Respected Nazir Ayaz
      (1947 - 2016)

First time I met Nazir Ayaz Sb in 2002 when we come back from Hajj. when We arrived at JFK, Ayaz sb received us among 20 other members of NY jamaat. He brought Flowers and Harr for for us. I still remember that moment it felt so nice to see all the Jamaat members at JFK; later when ever we met him he always had very sweet smile on his face.
May Allah Talah elevate his status in Paradise. Ameen

Indeed a Pioneer pioneer of Jamaat. This is a big loss. May Allah elevate his status in paradise.

My parents were flying in from Pakistan a couple of years ago and their flight plans got changed at last minute due to delayed flights and they ended up landing at JFK. I was panicking as their was no possibility for me to be in JFK (live in WI) and was concerned what they would have to face all by themselves in NY. Their connecting flight had to be the next day so they were going to spend the night in NY. With all this commotion, I reached out to Nazir Sb for any possibility of help. Nazir Sb, comforted me and said that it will be taken care of. To my surprise later, he went by himself to the airport and waited outside to meet and greet my parents. As luck would have it, my parents were given hotel options and were sent to that hotel by the airline so they were never able to hook up with Nazir Sb. Nazir Sb still waited outside JFK for almost 4 hours to be sure before going back. When I met him and thanked him and apologized that he had to wait so long, he did not even want to acknowledge any of that. To him it was just another day, working to help out a fellow Ahmadi. Would be missing this treasure of a person. May Allah grant him high stature in the Heaven.

I never knew him personally, but have seen him on numerous occasions. When we visited his Mosque for the African Amierican Parade, he hosted us at his Mosque. I'll never forget that he made us feel as though this Mosque was our home and their kindness and hospitality was above and abroad, we were treated like Kings. I will never forget the time I was there and truly apppreciate his kindness respect, and genrerousity . May Allah grant him the best in the world to come.

I have had the honor of meeting with the late Nazir Ayaz on multiple occasions, but the interaction that stood out the most was in December 2013. I was attending my first President Refresher Course as newly elected Sadr of LA East Jama'at. I was 37 years old. I happened to be sitting beside Ayaz Sb. Someone amusingly pointed out that the two presidents with the least and most experience were comparing notes. In fact, I was seeking his advice, as it was his 30th year as President NY. I found him to be very humble, pleasant and calm. He told me his secret was that he always stayed behind the scenes, he visited his members regularly (almost daily), and could always be found at the mosque. Since then he has always been my silent mentor. I will miss him dearly and will forever benefit from his wise counsel. May Allah raise his rank in paradise.

I got to know Ayaz sahib in various capacities. I admired his persistence, hard work and love.

He was persistence as he was very ambitious in every project. He would reach out to the UN to get meetings, or invite the Governor of NY to come to the mosque. Always pushing the envelope.

He always developed an ethic of hard work and getting involved. you can tell he knew the details, he trusted people to get the work done and was always available.

His love was ever present. When I was job hunting, he invited me to his house and invited others whom I can network with. When he was working on projects he would reach out with love where you could not say no to Ayaz Sahib. He also welcomed many immigrants into the US as NY was first port of entry.

He has left a great mark on the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and on many many individual lives.

I met Ayyaz sahib in 1983 in a regional jamaat meetin in Staten Islan where I recited a poem and he liked it. Every Juma we gather at Shaheen sweets in Jackson Heights. After few months we had our own place called BaitulZafar in Queens. I had the honor to covert that building in to masjid. At that time we were getting threats from non Ahmadis and Ayyaz sahib requested every member of jamaat to protect our property. So I had the honor to stay in BaitulZafar for security at night few times. At that time there were not many members of jamaat in NewYork. He was working with everyone tirelessly. Every time you go there you see Ayyaz sahib. He was very loving,himble person. He was a very devoted person. Any time you need something from him he is there. I served as Sec TJ from 1988-1990 in his Aamla. He had administrative capability. At that time it was only one jamaat,now Mashallah several . Lots of memories but I could only think few. May Allah give him higher status in paradise. Aamin

