By reflecting on death, Imam Rizwan Khan chose a life of faith.
Khan's path was inspired after asking himself a profoundly familiar question: "When I reach the end of my life and look back on it, what is the most meaningful way to spend it?"
In response, Khan devoted his life to developing a relationship with his creator and preparing for life beyond this world. "One of the things that makes us unique is the capacity for religion," he said. "If I devote my life to that which makes us unique as humans, that would be a life well spent."
When he chose to dedicate himself to a life of faith, Imam Khan was prepared to go wherever he was called to serve. And recently that journey brought him to a mosque in north Houston.
Khan is an imam in the Ahmadiyya community of Islam. Founded in 1889, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is a revival movement within Islam and the fastest-growing sect of Muslims in the 21st century.
A khalifa, or spiritual leader, oversees the international movement, assisted by regional amirs who help place imams in local mosques. In September, Khan was assigned to the Baitus Samee Mosque, a 700-member congregation on Spears Road. Later that month, he moved to Houston with his wife and two young children.
Founded: In 1889, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community spans more than 200 countries and comprises tens of millions of followers, which some observers estimate to be 1 percent of Muslims worldwide. In most countries they represent a minority of Muslims, and in some places, such as Pakistan, it is illegal for them to identify as Muslim. The current Ahmadiyya headquarters are in England. There are at least 15,000 Ahmadiyya Muslims in the United States.
Khalifa: That is the title for a leader in Islamic tradition; it means "successor" or "steward" of the tradition of the prophet Muhammad. Sunni and Shia Muslims differ on whether succession should follow the prophet's bloodline (Shia) or spiritual election (Sunni). The Ahmadiyya community is a subset of Sunni Islam.
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908): The founder of Ahmadiyya Islam was believed by his followers to be the long-awaited messiah. He preached an end to religious wars and the pursuit of justice and peace, and he advocated for the separation of mosque and state. Ahmad further declared that "jihad by the sword" should have no place in Islam. Five khalifas have succeeded Ahmad since his death in 1908. The fifth and current head is His Holiness the Khalifa of Islam Mirza Masroor Ahmad. All told, the movement has built worldwide more than 16,000 mosques, 500 schools, 30 hospitals and a global disaster relief organization.
Khan was born and raised in the Washington, D.C. area to Pakistani Muslim parents. To become an imam he trained for seven years at the Jamia Ahmadiyya in Toronto, the movement's seminary serving North America. Khan spent several months doing missionary work in Africa, where Ahmadiyya Muslims now outnumber those in South Asia. When he became an imam, he anticipated being sent to a distant land. Coincidentally, his first assignment was in Chantilly, Va., not far from his childhood home.
Khan's parents emigrated to the United States in the late 1970s. They came to this country, Khan said, for the American dream. Persecution may have played a role, too.
In 1974 Pakistan declared Ahmadiyyas to be non-Muslims in the eyes of the law and later banned them from participation in Muslim rituals. Ahmadiyya Muslims follow the five pillars of Islam and the Quran, but their belief that their founder was the prophesied messiah sets them apart from other Muslims. Some Muslim authorities consider their beliefs heretical.
Here in America, the Khan family could practice their faith freely - and devoutly. Khan credits his parents for starting him on his spiritual path. His mother, he learned, had dedicated him to the service of religion before he was born. In Islam, Khan explained, "you are not born a faith, but your parents raise you in it. Then as an adult you make a choice."
Among his generation - Khan was born in 1984 - choosing to be a person of faith, let alone an imam, is countercultural.
"I recently learned I'm a millennial," he said with understated humor. "If a person in our age group makes a decision around faith, atheism is the prevailing thought."
When asked about outreach to millennials, Khan is quick to respond that an imam, like any pastor or rabbi, is called to be the spiritual head of the entire community, no matter what age. But he acknowledged that because he happens to be in his early 30s, he can speak to youth and try to make Islam relevant and accessible.
The local Muslim youth leader, Alamzeb Khan, agreed that Imam Rizwan - he refers to him by his first name - brings a youthful energy that will be new for the Houston North Youth Chapter.
"Most of our missionaries have been older in age," he said, "so there's an automatic gap - we show respect for our elders, of course, but there is a gap."
Alamzeb Khan said that the arrival of a new imam is always a time of excitement, which includes a bit of natural apprehension as everyone wonders how the new leader will relate to each segment of the community. He said the imam's rigorous training and thoughtfulness will allow him to connect with the entire community, including the youth.
"All our previous missionaries were trained elsewhere," he added. "Imam Rizwan is our first who was born and raised and trained here in North America. This is one of our guys."
Connecting with everyone in the community is essential for Imam Khan to fulfill what he feels is his responsibility to convey the truth of his faith to others.
Sometimes people go too far in their attempt to spread their truth, crossing lines into militance and bigotry. Sharing the truth of one's religious path, he said, must be done with wisdom and common sense. Khan will call on these virtues as he works toward stopping Islamophobia by challenging misconceptions about Muslims and addressing efforts to demonize them.
"We want to bring people together," Khan said. "We want to re-humanize us."
He's not just talking about Muslims - for as a man of peace he believes we all need less demonization and more humanity.
"Politics have made us so distant that we no longer see each other as people," he said. "This allows us to do acts of inhumanity."
Teaching, leading prayer, counseling and interreligious dialogue are all in the toolbox Khan brings to Houston. He hopes those skills will help him spread his message, to fellow Muslims and to his neighbors of every faith.
"We are Muslims for peace, for loyalty to country, for sacrifice for the purpose of saving lives," he said. "This is the true way of gaining nearness to God."
Khan comes by those values thanks in part to his parents' immigration to the United States. As he reflects on their experience, he locates the heart of patriotism in the immigrant's journey.
"Our community in many parts of the world is persecuted," he said. "It makes us appreciate the freedoms given here, the principles that make this country a beacon of light to the world."
Khan will rely on his depth of commitment - to country and to God - to continue to sustain him through the challenges of spiritual leadership.
The name of his new mosque might offer Khan some guidance. Baitus Samee means "House of the All-Hearing," named, like many mosques, for an attribute of God.
The imam knows that to be a messenger of his faith he must cultivate the ability to hear. Alamzeb Khan, the youth leader, already has noticed that Imam Rizwan is more soft-spoken than previous imams and more mellow in his style of prayer.
"Maybe that's a way for him to make sure we are listening," he said.