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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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:

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 [Lahore]. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 [Shah], 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.