I moved to Staten Island, NY at the end of 1993, the city was one Jamat and Bait ul Zafar (previously a small Jewish girls school) was our Mosque in Queens. The President Nazir Ayaz Sahib a man with a great and disarming smile, welcomed me and suggested that I might find it convenient to attend Juma in Manhattan where it was held in a Hotel for people who worked there.I found him really pleasant, informal and direct.
I was thereafter appointed Qaid MKA Manhattan, Bronx & Staten Island and began to have a relationship with 'The Boss' as we called him which lasted 23 years. Respected Karim Sharif Sahib (now Zaeem Sahib Boston) was our Imam and did a great job, he had to go to Pakistan and Ayaz Sahib asked me to give the Khutba and lead Juma. I found this very strange that a President would attend Juma but instead ask a novice like me to lead. I told him I had never lead Juma, he said you have a week to prepare, I said I might turn out to be a disaster he said he would take a chance, finally in desperation I requested if I could bring a cheat sheet with the Khutba Thania (in Arabic) he said that was OK. The first Juma someone reported me to him that this 'Imam' did not even know the Arabic verses of the Khutba and was reading them from a piece of paper which seemed very unseemly, yet he very patiently stuck with me till I had the verses memorized. In fact he was so happy with me he appointed me Imam of Manhattan where I served till moving to Georgia in 2002.
Subsequently I was appointed Metropolitan (city) Qaid and then as Regional Qaid MKA Northeast.Respected Ayaz Sahib was born in East Africa and I suspect never really worked in any Jamat Auxilliary organization to any great extent till he moved to the US. This lead to some tension & disagreement between us as I thought things should be done one way and he another. To his extreme credit and my undying love for him, he never held a grudge, the disagreement was temporary but our cooperation and relationship continued uninterrupted.
Due to his unique circumstances I found Ayaz Sahib to be a quite an incongruous person, he looked like a Pakistani yet behaved if you would, like a Teutonic (German) administrator. He would complain that when he asked Pakistani guy's to show up for work at the Masjid they would just say 'Inshallah' and leave him at a loss as to whether they were going to show up or not!
I guess other people do Jamat work because it is a part of their life, with Nazir Ayaz Sahib it seemed that Jamat work was all of his life. He would personally be the first to arrive for any Jamat activity and the last to leave, If no one did the work he would do it himself.
One Wednesday he called me, Eid was on Sunday and the 28 outdoor carpet rolls for prayers had to be transported to the venue for Eid. I requested if he could please let me do it on Saturday since it would be easier to get help, he did not say anything. Nazir Sahib had a metal rod inserted in his leg due to a previous accident, he could only get into a car sideways because he had to keep that leg straight. With his gimpy leg, he put 5 rolls in his car himself and made 6 trips delivering them ahead of time and never said a word to me about it ever. It was not that he was mad at me, the work just needed done and by God he did it!
He was an ever practical man and would convey practical solutions to problems.
Hazrat Khalifa tul Masih IV came to visit New York I believe in 1994. Nazir Sahib arranged for 2 Police Cruisers to escort Huzoor back and forth and to Alladin Sahib's house in Long Island where he was staying. Major Mahmood Sahib on Huzoor's security team told him that Huzoor did not like escorts, when Nazir Sahib started presenting his case, Major Sahib said you can talk to him (Huzoor) yourself. Nazir Sahib went to see Huzoor and said Huzoor do you know what New Yorkers call I-495 Long Island Parkway which you would be commuting on daily? Huzoor said I don't know, what do they call it? He said 'the worlds largest parking lot'! Huzoor agreed to take the Police escorts.
He preferred not being the center of attention and If he knew that you were a committed Ahmadi he would use you for Jamat work whenever he could not find someone better. He had gotten an Asia House membership for the Jamat. It was a very prestigious organization on Park Avenue in Manhattan. The Foreign Minister of Kazakistan was to address it and Bajwa Sahib was out of town. He called me to the Mosque gave me a copy of The Holy Quran with Russian translation and told me to go and give it to the Foreign Minister. Next morning I went to The Asia House, was treated like royalty, served a magnificent breakfast and made my way in a line to meet The Minister. The Head of Conoco Phillips Petroleum was ahead of me and the President of Chase Manhattan bank immediately behind me!
Yet another time Najam Sethi the Information Minister of Pakistan was to give a press conference at the NY Press club, Nazir Sahib called me and gave me 2 questions that I was to ask the Minister on behalf of Jamat Ahmadiyya!
Time passes and people forget, Not Nazir Ayaz Sahib! I had been out of New York for over 10 years, yet whenever I would visit there , usually on Waqf e Jadid trips he would make sure to arrange my stay, my schedule, either pick me up himself or drop me at the Airport himself, take time off to have lunch or dinner with me as well.
I pray Allah that he shower His choicest blessings on this chosen servant of His who I was lucky to have as a friend and mentor and provide for his loved ones in even more meticulous manner than Ayaz Sahib would when he was able to do so.
Ghayyur Mannan Khan
Atlanta, GA

Like so many of you, I had the privilege of working closely with Nazir Ayaz Sb in NY. He was an icon of the Jama'at and an incredible asset and talent. 2 weeks ago, I spent time w/ him in NY, and he had done considerable PA work at the UN to arrange for a future visit of Huzoor. His obedience to Huzoor and love of Khilafat were exemplary.

