Invitation to Ahmadiyyat — Page 224
224 strong opposition, he won such honour and esteem that even his enemies are now obliged to respect him and he is considered an important Muslim leader. The British Government, which initially opposed him and was suspicious of him, also started to accord him respect. His name spread to the furthest corners of the world and God has blessed him with devoted followers who are ready to give their lives for him. Even among the Europeans, who are hostile to Islam, many have become Muslims through him and love him ardently. One European gentleman wrote to me saying, ‘I am indebted to the Promised Messiah as for the gift of Islam. It has such a profound effect on me that I do not go to sleep with - out offering dur u d upon the Holy Prophet s as. ’ Had Hadrat Mirza Sahib as been an impostor, he would never have received such love and devotion from people despite all the opposition. When the Promised Messiah as announced his claim, he was all alone, but even though the clerics and p i rs , pundits and priests, the rich and the poor, and even the government in the initial days, did their best to stop people from heeding his call, one by one they started to be drawn towards him. He found followers from among the rich and the poor, the clerics and the sufis, Muslims and non-Muslims, Indians and non-Indians, so that at the time of his death his followers numbered in the hundreds of thousands and they continue to increase to this day. Even in your own coun - try of Afghanistan—where two of our devoted members were brutally killed merely for their faith at the instigation of the mul - lahs—our Community continues to grow and our members are found in almost every Afghan province, as well as in Arabia, Iran, Russia, Egypt, Africa, Australia, America, and Europe. People belonging to the ruling powers came to pledge