Hazrat Maulvi Nooruddin - Khalifatul-Masih I — Page 117
Hadrat Maulw i Nur-ud-D i n ra — Khalifatul Masih I EMINENT DIVINE 117 He himself did not seek to enter into a debate with anyone, but if he was so confronted that he was left no choice, he supplicated for help and enlightenment and was always guided aright. During one of his visits to Lahore a Hindu lawyer came to see him, having told his friends that he would confound Maulaw i N u r-ud-D i n ra in a discussion on the doctrine of the transmigration of souls. His thesis was that the diversity of human conditions and circumstances, wealth and poverty, prosperity and adversity, high rank and obscurity, health and disease etc. , could be accounted for only on the basis that a person’s conduct in one cycle of existence determines his condition in the succeeding cycle, and that God is powerless in the matter. Before he could broach the topic Maulaw i Sahib as took two silver rupees out of his pocket and placing them in front of the lawyer invited him to pick up one of them. The lawyer sat in silent contemplation of the coins and made no move whatever for nearly half an hour. Those present were puzzled by this silent drama and one of them enquired from the lawyer what hindered him from picking up one of the coins? He answered: "I am on the horns of a dilemma. The moment I pick up one of the coins I may be asked the reason for preferring that one to the other. I would then be confronted with the problem that if I have the freedom to prefer one coin to another, has not God the freedom to produce the widest diversity in human conditions? For the moment I cannot think of an answer. I shall return after I have had time for further reflection. " He did not return. A Western Christian apologist finding himself cornered over the doctrine of the Trinity sought a way