Haqiqatul-Wahi (The Philosophy of Divine Revelation) — Page 672
672 HAQIQATUL-WAḤI-THE PHILOSOPHY OF DIVINE REVELATION sincerity. Whenever I had the occasion to leave Qadian for Ludhiana, Ambala, or some other place, he would make it a point to reach there if time and opportunity permitted him. More often than not, he would be accompanied by his friend and companion, Munshī ‘Abdul-Ḥaqq, Accountant. But after sometime, he began to think that he himself was a recipient of divine revelation. This indeed was the poisonous seed that providence planted in him. Subsequently, his condition of sincerity started changing slowly and secretly. Thereafter, God Almighty commissioned me to take the bai at [pledge of allegiance] from people and some forty or more per- sons had solemnized the covenant in conformity with the command of God Almighty, I made a general announcement that whosoever was devoted to me should take the pledge of baiʻat. Upon hearing this, the heart of Ilahi Bakhsh took an evil turn. Sometime thereafter, accompa- nied by his friend Munshi ‘Abdul-Haqq, he came to see me in Qadian with the intention of narrating his revelations [to me]. During this visit, his attitude had so hardened that he appeared to be someone else, and not Ilahi Bakhsh. Rather presumptuously, he straight away started to read out his own revelations that were recorded in a small notebook which he kept in his pocket. Among other things, he narrated to me, 'I have seen in a dream that you say to me, “Come, enter into bai'at with me,” but in reply I say, “No, I won't do it; rather, you should take the pledge of baiat to me. " On account of this dream, he was filled with great pride and arrogance and thought that he was of such great spiritual stature as did not need to enter into the pledge of baiat and that, on the contrary, it was I who needed to enter into such a pledge with him. However, in reality this was a satanic prompting which led to his stumbling. The truth is that when arrogance and denial lie con- cealed within a person's heart, then that very denial makes its appear- ance in a dream assuming the shape of the ego's prompting. An igno- rant person thinks it to be from God, whereas that denial is generated out of one's own hidden thoughts and has nothing to do with God at all. Hundreds of people are ruined because of such promptings of the