Reminiscences of my beloved
To recall your beloved is no less than meeting him
Some eye-witness events of the Imam of the Age
by Dr Mirza Yaqub Baig
(From Paigham Sulh, 26 May 1923, pages 6 to 9)
Although fifteen years have passed since the death of the Imam
of the Age, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad sahib of Qadian, the Promised Messiah,
but as I spent a long period during my younger days, a period of
almost sixteen years, in his company the events and conditions of
that time are always fresh before my eyes and can never be forgotten.
Besides this, during the last thirty years I have had occasion to
meet all sorts of people, and I find his life to be the best and
most noble example. Today, leaving aside his claims and the exalted
rank bestowed upon him by Allah the Most High, I put before the
readers some events of his life which show the exalted status of
his morals, and it appears even at a cursory glance that a man of
this illustrious rank, far from making a false claim about God,
cannot even utter an untruth about any human being. Such a truthful
man cannot possibly be an impostor, and one who entertains so deep
a love and adoration for the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu
‘alaihi wa sallam) cannot present himself as a rival to him.
On the contrary, he considers it his greatest honour to be his servant,
as he writes:
The glory of Ahmad is beyond all imagination and comprehension,
Whose servant, observe, is the Messiah of the age.
His physical appearance
There are hundreds of people still alive from among the earliest
followers of Hazrat Mirza sahib, who spent a long time in his company,
and there are thousands who had the opportunity to see him. However,
there are millions of people who never had the chance to see him,
and for them I want to say that the description of the coming Messiah
in Hadith — that his colour will be wheatish, his hair will be straight,
and it would always look as if he had just had a bath — is exactly
how Hazrat Mirza sahib would be described in brief. That is how
he was shown by Allah to the Holy Prophet Muhammad by means of a
vision thirteen centuries earlier, and that is precisely what the
appearance of this promised one was like. He was of a very handsome,
wheat-like colour, with a brightly radiant face. He had a high forehead
and a bushy beard, whose hair were slightly turned at the end. As
his hair had turned grey at a young age, he used to apply henna
to his hair. His face always appeared to have a smile on it, and
his eyes always half open. He was of medium height. The hair on
his head were not thick; he did not have any bald patches but his
hair were spaced apart. His appearance was quite distinct from the
description of the Israelite prophet Jesus as given in Hadith, who
is described as being reddish white in colour with curly hair.
He wore a turban of a very simple form. Sometimes he would have
a Turkish cap on his head, and sometimes he would wear a turban
over the cap. His [Indian style] coat, trousers and other garments
were of the simplest kind, and most frequently he wore traditional
Indian shoes.
There were no artificial airs about him, nor did he keep any special
place or seat reserved for himself. In every way he behaved simply.
He would take his seat wherever there was a vacant place. Sometimes
he would be seated on the floor while some of his followers, due
to lack of space, sat higher up on a couch.
He usually went for a walk in the early morning, accompanied by
a crowd consisting of his own followers and visitors. During the
walk many people, in order to listen to him, would pass him and
walk ahead. As they passed him, dust raised by their feet would
blow on him but he would not care in the least. Again and again
someone would step on one of his shoes causing it to slip out of
his foot, but he would never look to see who did it. Someone would
step on his walking stick and knock it out of his hand to the ground,
but his face would never show any sign of displeasure. In gatherings
he would sit like an ordinary person and talk without assuming any
artificial airs. If a humorous remark was made he laughed so heartily
that his face turned red and his eyes streamed. Sometimes while
laughing he covered his mouth with the end of his turban cloth.
Socialisation and hospitality
His food was absolutely simple. Whatever was cooked in the house
he would eat without any fuss. He ate very little. His hospitality
was of the highest degree. He looked after his guests with the greatest
care. Whenever a guest took his leave to depart, Hazrat Mirza sahib
would clearly be grieved. In the early days, he served his guests
personally and would go and bring a guest’s meal to him. Quite often
during the meal he would rise and go to bring some drink or pickles
or something else for his guest.
While eating he took very small morsels of food. Tiny bits of bread
collected in front of him as he ate. He would eat at most one chipati
at any meal. He would also take out pieces of meat from the curry
dish and place them before the guests seated near to him.
