The Devotion of Life — Page 483
483 war, it is just possible that there are some Ahmadis in the area. So I asked the Captain to let me disembark the ship and to go onto the land. But, the Captain flatly refused and told me that under no circumstances could I disembark the ship at this place. The Captain said, ‘We have stopped here by chance to determine the condition of the sea; we have never stopped here before. ’ After a little while, I saw that a boat was rowing towards the ship. I asked the Captain, ‘Why is this boat coming towards the ship while it is not permitted to disembark here?’ The Captain replied that he did not know why the boat was approaching the ship. When the boat reached close to the ship, I recognised that it was Brother Abdul Karim who was in the boat. Somehow, he had come to know that I was travelling to England via this particular ship, and the particular time and day when the ship would pass through this area. Even though he knew that the ship would not make a stop here, he still came to the seashore. When the ship suddenly anchored there, he took a boat at once and drew near the ship. The Captain of the ship let him come on board so that he could obtain some information from him. So he came on the ship. I met him and we talked about various things, and as he was about to leave the ship, he put two pounds in my pocket. He said that he should have brought some sweetmeats for me, but he had not the slightest idea that the ship would anchor here and that he would be meeting me, so he insisted ‘Please take these two pounds for the sweetmeats. ’” (Lata’if-e-Sadiq, pp 65-66)