Original version

BBC World Service South Asia

Heart and Soul

Documentaries

Religion & Ethics

Personal approaches to spirituality from around the world.

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

Heart and Soul: The Dilemma: Abducted Because of My Faith

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Health & Wellbeing

Abducted Because of My Faith

15/07/2016 GMT

The Dilemma

BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, The Dilemma, Abducted Because of My Faith

Iftikhar feels that God never abandoned him during his ordeal - or since

Iftikhar was abducted  because of his Ahmadi faith. Once released, he felt gratitude: to the country that gave him shelter, and to the God who never abandoned him.

Iftikhar Khan was a highly successful lawyer in Quetta in Pakistan, with a lifestyle to match. He acted as legal advisor to several banks as well as the United Nations. He was also a member of the Ahmadi community: a minority group which defines itself as Muslim, but is not accepted as such by many in mainstream Islam. In Pakistan, Ahmadis are prohibited by law from claiming that they are Muslims. Many have suffered threats, physical violence and worse. 
 
For Iftikhar, all went relatively well until in 2010, when he was abducted by armed men on his way to work. They held him blindfolded and in chains for 20 days, and left him in no doubt about why they had taken him: because of his Ahmadi faith.
 
Eventually released for a ransom, but under threat of further violence, Iftikhar and his family made a tough choice: they left behind everything they had worked to build in Pakistan, and fled to Britain. 
 
Initially, life as refugees meant having just one room to live in and not being allowed to work. Although he admits things have not been easy, Iftikhar’s overriding feeling is gratitude: to the country that gave him shelter, and to the God who, he feels, never abandoned him during his ordeal or since. 

In the third of his series featuring people who have faced some of the hardest life choices imaginable, Mike Wooldridge meets a man who rose high in his chosen career – and lost it all because of his faith.

Heart and Soul: The Dilemma

Mike Wooldridge meets people who have faced some of the most difficult dilemmas imaginable.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Heart and Soul

The Dilemma

Abducted Because of My Faith

Genres

Formats

Brand

Series

BBC World Service South Asia

About BBC World Service