Times
He said the five daily prayers in congregation. Sometimes he led
the prayer, but usually a senior member of the community would be
the imam. Maulana Abdul Karim of Sialkot led the five daily prayers
and the Friday prayer till his death. After that, Allama Hakim Maulana
Nur-ud-Din used to lead the prayers, although sometimes Maulana
Sayyid Muhammad Ahsan or another senior member led the prayers.
After almost every prayer Hazrat Mirza sahib engaged in conversation
about some religious matter. Everyday there were new people in attendance
who had come from distant places, and often a question asked by
one of them would become the subject of a talk by him. He sometimes
talked about family matters, or if he was writing a book at the
time he would talk about the issues under discussion. After the
morning prayer he did not sit for long but, after taking a short
rest, he would come out and go for a walk of about two to three
miles accompanied by his friends. All through the walk conversation
continued. He walked so fast that most people had to run to keep
up with him to listen to his talk. He would speak with a constant
flow and at speed.
Between the zuhr and asr prayers he would usually
stay in the mosque, and likewise between the maghrib and
‘isha prayers. Almost all this time was spent on talking
about various religious topics, answering questions from people,
and giving goodly preaching. Except for those days when he was engaged
in writing some book, he spent most of his time with guests in conversations
on religion. After maghrib he would usually have dinner with
them and retire to his room after the ‘isha prayers.
Tahajjud prayers
Aside from praying in congregation for the five daily prayers,
he was regular in his tahajjud prayer. Although his humility
before Allah in every prayer was enviable, his tahajjud prayer
was quite without equal. He would be in the state of prostration
for hours, beseeching Allah from the bottom of his heart to grant
success to Islam and the Muslims. While doing so, the thought of
the moral plight and pitiable condition of the world would make
him shed tears, so much so that his cries could sometimes be heard.
In the early days the neighbourhood around his house was sparsely
populated, and when he said his tahajjud prayers on the roof
in the hot summer months, the sounds of his pleading and crying
before the Almighty with a painful heart could be heard far outside
the house.
His love and affection
While he had thousands of followers, most of them so devoted that
they would give their all for him, he too was no less in showing
love and devotion towards them. In fact, his devotion towards them
was much greater, and it made each one of them feel as if Hazrat
Mirza sahib loved him specially, more than he loved any other follower.
He was in reality a model of the Holy Prophet Muhammad’s quality
of being a mercy to all. He shared in the grief or the joy of every
one of his followers. If anyone was in distress or difficulty he
would do his best for him practically as well as by prayer, as if
he were striving for his own success. He remembered all his sincere
followers in his prayers and in his tahajjud prayers he went
so far as to pray for everyone of them by name.
Not only for his friends but he also prayed for his opponents and
the Maulvis who called him kafir, especially praying for
them in his tahajjud prayers that they be guided aright.
As he writes in a poetic verse:
“My soul is eaten away in sorrowing after your faith, my friend,
The wonder is that you consider me to be a kafir.”
Penmanship and writing
Apart from his walks outside, the Promised Messiah used to stroll
within his house as well. He had a separate room where he sometimes
sat down to write. However, he did most of his writing while walking.
At both ends of the courtyard he would place an inkpot in a niche
in the wall. With pen and paper in hand he would write while strolling
from one end to the other. After having done some writing he would
fold the paper over to reduce its length so as to facilitate writing
further on it.
It was not as if his courtyard was reserved for him. The women
and children of the house would be moving about in it. He often
likened his house to a railway train station due to the hustle bustle.
It was in that tumultuous environment that he did his writing work,
but the noise never distracted his attention from his writing. He
would be as deeply absorbed and engrossed in his work as if he were
in utter solitude and silence.
So absorbed would he be in his writing as to be entirely oblivious
to what was going on around him. In the early days his father used
to have his meals sent to him in his room. Sometimes a dog would
come and eat his food and he would not notice. Nor would it occur
to him that he had not eaten. He never asked for another meal to
be sent.
Once, in the later days, it so happened that Hazrat Mirza sahib
wrote a long article and put the papers by his side. His son, Mirza
Mahmud Ahmad, at present head of the Qadiani Jama‘at, who was a
child at the time, while sitting next to him and playing with a
match box, set the papers alight. Hazrat Mirza sahib did not notice.
