Haqiqatul-Wahi (The Philosophy of Divine Revelation) — Page 382
382 HAQIQATUL-WAḤI—THE PHILOSOPHY OF DIVINE REVELATION happened that one Teḥṣildār of Batala, Ḥāfiṇ Hidāyat ‘Ali whom I have mentioned earlier, came to Qadian at eight o'clock in the morn- ing on an official visit to Qadian, for Qadian is part of Tehsil Batala. He came to our residence and had not yet dismounted his horse when a few Hindus, as is their wont, assembled to greet him, and Bishambar Dās was among them. On seeing Bishambar Dās, the Teḥṣildar said, 'Bishambar Dās, I was pleased to hear that you had been released from jail, but alas you were not acquitted. ' On hearing this, I fell in grateful prostration to God. Immediately I summoned Sharampat and asked him why he had lied to me for so long that Bishambar Dās had been acquit- ted and aggrieved me for nothing. He said he had to lie because of a consideration—namely, that his people are highly critical of even minor flaws when they choose to enter into new marital relationships, and it is very hard to obtain agreement from the girl's side when some- one is proven to be guilty of a wrongdoing. It was because of this con- sideration that he continued to misrepresent the facts and publicize this falsehood. 132. ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-SECOND SIGN-I have recorded ear- lier that at the time of the earthquake of 4 April 1905, we had moved to our garden with all of our family members and selected a parcel of our land sufficient to accommodate 5,000 people as our sleep- ing place. We had two tents put up and screened them with a tent wall all around. Even then there was danger from thieves as the area was wooded and in some of the villages nearby there are renowned thieves who have been repeatedly convicted. On one occasion, I saw in my dream at night that I was keeping watch and after I had gone few steps I encountered someone who said that angels are on the watch ahead; meaning that, there is no need for you to keep watch as the angels are guarding your camping ground. Then I received the revelation: a