Being Waqfe Nau

By: A Proud Lajna

Assalam alaikum everyone.

We have been running behind with blogs because I went to attend UK Jalsa. It was a wow experience. Loved it there and I didn’t really want it to end. Everything and everyone looked so lively and happy and at peace. Sure, it was raining and the ground was really soggy and muddy but that didn’t stop us aye…lol. We had our trusty rain boots! I’ll try to make this blog short because I know a lot of you are young and you have assignments or work.

So…lets get back to our topic, “Being Waqfe Nau”.

We all know that the Waqfe Nau scheme was started by our 4th Khalifa (Caliph), Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmed, on the 3rd of April 1987. It was first started as a trial to see if members of our Jama’at would be interested in dedicating the lives of their unborn child to the cause of Islam. A huge number of members responded to this and there were even applications from members who were not even married but they had promised their future children to be Waqfe Nau. Basically, being a Waqfe nau means you are devoted to the service of Islam, Jama’at Ahmadiyya and mankind.

Now, while the Ahmadiyya Blog team was doing a bit of a research on this topic, we came across an article (which was probably written by a non-Ahmadi or maybe a very misunderstood member of our Jama’at). What the article was mainly focused on was to prove their point that Waqfe Nau members are “servants” of Jama’at Ahmadiyya. It’s no point attaching it here so don’t bother reading all that negativity. Yes, Waqfe Nau children are dedicated to this responsibility before birth but know this that when they reach the age of 16, they get to choose either to continue to be a Waqfe Nau or not. So, nobody is forced into this. And, 90%-95% choose to remain Waqfe Nau and a very few of them choose not to. When a person is a Waqfe Nau, their responsibility is first toward Jama’at and then anything else. Nobody is forced into this. They choose to put their religion before anything else. Actually, all Ahmadis responsibility is first towards our Jama’at but our Waqfe Nau members are the special ones. I call them our warriors because they go through special training and they are taught so much about Jama’at and Islam. You know those popular kids at school? The ones who are famous, brainy, talented, everyone knows them and you wish to be them. Yeah….Waqfe Nau members are those popular ones. Who wouldn’t want to be them right?

Now, you may have heard about the saying “with great power comes great responsibility”. When a person is a Waqfe Nau, they have great responsibility towards Islam and Jama’at Ahmadiyya. They are not just representing Ahmadis but all Muslims. As I said before, they are like warriors, they protect and defend our religion and all mankind. It is an honor to be a Waqfe Nau. All Waqfe Nau members who are old enough to be Amla members are recommended to have at least one official title held. This is because our Waqfe Nau members have been trained and taught (since childhood) a lot about Islam, Ahmadiyya Jamaat and about proper systems in Jamaat like how to manage everything in Jamaat financially, roles and responsibilities of each Amla member, how to represent yourself as an Ahmadi when talking to a non-Ahmadi, taking part in tabligh, how to assist our Murrabis with Jama’at work, etc.

Some of our Waqfe Nau members do not feel it is a blessing but more like a forced responsibility. Unfortunately and sadly it is the young members. Young members have the energy and passion in them to do great things but it depends where they use that energy and whether they spread positive or negative energy. I personally know a couple of Waqfe Nau members who are well….not Waqfe Nau to be honest. They wear revealing clothes, they drink alcohol, one of them has a tattoo on their arm which their parents don’t know of. In today’s world, people would say they have the right to live their life the way they want. Ok, go ahead then. No problem but do you have to do all this when you are representing our Jama’at? Take a school as an example, if you do anything outside of school (even if you are not in your uniform) which is not acceptable, then you get suspended or expelled. We have rules in our Jama’at too and everyone is expected to follow those rules.

If children are 18 years old or over, they basically have the right to even go against their parents (which should not happen). Some young members in our Jama’at are taking advantage of this “human rights” thing in wrong situations. Most people would say that it is their parents fault for not doing a good job in their upbringing but is that true? Yeah there are some parents who spoil their kids but I know a family where the father is scared of their children because the kids always threaten to report him to the police if he is against any of their bad behaviors. Or, they threaten him that they will move out. That is just sad. It is important that we understand to respect ourselves and our parents first before we learn the responsibility of being a respected member of the Jama’at.

Now, you may be thinking why am I talking about upbringing of children when the topic is about Waqfe Nau. Well…the topic comes back to the warrior part. If our warriors are weak, anyone can criticize or attack our Jama’at with negativity so it is important to make sure our Waqfe Nau members realise how important their role in the Jama’at is when they step out of their house.