When he needed to look up those papers, he found them burnt to ashes.
All he said was: “There must be some Divine wisdom in why this happened”.
He rewrote the article, and it was better than the one burnt.
Love of friends
His relationship with his devoted followers was that of a close
friend. He addressed everyone of them with respect. When I and my
late brother Mirza Ayub Baig took the bai‘at we were the
youngest people in the Movement, yet whenever he wrote us a letter
he addressed us as: “My dear brothers”. He found it difficult to
accept a complaint against a friend. Once when Maulvi Abdul Karim,
Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din and some others made a complaint about a friend
from the town of Gujaranwala, Hazrat Mirza sahib told them: I cannot
believe that he could have done such a thing, you must make enquiries
again.
When friends came from other places to see him he would not let
them go quickly. When he did bid them farewell, he would walk with
them for a long distance to see them off. Sometimes when seeing
off us two brothers he would accompany us for two miles outside
Qadian.
Unequalled forbearance and tolerance
I and my late brother Mirza Ayub Baig entered into the bai‘at
of Hazrat Mirza sahib in 1892. He had come to Lahore after having
been to Delhi. The ulama had just then issued the declaration
against him denouncing him as a kafir. He was staying at
the house of Mehboob in Lahore where afterwards the Railway Station
Dispensary was located for a long time. Opposition to him was so
fierce that the main gate of the house was kept locked, and only
a narrow, side entrance was open for those going in and out. However,
some malicious persons used to slip inside even through there. One
day Hazrat Mirza sahib was sitting in a room on the first storey
with many people who had come to see him. Some Hindus were present
as well. A man came and started hurling abuse at him. Hazrat Mirza
sahib simply hung his head down and kept on listening. When the
man got tired of insulting him, Hazrat Mirza sahib said to him:
Brother, if you have any more to say, then say it also. The man
was deeply embarrassed and regretful and asked for pardon. There
was a Hindu sitting there who saw it all. He commented about Hazrat
Mirza sahib: “This man will be successful” and then added: “In the
Gospels we read about the forbearance and tolerance of Jesus, but
we had not seen any person practising it till now”.
In those days he used to go to the mosques of the general Muslims
and pray behind their imams. He was returning home after prayer
from a mosque when he was assaulted by a lunatic who claimed to
be the Mahdi. As he was pushed by that man, Hazrat Mirza sahib’s
turban fell to the ground. Accompanying Hazrat Mirza sahib were
Sayyid Amir Ali Shah, sub-Inspector Police, his brother Sayyid Fazilat
Ali Shah, Inspector Police and many other friends, who could have
dealt a blow to that man. Sayyid Fazilat Ali Shah grabbed him by
the neck, but Hazrat Mirza sahib said: Let him go, he is an helpless
man. So no one did anything to him.
Apart from the fatwas of kufr he frequently used
to receive abusive mail from his opponents. He used to say that
he had two chests full of such letters. But they made no impression
on him. One day he said: “If my opponents knew that this sort of
obscenity does not upset me in the least, they would kill themselves
with disappointment”. He refers to this evil behaviour of these
people in a poetic verse as follows:
“The foul stench produced by the jealous opponents cannot harm
me,
As I am kept fragrant all the time by the musk of the remembrance
of God.”
Qadian in his time
I first visited Qadian in 1893. After that, during my student days
I used to go to Qadian almost every day that was a holiday. During
the summer holidays also most of my time was spent in his company.
After finishing my education I became house surgeon in the medical
college. Later on I also spent most of my employment as a lecturer
in the medical college. In those days whenever anyone in Qadian
fell ill the Promised Messiah used to send for me. In addition to
that, being a member of the Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya I had occasion
to visit Qadian once or twice a month in that connection as well.
Whenever I went to see him in Qadian, my faith in the existence
of God was refreshed. I would see the truth of Hazrat Mirza sahib
and the truth of the Holy Prophet Muhammad appear in a new glory.
