Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 35
THE REN AISSANCE OF ISLAM 35 fered permanently, some of my friends expressed their concern over my marriage. Out of sympathy for me Maulvi Muhammad Husain Sahib of Batala wrote to me: 'You have married a second time and I understand from Hakim Maulvi Muhammad Sharif that on account of extreme weakness you are not fit for marriage. If this matter relates to your spiritual state I have no right to raise any objection, for I am not unaware of the extraordinary spiritual powers of the saintly ones. Otherwise, I fear lest you might encounter some trial. ' In this situation I supplicated the Divine and He intimated to me through revelation the medicines that would prove effective for me and I saw in a vision that an angel was administering those medicines to me. God so blessed me that I was convinced that He had bestowed on me the full health and strength that are enjoyed by a person in normal health. He bestowed four sons on me. Were I not afraid that I might be suspected of exaggeration, I would have set out in detail the miraculous change that was brought about in me so that it might be known that the signs of our Powerful God are exhibited in every shape and form particularly for those of His. servants whom He esteems [Taryaqul Qulub, pp. 35-6]. Even before this marriage Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had had in mind that he should go into retreat at some solitary place for 40 days and devote himself entirely in solitude to Divine Worship and supplication. In 1884 he decided to go to Sujanpur, in the district of Gurdaspur, for the purpose of this retreat; but he received a revelation (Urdu) : 'Your purpose would be achieved in Hoshiarpur. ' Eventually in January 1886 he went to Hoshiarpur, accom- panied by three attendants, and took up his residence on the first floor of a secluded building belonging to Sheikh Mehr Ali Sahib, a leading citizen of Hoshiarpur. He instructed his attendants that one of them should bring up his two daily meals to him and should leave them with him without any comment. He also told them that no one should be permitted to come up and intrude upon him. Having completed this period of 40 days he published an announcement on 20 February 1886, from Hoshiarpur, that