I’ll share a personal experience with you all. So I mentioned about knowing 2 Waqfe Nau members. I’ll probably be grilled for this if they read this so I won’t be mentioning any real names 😉. Sarah and Adeel (not their real names) are Waqfe Nau kids aged 18 and 22. Their father, Mr. Ahmed, is a very well respected member of the Jama’at. In Pakistan, when Ahmed sahab was in his 30’s, he was beaten up by a group of non-Ahmadi Muslims just because he and his family are Ahmadi Muslim. They told him to convert to Sunni Muslim or else they will kill his wife and daughter. Sarah was 8 years old then. Being a mother, Ahmed sahab’s wife managed to save her daughter but she was shot dead. Ahmed sahab got severely injured trying to save his wife. All this had happened right infront of Sarah. Now, an 8 year old would remember something like this right? After the incident, Ahmed sahab moved out of Pakistan and applied for Asylum for the safety of his kids. He never married again, he dedicated his entire life to work for Jama’at and also earn for his children’s education. You all know that life is tough for an uneducated Pakistani in a foreign country. Imagine how hard Mr.Ahmed’s life must have been. He never married because he did not want a “step-mother” in his childrens lives and his children did not want another mother. They grew up watching their father struggle. Now Sarah and Adeel, both are in University. Adeel is working too in a very well reputated company and earning MashaAllah very well. However, he drinks every weekend and has tattoos on his arm. He has a girlfriend and he has no respect for Amla members. Sarah…you may be thinking she went through a lot and she must be a good child but no. She disrespects elders, she smokes, sneaks out at night and she has even threatened her father she will move out with her boyfriend if he tries to “interfere” in her life. These children did not let their father marry again, do not respect the fact that he worked hard for them, he trusted them…and now they have the audacity to say not to interfere in their lives. Whenever Ahmed sahab steps out of his house, he gets criticised by a few non-Ahmadi muslims because of his children. They get an excuse to insult our Jama’at and it not only hurts him but us too. Sad.

I know another family. The couple have 2 sons and their younger son is Waqfe Nau and MashaAllah I must say they are very blessed parents. Sahil (not his real name) is Waqfe Nau and his elder brother, Asif (not his real name), is not. They both are very close to Jama’at and MashaAllah they both have graduated and are employees of very well known companies. Even though Asif is not a Waqfe Nau, he contributes his time and income towards Jama’at. They are everyone’s favourite. They were born in a foreign country but you would never be able to tell by their clear urdu accent. Their parents however; are not very active members of Jama’at. They are good people but you know about those members right…only attend Jummah once in a while, pay chanda but never contribute in any other way. Yeah, that’s how Sahil and Asif’s parents are. Both boys show they are proud of being Waqfe Nau and of being Ahmadi muslims through their actions. It’s like negativety has zero effect on them.

Parents, if your children are Waqfe Nau, be a good role model. Yes, they attend Waqfe Nau classes and they are given duties and responsibilities in Jamaat but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to teach them anything. Children learn from their parents. Keep talking to them, be their best friend, take them to Jamaat events with you from a young age and most importantly, keep an eye on who their friends are. There are some children who have their own brain and they don’t get influenced by the negativety. Sahil and Asif are those kids. It’s not human nature how a person is right now. It depends on how they are brought up but most importantly it depends on how they use positive and negative impacts in their lives. Parents should never be blamed for how their children turn out to be. It’s like the saying goes, “you can take a horse to the lake but you can’t force it to drink”. Parents can only guide their children but it’s us who have the choice of how to use those guidelines for the better.

Being a Waqfe Nau is a blessing. It’s not something people are forced into. You should be proud of being one because your parents have trusted you with this responsibility before you were born. You should feel proud of being trusted and if you feel like this is not for you, just say so. I know some parents get emotional and some are very strict but you have to speak up and just say no if you don’t want to. Ofcourse they will get angry and emotional because they gave birth to us and we are a part of them. They have dreams and expectations and maybe we won’t exactly understand how they feel until we become parents. An advise I would give is to think wisely before you decide on anything. Take my word, once you realise how blessed you are, being a Waqfe Nau will feel like you are the luckiest person in the world. Feel proud of your title and you will see pride in your parents eyes.

I said my blog would be short but I guess I dragged it a little too much again. I hope if you’re Waqfe Nau, you will try thinking about what good or bad you have done and I hope this will bring you closer to your parents and Jama’at.

JazzakAllah!