The reason why this place had such an effect was that the Qadian
of that time was entirely different from the outside world. I said
to my friends several times that the very earth and sky of Qadian
was godly. No worldly business or concern or fire of worldly ambition
was at all in evidence there. On the contrary, it was a habitation
populated by godly persons who had been attracted there, to that
true servant of the Holy Prophet, by nothing other than spiritual
aims and love of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. Being in his company
really cleansed you of sin, and all worldly cares and anxieties
disappeared by going to him. His love and affection for his followers
was so great that in no physical relationship, whether of father,
mother or any other kith or kin, was such an example to be found
of a heart-felt connection and passion for the sake of Allah. Nor
could such contentment of mind be found in any friendship.
Besides this, his love and devotion for the Holy Prophet Muhammad
and his engrossment in matters of faith was so thorough that when
you went to meet him there was no other talk except about the teachings
of the religion. Moreover, his talk was entirely different in nature
from that of the ulama. Every single word he spoke entered
into your heart, his speech melted most people’s hearts and breathed
the spirit of sacrifice into them. Just as he obtained the promise
from every follower, during the bai‘at, of preferring religion
to the world, so did his preaching always teach the lesson of acting
on this golden rule. Being in his company created within you the
strength to withstand difficulties and trials in the way of Allah,
and it produced within you such unshakeable faith in his truth and
in the truth of Islam that no declarations of kufr or opposition
by the Maulvis could scare you, nor could the attacks upon Islam
by its detractors make the least impression upon you. He established
the whole of his Jama‘at upon such a firm rock of faith that no
power could shake them. Even though at this time the Jama‘at has
split into two groups, both sections in doing religious service
are holding the cause of religion above the world. Even the section
that has exaggerated the status of Hazrat Mirza sahib is doing work
of propagation of Islam that is an example for other Muslims.
His power of attraction
Before Hazrat Mirza sahib’s mission, no one in the world knew of
Qadian. Even in the Punjab very few people had heard of it. But
since he began his mission, there is no part of the world from where
people have not come to Qadian. Similarly, there is no worldly blessing
or comfort which has not reached there. His presence brought people
to Qadian from all over the world. This is an evidence of his truth
because at the time when no one in the world had heard of Qadian
Hazrat Mirza sahib told of a revelation, which he also published
in Barahin Ahmadiyya in 1882, that “people will come to you
from every remote path”. Events proved the truth of this revelation,
and today its veracity is evident.
His victories witnessed
Being with him we always saw the hand of Allah the Most High acting
in his support. He had a revelation: “I will help him who intends
to help you and I will disgrace him who intends to disgrace you”.
His helpers, despite facing widespread opposition, were always made
victorious by Allah and by His grace we progressed and prospered.
Each and every one of us can compare his past and present conditions
and testify to that. Those who tried to disgrace him, as they were
really opponents of the truth, were always brought down low.
Debate with Abdullah Atham
I was present at the debate between Hazrat Mirza sahib and the
Christian preacher Deputy Abdullah Atham which took place in Amritsar
in 1893. Details of the proceedings of the debate have been published.
One point is worthy of special mention, and that is that for each
of the two parties, i.e. Abdullah Atham and Hazrat Mirza sahib,
four helpers had been appointed. Abdullah Atham used to seek assistance
from his helpers when preparing his replies but Hazrat Mirza sahib
required no help. He had only the Holy Quran in his hand and consulted
it on every issue. Whenever he spoke, a river of knowledge flowed
forth. Someone asked Hazrat Mirza sahib how he could locate verses
in the Quran without help. He replied: When I thumb through the
pages of the Quran to look for a particular verse, that verse comes
before me as if it were highlighted. “This is Allah’s grace which
He grants to whom He pleases”, as the Quran says.
After the debate was concluded Deputy Abdullah Atham and the Rev.
Henry Martyn Clarke extended an invitation to the Ahmadi side through
Maulana Nur-ud-Din for a meal. The Maulana replied that he would
let them know after asking Hazrat Mirza sahib. When the Maulana
mentioned this to Hazrat Mirza sahib, he said: Can your self-respect
tolerate that you accept an invitation for a meal from an enemy
of the Holy Prophet Muhammad? He added: It is a fact that although
I was engaged in a debate with Abdullah Atham for fifteen days yet
my self-respect could not tolerate that I look at the face of such
a dark hearted opponent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad.
