Some more Reminiscences of the Promised Messiah [Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian]
by Dr. Basharat Ahmad
The Young Islam, 15th July 1934 Issue (Vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 1, 4)
The Promised Messiah used to show great respect in mentioning the names of his disciples and was extremely courteous in referring to any one of them, present or absent, contrary to the practice of the pirs [spiritual guides] of the time who mention their disciples in a curt and blunt way, thinking it adds dignity and lustre to their exalted position. His conduct reflected in this respect the morals of the Holy Prophet Muhammad [pbuh] and gave pleasure to the soul and freshness to the faith of the believers who had been despairing of the possibility of such a phenomenon in this our present age.
Once when the late Maulana Muhammad Ahsan [of Amroha] was staying in a room of the house of the Promised Messiah the saint received a revelation at night, which was informant of an impending calamity. He left his bed at once, went to the door of the Maulana’s room and knocked on it. On the Maulana’s asking who it was, the reply went from him,
“It is I, Ghulam Ahmad.”
What a glorious spectacle! The prince or the Mujaddids [Reformers], the Messiah of God, knocking at the doors of a humble disciple in the manner of a common servant! He could have sent a man to the Maulana, and the Maulana would deem it a privilege to be so remembered by one whom he regarded as the very agent of Allah. Indeed, it was an outrage on the received notion of the relationship that subsisted between himself and the Maulana to have thus come in person to the doors of the latter and in such an unostentatious way. Any way, it was so, and when the Maulana heard the name “Ghulam Ahmad,” he jumped out of his bed in great perplexity, quickly opened the doors and said in all haste:
“Sir, I hope all is right with you.”
“Yes,”
came the reply,
“but I have received a revelation in the nature of a premonition.”
Then he narrated the incident in all its details and concluded,
“Kindly pray to Allah; I am also praying. May He show His grace and Mercy!”
What a sincere and unreserved expression of the feeling of humanity in him that makes him feel as on a footing of perfect equality with every other man, even with a humble disciple of his, when face to face with the will of Allah!
An exhibition of this feeling on the part of an exalted spiritual leader like himself shows conclusively that he dealt in no false goods and represented truth and nothing but truth, which was, so to say, the very breath of his life.
I remember another incident of this nature. When the late Maulvi Abdul Karim [of Sialkot] was suffering from his last illness, he felt a little convalescent just before the disease took the serious turn leading to his death. At this time the saint sent a word to him saying,
“You have just recovered from your serious illness and are consequently under the protection and mercy of Allah. So kindly pray to Him on my behalf that He may grant me the achievement of my object with regard to the service of Islam.”
In the matter of ties of friendship he was so anxious to maintain them at all costs that once he said:
“Whoever once makes an avowal of friendship with me, finds me so jealous of its sanctity that no kind of change in him nor any in the external circumstances can make me forswear it, unless, of course, he himself cuts the bond asunder. So much so that if any of my friends is found lying flat in the marketplace in a state of drunkenness, surrounded by a big crowd, I will pick him up, as a matter of principle, not caring what others will think of me.”
He used also to remark:
“The bond of friendship is a very precious possession which should not be easily lost. And, however shocking the behaviour of a friend may appear, we should try to overlook and tolerate it.”
Once a gentleman adversely criticised a friend of his in the presence of the saint.
“Have you prayed to God with earnestness and tears for forty consecutive days for the reformation of your friend?”
asked the saint.
“No,”
said the critic.
“Then you have no right to complain against him,”
came the sharp rebuke.
“If he is your friend you ought to pray to Allah for his reformation with tearful eyes for forty days. And you can speak ill of him only when you find him unreclaimed even after that.”