Website of the Upal Family

Upal Family History
As far as the known history of our family goes, we know that we were the first settlers of our home village of Mehdi Pur located in the province of Punjab near the city of Sialkot, one of the biggest sports goods producer in the World. More soccer balls are produced here than anywhere else. But besides sports related goods it also exports the likes of leather, garments, shoes, musical instruments and surgical instruments.

We also know that Upals were firmly present in Punjab in the 1400s. The founder of Sikhism, Baba Guru Nanak Dev Ji's elder sister (1464-1518), Bebe Nanake, was married to Jairam Uppal of Sultanpur Lodhi. The most famous army general Sardar Hari Singh Nalua (1781-1894) in Maharaja Ranjit Singh's (1780-1839) mighty empire was an Uppal. One uniqueness particular to our family is that we spell our name as Upal as opposed to Uppal used by almost all other Uppals. The reason behind that is to differentiate us (as Muslims) from the majority Sikh or Hindu Uppals residing mostly in East Punjab in India.

It was my father's generation who left their traditional farming background for higher education and as such moved into the cities. Except for my oldest uncle, Usman Haider Upal sahib, all other four brothers namely, my father, late Ali Haider Upal sahib, Asghar Haider Upal sahib, late Akbar Haider Upal sahib, Siddiqe Haider Upal sahib, and Umar Haider Upal sahib left Mehdi Pur to pursue their post-secondary education. While the three sisters Sadeeqa Haider sahiba, Suriyya Haider sahiba, Sayera Haider sahiba married and moved to the cities as well. Uncle late Usman Haider Upal sahib stayed behind in Mehdi Pur to keep up the farming and take care of my grand parents, Mian Mohammed Ramazan Upal sahib and Ghulam Fatima sahiba. Uncle Usman returned to his beloved in 1982, my grandfather in 1984 and my grandmother in 1996.

When my father finished his bachelors in Mathematics, he taught in a high school for a short while in Narovaal (close to Sialkot). He was doing his M.Sc. in Mathematics when he decided to devote his life as a missionary in the service of God. In 1964 he joined Jameya-e-Ahmadiyya University in Rabwah for the next eight years to attain his Fazil in Arabic and Shahid degrees (a masters in Islamic Studies). He was in his third year, when in 1967 he married my mother, Naima Akhtar sahiba. After marriage my mother who was a teacher by education started to teach in a local primary school.

He authored one book titled, Sahayef Wadiye Qumran (The Dead Sea Scrolls). The book is about the ancient scrolls from the third century B.C.E. to 68 C.E. that were discovered by young Bedouin shepherds in 1947 in Judean Desert's Qumran ruins. In his book he argues that Jesus belonged to the Essene community. This book was published in hardcover in 2004 and is part of alislam.org library and available in PDF at this link.

His first few short appointments were in Pakistan starting in 1972 in Dupiyye, then in Narovaal. His first foreign mission came in 1973 when he was stationed as a missionary in Accra and Takoradi in Ghana, Western Africa. During his time there, God honored him with building the Ahmadiyya mosques in Akra and also in Takoradi. He returned to Pakistan in 1977 and had a short appointment in Mir Pur Khaas, Pakistan. He was then appointed professor of English at the Jameya-e-Ahmadiyya University in Rabwah. He taught there until his next mission to Alnoor, Karachi. He stayed there for three years until 1981. His next mission was in Islamabad for two years. Then came his second foreign mission in 1982 as the first Ahmadiyya missionary to Western Canada, first in Vancouver Island and later in Calgary. It was during his time in Calgary that the first Mission House in Calgary was purchased. He spent four years in Canada and returned to Pakistan in 1986. He was once again assigned to Karachi for three years first to Akhtar & Defense Colonies, and later to Drig Road Colony. In 1989 he came back to Rabwah and again taught at the Jameya-e-Ahmadiyya University in Rabwah. That same year in 1989 he returned to Canada on a personal visit and sponsored us through Canadian Immigration. As a result my whole family received our immigrant status to Canada and moved in 1990. The same year my father returned to Rabwah for a few months. Then came my father's third foreign assignment to the tiny country of Gambia in the West coast of Africa. My father spent three years in Gambia and returned to Saskatoon, Canada to await for his next assignment. It was in 1995 in Saskatoon that he passed away to his Creator as a result of a car accident.

Today, his widow and all five of his children, three sons and two daughters namely, Amatus Shakoor Khan, M. Afzal Upal, Amatus Rauf Amir, Ahsan M. Upal and Anwar M. Upal live happily in Canada and U.S.A. active in their respective spheres of lives. All five children are happily married and have kids.