All thinking persons should ponder on this, and also those who
today make Hazrat Mirza sahib equal to the Holy Prophet Muhammad
as well as those who call him a kafir should both take a
lesson from this, and they should realize the depth of love that
Hazrat Mirza sahib entertained in his heart for the Holy Prophet
Muhammad and his closeness to and affinity for his master.
We too are witness to the fact that in reality Hazrat Mirza sahib
never cast a glance towards the face of Abdullah Atham during the
debate. He used to be keeping his attention turned towards the Holy
Quran, and when he spoke his eyes would be cast downwards.
Love for the Holy Prophet Muhammad
Apart from the events mentioned above there were many examples
of how Hazrat Mirza sahib showed love for and devotion to the Holy
Prophet Muhammad. I was present with him at the end of the period
of his prophecy about Abdullah Atham, when on the day of the expiry
of that period he wrote the announcement, on the basis of Divine
revelation, that as Abdullah Atham had repented due to his fear
of the prophecy, so Allah had granted him respite. About two or
three days before the expiry of the limit of the prophecy he said:
I have no worry about myself, my worry is about the honour of the
Holy Prophet Muhammad. He added that if he were to be killed, his
family butchered and cut to pieces in front of his eyes, and his
house destroyed to the ground, but at that moment he were to be
told that the honour of the Holy Prophet Muhammad and of the Holy
Quran had been established in the world as it deserves to be established,
he would regard himself as the most successful person on earth.
If someone abused Hazrat Mirza sahib and used bad language about
him he never became angry, but he could not tolerate abuse directed
against the Holy Prophet Muhammad. He never prayed for punishment
for anyone who abused him but he used to get very roused against
those who vilified the Holy Prophet Muhammad. He has prayed for
punishment for such vituperators, as in the prophecy about Lekhram
he has warned him about the fate that will befall him due to his
wickedness.
Mubahila
During the debate in Amritsar with Abdullah Atham in 1893, Hazrat
Mirza sahib held a mubahila with his opponent Maulvis — the
two parties stood in the same open ground confronting one another
and prayed to Allah to send His verdict against the liar and to
make the truthful one steadfast and show in his support a clear
evidence from heaven.
The mubahila took place at the Eid prayer ground in Amritsar.
On one side was Hazrat Mirza sahib with a group of his followers,
their hands raised in prayer, and on the other side was Maulvi Abdul
Haq Ghaznavi with his supporters. It is noteworthy about this mubahila
that while Maulvi Abdul Haq Ghaznavi prayed for punishment to befall
Hazrat Mirza sahib, but Hazrat Mirza sahib did not pray for punishment
to befall Maulvi Abdul Haq Ghaznavi or any other opponent. In fact,
he prayed for punishment for himself, saying: “O Allah, if I am
the impostor and not from You, then destroy me and save the world
from my mischief; and if I am from You then grant me aid and help,
and support me openly so that my truthfulness may be clear to the
world”. He prayed aloud and his followers who were standing behind
him in rows said Amin. I was one of them.
At the time of the mubahila his devoted followers numbered
313. Hence in writing about this incident he has recorded their
names and likened this encounter to the battle of Badr. Consequently,
Allah the Most High bestowed upon him progress day after day following
this mubahila. His Movement, from being in the hundreds,
reached thousands, and hundreds of thousands. Today the services
of this Jama‘at to Islam and its work of the propagation of Islam
have set the seal upon the truth of its founder, the Promised Messiah.
As against this, the opponent Maulvis, particularly those who took
part in the mubahila, were not blessed with any progress;
on the contrary, today those who call Muslims as kafir are
denounced and reviled by everyone.
The awe of truth
It was because of the awe and fear of the power of truth that Maulvi
Muhammad Husain Batalvi, despite being the staunchest adversary
of Hazrat Mirza sahib and the originator of the fatwa against
him declaring him as kafir, did not come forward for the
mubahila. He was actually present at that time in that very
Eid prayer ground and was attempting to ensnare people into opposing
Hazrat Mirza sahib but he did not come forward for the mubahila
himself. Likewise, Maulvi Sanaullah openly refused to engage
in mubahila with Hazrat Mirza sahib.
