Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 142
142 childhood up his life was a uniform record of blameless purity. People were so convinced of his righteousness and had such strong faith in it that in their disputes with his family whenever they saw their cause to be just they always expressed their readiness to abide by his award, for, they knew that he would never depart from that which was just and true in his opinion, even if it caused loss to himself and his family. He was once prosecuted for a technical breach of the postal rules which was liable to be punished with imprisonment and fine. Such breaches of postal rules had become common in those days and the postal authorities were anxious to obtain convictions in one or two cases in order to put an end to such practices. The case, therefore, was being very keenly conducted on behalf of the prosecution. The charge against the Prom- ised Messiah as was that he had enclosed a letter in a packet contrary to postal regulations. The only evidence in support of the charge was that of the man who had received the packet. This man was a Christian mission- ary with whom the Promised Messiah as had had several religious discussions and who was, on that account, hostile to the Promised Messiah as , and to whose uncor- roborated testimony, therefore, much weight could not be attached. On the other hand, if the fact could be established, the breach of the regulations was clear, and a conviction was inevitable. The legal adviser of the Promised Messiah as , therefore, advised him to deny the charge and to plead not guilty, as there was no inde- pendent evidence in support of it. But he refused to take this advice and said he would not utter a falsehood, as