I first met with him briefly in 1995 when I came to the US for the first time for my interviews for residency. I moved to Long Island in 1999 and came under his jamaat during my fellowship at Stony Brook. Faheem Younus was also doing a fellowship in Stony Brook and I was with him at that time.

I remember he engaged us with gentle persuasion to do more for the jamaat. Faheem Bhai had never made a speech at the jamaat level before and he instructed him to make a speech for the first time for Musleh e Maood day in February 2000. Mashallah he made an amazing speech and a star was born that has later on served the jamaat so well.
He was responsible for identifying talents in the jamaat and then encouraging and engaging them positively for the jamaat. Examples include Munum Naeem, RIzwan Alladin, Sohail Hossein, Rizwan Akbar and of course Faheem Younus. I am sure there are many others but these are the ones I know well. His biggest regrets used to be that eventually all of them move away and leave New York.

He worked with me closely when I was regional qaid for the entire region. At that time New York, Buffalo and Boston were all one region. He would reach out to me in middle of October to work and plan the calendar for Khuddam activities for the entire year. If he would have not pushed me I probably would not have focused on it. That encouraged organization planning and forward thinking. It also allowed us to organize events in a way which did not impact the children class in New York which had been successfully running.

In 2006 I became president of my jamaat and I had no idea what to expect. He guided me on many aspects on how to approach various situations. E.g. dealing and managing burial, bathing and funerals of a jamaat members. Dealing with situations with family and marital conflicts that arise in jamaat and how to discretely handle them. How to organize tabligh events etc.
I was able to call him up at any time and he would pick up the phone and guide me. Of course I was sensitive to his schedule as I was aware that he used to go to bed early after Ishaa Salat.

When we purchased our mosque Baitul Aman in Connecticut he guided me with the whole process along with Inamul Haq Kauser sahib. After we purchased the mosque we had a collection of 200 chairs which came to us for free and our local amila and jamaat wanted to get rid of these chairs to make room for prayer area. He strongly urged me to not get rid of them as they were our most important asset and find a way to store them in the masjid. By The Grace of Allah, we heeded his advice and thanked him and prayed for him noting how precious they were for us later on when holding events in our mosque.
Along with administrative aspects of the jamaat he was also silent humanitarian. He was instrumental in registering Humanity First with United Nations as a recognized NGO. He was also the former designated representative to United Nations for Humanity First International. His appointment letter used to come from International headquarters in London. By The Grace of God, he developed many good connections. Please pray that Allah Grant us replacements to these connections that he had developed.

He was an excellent humanitarian and always figured out low cost ways of helping the needy. He always wanted to do more for his country of birth Tanzania. He was the country director for Tanzania and all the work that has happened there has been through his efforts and endeavors.
He was instrumental in establishing the first Mammography and breast cancer unit in Tanzania for the entire country. He worked with Radiology without Border to have physicians form Tanzania to come to United States to get trained in reading mammograms and then Humanity first donated and set up the unit in the main teaching hospital Darussalam. He would send radiologist doctors once every year to continue the training and education of the locals.

He also recently established a school and was working on setting up a clinic under the guidance of Huzoor through Humanity First. Please pray that we can fulfill the wishes of Huzoor for Tanzania and also continue the efforts that he made for that country.

His help during Hurricane Sandy which affected New York Long Island and New Jersey was instrumental. He himself led the initial cleanup crew of Humanity First to Parts of Lower Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. The focus was not just ahmedi homes but, also anyone who was in need. He also provided support and a base for our volunteers at the masjid in Queens along with help for food and logistics for them. If he would not have provided this support Humanity First could not have been able to carry on this work.

I had a special relationship with him more so because of his only daughter Asma is in my jamaat and his son in law Hassan Bajwa (Brother of Dr. Zarar Bajwa) is the Zaeem Ansarullah for Connecticut. I used to keep him informed about the progress of his grand kids in our jamaat classes and ijtemaat.
He was truly and humble and pious man who always wanted to spend more time in the masjid and every minute of his free time was spent for the betterment of the jamaat. He had a minor stroke recently and was back in action only two days after. The last e-mail I received from him was about how Humanity First was prominently listed as a major supporter for a conference on radiology in Tanzania.

If I had to summarize him he was an extremely humble, humanitarian with passion for serving the jamaat and Khilafat. He had no ego.

Met him first time in NY before he become president. Such a great friend