Pandit Lekhram
According to the prophecy made by the Promised Messiah, Pandit
Lekhram died after receiving a wound in his abdomen with a knife.
By coincidence, when he was brought to Mayo Hospital [Lahore] after
being stabbed, I was in the hospital as I was in my final year of
my medical studies. In fact, I bandaged him myself and assisted
Colonel Perry in operating on him.
As Colonel Perry lived some distance from the hospital and his
arrival took time, Lekhram kept on repeating dejectedly and despondently:
“O my qismat (misfortune), the doctor is not here yet”. The
Pandit’s friends said to him: Premshar (God) will save you.
In reply it was only once that he said: Yes, Premshar can
save me, but he was convinced that he would die and kept on repeating
his earlier words till the doctor arrived.
Some people have accused Hazrat Mirza sahib of having had Lekhram
murdered. But I am prepared to testify on oath that the Pandit held
no view of this kind about Hazrat Mirza sahib, even though this
situation was one in which he had the best opportunity to express
such an opinion.
Even during my student days I was not called by my forename but
as Mirza Jee. In those days the late Dr. Ragbir Sahay was
house surgeon and lived in a room above the operation theatre. So
when Lekhram was brought in, Dr. Ragbir Sahay called me saying:
Mirza sahib, please come here, a serious case has just been brought
in. When I came I saw a man of height six feet or more lying on
the table. On his abdomen there was a cut from one side to the other,
some seven to eight inches in length, and his intestines were outside.
Dr. Ragbir Sahay asked me to place a warm sponge on his abdomen
and then to take his temperature, which I did. In brief, I was with
him for about an hour to an hour and a half, until he was given
chloroform to anaesthetize him. During this time Dr. Ragbir Sahay
called me Mirza Jee several times. When I realized that the
injured man was Pandit Lekhram, I paid particular attention to remembering
everything that happened so that I could inform Hazrat Mirza sahib
of the last hours of his life.
I say with certainty that whenever Dr. Ragbir Sahay called me Mirza
Jee, Pandit Lekhram looked towards me with sorrow in his eyes
and he remembered Hazrat Mirza sahib as well as his own prophecy
he had made that Hazrat Mirza sahib would be destroyed. It had become
clear to him that his prophecy had turned out to be false but that
the prophecy made by Hazrat Mirza sahib had proved true.
If without the memory of Hazrat Mirza sahib being reawakened in
his mind he had remained silent, then it would have been another
matter. However, because of the calling of my name he was repeatedly
reminded of Hazrat Mirza sahib, and yet despite being fully conscious
and able to speak he only expressed regret at his fate and made
no accusation whatsoever against Hazrat Mirza sahib.
Although the Pandit was brought directly to the hospital without
any dying declaration being taken from him by the police, nonetheless
any statement made by the patient in such circumstances in front
of the doctor is regarded as equivalent to sworn testimony in court.
However the Pandit made no statement even though, in addition to
Dr. Ragbir Sahay, as far as I remember there were also two doctors
present who came with other Arya Samaj members, Dr. Heera Lal and
Dr. Dev Kee Nand, and they remained there till the end.
Another incident
Hazrat Mirza sahib had already announced his prophecy about Pandit
Lekhram when in 1896, while on his way probably to Multan, he was
at the mosque which used to be to the west of Lahore railway station
in those days, performing his ablutions (wudu) before
prayer. By coincidence, Pandit Lekhram was passing and, after learning
that Hazrat Mirza sahib was there, he went into the mosque to see
him. However, Hazrat Mirza sahib did not raise his sight to look
at him. The reason was that same deep love he had for the Holy Prophet
Muhammad which made it intolerable for him to cast a glance at the
face of a man who reviled and abused the Holy Prophet. So Hazrat
Mirza sahib paid him no attention.
When Pandit Lekhram was killed the newspapers speculated about
who the murderer might be. Some expressed suspicion that the murderer
was a Sanatam Dharm Hindu, others that he was a Christian, and yet
others that he was a Sikh, because the Pandit used to abuse not
only Muslims but all religions and parties that he was opposed to.
