The Journey Behind Welcome to Pakistan

My name is Farhan Ahmed. I was born in Sheffield, United Kingdom in the late 1980s, and my journey to Pakistan began with a single question asked at an afterschool Islamic Awareness session when I was fourteen: Where should a Muslim live? That question never left me. Through college and university, it kept returning — shared by friends who, like me, quietly held onto the hope of one day making Hijrah.

Over the years, every visit to a Muslim-majority country deepened that longing. Our Umrah to Makkah and Madinah in 2012 stirred something profound. Holidays to Marrakesh, Abu Dhabi, and Turkey each added to it. But it was a trip to Pakistan in 2017 — for a family wedding, our first visit in over a decade — that finally brought clarity. I had avoided returning for years, put off by memories of difficult conditions and family dynamics. What I found instead was a quiet, growing community of expats and dual nationals building real lives in Pakistan's cities. That changed everything.

After years of research and many long conversations, Myra was convinced. In October 2022, we booked a one-way flight.

Three months after arriving, our home was burgled. We lived in a secure cantonment area with night guards and watchful neighbours — and yet we were targeted. The experience shook us. Leaving England had already taken courage, but having our home violated, even with little to take, cut deeper than we expected. Myra and I sat with it. We talked, we reflected, and we made a decision: we were staying. Looking back, we believe the burglary was meant to break us — to send us running back. It didn't. We had faith that Allah is the best of planners.

What followed was a fifteen-month renovation. I had no prior experience, limited Urdu, and no local knowledge of materials or fair rates. I figured it out anyway. That flat became a proper home — one we built with our own hands and, in doing so, made ours in every sense.

Out of that experience came something larger. I began building a community for expats and dual nationals — people navigating the same unfamiliar terrain I once had, often without much support. I knew what I had wished existed when I arrived. So I created it.

Today I offer consultations, city tours, and home renovation and build services for anyone making the move to Pakistan. Everything I once needed and couldn't find, I now provide. We are settled. We are home. Allahumma barik.