Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 20
20 AHMADIYY AT victed and that it was no use for the lawyer to make an attempt to defend him. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad said that he regretted the lawyer's decision to leave him to his own devices but that there was no help for it. When the case was called he appeared before the magistrate without a lawyer, the prosecution being represented by a European Superinten- dent of Post Offices. The magistrate was also a European. In answer to his question Mirza Ghulam Ahmad stated that the packet and the letter had been' despa tched by him, but by placing the letter in the packet he had not intended to defraud or occasion loss to the Post Office. As the subject matter of the letter only contained directions with regard to the manu- script enclosed in the packet he had in good faith thought that the letter formed a part of the manuscript. The prosecutor argued that this was a clear case of contravention of the relevant Post Office regulation and that the statement of the accused amounted to a confession of guilt and he should be convicted and sentenced. The magistrate rejected the plea of the prosecutor and discharged Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. It is worthy of note that the burden of proof, as had been pointed out to Mirza Ghulam Ahmad by his lawyer, was on the prosecution to establish that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had placed the letter inside the packet. In case of his denial that he had done so, it would have been difficult for the prosecution to establish in fact that he had himself placed the letter in the packet. But he would not adopt a subterfuge and felt that he had no choice but to state the truth. In 1874 Mirza Ghulam' Ahmad saw in a dream a very handsome boy, about seven years of age, who he thought in his dream was an angel. The boy was sitting on a raised platform and gave him a large, delicious and luminous loaf of bread and said: 'This is for you and the dervishes who are with you. ' This was a most significant dream; bread being a symbol of life and an indication of the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had already established the practice of sharing his food with