Haqiqatul-Wahi (The Philosophy of Divine Revelation) — Page 366
366 HAQIQATUL-WAḤI—THE PHILOSOPHY OF DIVINE REVELATION He had agreed with great eagerness to accept Islam if he found Islam to be the faith in which the Signs of God Almighty are manifested and matters of the unseen are revealed. But some wicked residents of Qadian led him astray. Those unworthy Hindus told him false stories about me to make him loathe my company. As a result of this bad company, he deteriorated to a decadent state by the day. To my mind, his condition was not so decadent in the beginning; he only had reli- gious zeal and every believer in religion is entitled to argue in support of his faith abided by truth and justice. A year before his assassination, he met me once in a small mosque at the Lahore Railway Station. I was performing ablution at the time. After doing Namaste [traditional greeting of Hindus], he stayed for a few minutes, and then left. I regret that I could not talk to him at that time due to Șalāt. I deeply regret that the Hindus of Qadian did not give him the chance to listen to me and out of sheer mendacity incited him. I know for a fact that his blood is upon them. Despite all his zealotry, he did have a certain naivety in his disposition as he would let himself be swayed by the remarks of mischievous people, without scrutiny or investigation. This is why God Almighty compared him to a calf. At any rate, I cannot help feeling sad at his sudden death. But what could I do? That which was decreed by God Almighty was bound to be fulfilled. Underneath the verses reproduced below we will show a pho- tograph of Lekh Ram's corpse published by the Aryas. It shows Lekh Rām after he had been murdered and placed on a bier surrounded by a large number of people. I have reproduced it in this treatise so that it may possibly serve as a lesson for others and help them avoid the course that displeases God in religious debates. God knows that I bear no malice against anyone. Although I am happy to see the prophecy of God Almighty come true in the case of Lekh Rām; on the other hand, I am sad that he had to die in the prime of his life. Had he turned towards me, I would have prayed for him so that this calamity would have been averted. He did not have to become a Muslim to avert this calamity; all he had to do was refrain from using