Some suspected one of his own friends in whose house he lived. Some,
of course, expressed suspicion about Hazrat Mirza sahib as he had
made the prophecy. When these news reached Hazrat Mirza sahib, he
expressed regret that all those people were being suspected and
said that no decent person could be involved in an act of murder
like this. He added: Even though I had made the prophecy about Lekhram,
but if I had been with him when he was stabbed I would have done
my best to save him and done everything possible to procure treatment
for him.
Journey to Delhi
In 1904 when he went to Delhi I was with him. During the journey
he told of a dream in which he had seen that the gates of Delhi
were locked. He took it to mean that the people of Delhi would not
benefit from him and their hearts would not open to him. So did
it happen. He stayed there for more than one month. Everyday he
gave a lecture but people did not take advantage from his presence.
So he went to the tombs of all the famous saints buried in the outer
areas of Delhi and prayed for them. He thought it better to visit
these truthful deceased saints than the living persons of Delhi.
The illness and deaths of Maulvi Abdul Karim and
Mirza Mubarak Ahmad
When Maulvi Abdul Karim, his beloved and devoted follower, fell
fatally ill I was in Qadian on three months’ leave. I spent almost
all my leave in attending to the late Maulvi sahib. Hazrat Mirza
sahib showed his deepest love for his disciple by procuring every
kind of necessity for the treatment of the Maulvi sahib to an out
of the way place like Qadian. Let alone other things, when the Maulvi
sahib died there was a huge stock of ice in his room, a provision
which in those days was very difficult to transport from the railway
station to a distant place.
Everyday Hazrat Mirza sahib used to wait restlessly for the latest
news about the Maulvi sahib’s health. He prayed for him day and
night and made all possible arrangements to obtain medicines. When
he died some of us, including Maulvi Muhammad Ali sahib, myself
and other friends, could not contain our grief and some screams
emerged from our mouths spontaneously. Hearing this, Hazrat Mirza
sahib came and called us together, and exhorted us to accept the
will of Allah the Most High. Despite the fact that his connection
with the deceased was the closest of all of us, and he should have
been more grief stricken than anyone else, yet he not only showed
the most perfect example of patient acceptance of the Divine decree
but imbued others with the spirit of resignation as well.
He showed the same example at the death of Mirza Mubarak Ahmad
even though he was his own son. He spent many sleepless nights attending
to his care and treatment, but when he died and was being lowered
into his last resting place, Hazrat Mirza sahib was telling his
followers and all others present that this kind of trial and tribulation
is sent by Allah upon man for his spiritual reform and for establishing
his permanent relationship with Allah, the Being Who is ever living,
and that those who fail to show patience and resignation under these
trials, destroying themselves with grief, can never attain the pleasure
of Allah.
The Promised Messiah’s migration and death
The Promised Messiah had received the revelation dagh-i hijrat
(‘Shock of Separation’). He had been informed by many other revelations
that his death was approaching. This last time that he left Qadian,
to go to Lahore, he felt as if he would not return alive to Qadian,
where he expressed regret on this separation. However, it was necessary
for destiny to be fulfilled.
He stayed first at the house of Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din in Ahmadiyya
Buildings. Here he received the revelation from Allah: ‘I will safeguard
everyone who is in this house’, the same revelation he had received
about his own house in Qadian. As Hazrat Mirza sahib preferred to
stay on an upper storey he moved to the house of Dr Sayyid Muhammad
Husain, which adjoined the Khwaja sahib’s house. Here he penned
his last writing, Paigham Sulh (‘Message of Peace’), whose
object was to create harmony between Hindus and Muslims. While writing
this message he had a severe attack of diarrhoea. Although he had
previously had attacks of diarrhoea, this time he succumbed to it.
In those days I lived in the inner city area of Lahore. It was
at two o’clock at night [on 26 May 1908] that Hazrat Mirza sahib
sent for me in this state of illness. When I arrived, he was sitting
on the toilet seat. He said to me: “Mirza sahib, recommend a medicine
for me”. Then he said: “Also pray for me”, and he added: “In truth,
the medicine is by decree from heaven”.
When he died he was remembering his True Master, Allah, in the
words: “O my beloved, O my beloved”. It was with the love of Allah
that he was entirely intoxicated and it was to Him that he went
in the end.
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