offered our condolences to his family. We, as the IHH, included his orphans to the foundation’s Sponsor Family System. Children of martyr Faizan Ahmad became the first children in Nepal who were included in the IHH’s Sponsor Family System. We also met the living expenses of Ahmad’s family for one year.

Faizan Ahmad (1970-2011) He lived like a martyr and became a martyr

Faizan Ahmad was born in Sunsari’s Bokhraha village in 1970. He studied economics at the Aligharh Muslim University. He also received education on Islamic Sciences from Ajamgharh Cemaatu’l-Felah. He then went to Pakistan and had a master’s degree on economics. Joining the Al-Hira Education Center, he served as a principal at the Hilal Schools established for Muslims in Biratnagar Guski village. He managed to turn the schools into successful institutions and served as a guide for the Muslim community. Having carried out studies in the fields of education, culture and healthcare across Nepal for four years, Ahmad was also secretary-general of the Nepal Islamic Association. He was married with three children, Hamza, 11, Adnan, 6 and a 40-day-old daughter.