 | | It is with a sorrowful heart that we record the death of Maulana Bashir Ahmad Manto, our esteemed and venerable missionary in Rawalpindi on 26th August 1984. The inclement weather and shortage of time could not deter his admirers and friends from Lahore, Wazirabad, Sialkot, Nowshera, Peshawar, Murree and suburbs of Rawalpindi `cities of Pakistan` from attending his Janaza prayers at Masjid Mubarak on the 27th August 1984.
Mirza Abdul Latif Shahid Jama’at's Missionary from Lahore led the prayers.
Maulana Manto was a prominent and devoted missionary. He fulfilled his pledge to serve the cause of religion with sincerity, perseverance and determination. His missionary work among the untouchables in South India and his tour of West Indies in the late fifties, especially to Trinidad, leaves everlasting impressions of his zeal and missionary acumen. Since June 1965, he was stationed in Rawalpindi. During scorching summer he would go to Murree for a couple of months not for recreation and rest but to conduct Jumu'ah `Friday` prayers, deliver public lectures and other religious performances. Though nearing eighty, he was still energetic and talked with usual vigour and spontaneity. His speeches and sermons though delivered in simple and plain words were scholarly and thought-provoking. His death has deprived us of an elderly missionary, who worked for the cause of religion and Ahmadiyyat for about half a century. May Allah shower His choicest blessings on the departed soul and grant patience and fortitude to the bereaved family to bear this irreparable loss. Our condolences go to his son Nazir Ahmad, daughter Mujahida and his other relations, admirers and well-wishers.
Maulana Bashir Ahmad Manto was born on 4th November 1904. His father, Mian Aziz Ullah was a well-known lawyer of Rawalpindi, and a devoted follower of the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement. Mian Aziz Ullah's legal services rendered in the famous Karam Din Bhinwala case against the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement in the Jhelum Civil Court won the appreciation and admiration of the Promised Messiah.
Maulana Manto got education in Aligarh `India` and England. After doing his M.A., he became a lecturer at the Edwards College, Peshawar `now in Pakistan; then in India`. But his zeal for religion, which he had inherited from his illustrious father, Mian Aziz Ullah, prompted him to resign the lectureship and join the band of Ahmadi preachers and in response to the appeal of the Late Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Ali, devoted his life for the cause of religion.
His first assignment was as Personal Assistant to the Late Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Ali, the Ameer and President of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement. From 1936 to 1938, he manned the Poona Mission in India. In the early part of 1944, he was sent to Hubli in South India as a Muslim Missionary. In May 1947, he was commissioned to San Francisco Muslim Mission in the U.S.A. During this period, he also visited Trinidad, Guyana and Suriname and organised Ahmadi Jama'ats to maintain regular Missionary centres. He remained in the States till 1955, when he came back to Pakistan. From 1961 to 1964 he was in-charge of Muslim Mission in Lagos, Nigeria. |
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