Life of Ahmad — Page 23
as AHMAD’S as FOREFATHERS 23 to extend it again and again. He also tried to regain possession of a mosque which had been converted into a temple; but the legal proceedings he instituted failed. Mirza Ghulam Murtaza tried all his life to regain possession of his ancestral estate. He spent about Rs. 70,000 on litigation to this end but did not gain much. No one in the family helped him in these efforts, which they knew would prove vain, but whatever little he succeeded in gaining was shared by his collaterals. This was because, through the stupidity of his agent, the names of his collaterals were, along with that of the Mirza Sahib, entered in the papers as proprietors of the estate. Once in a dream Mirza Ghulam Murtaza saw the Holy Prophet sa coming in state to his house. He ran to receive the Holy Prophet sa and thought of offering Nadhar —an Eastern form of homage similar to the oblation of gold, frankincense and myrrh offered to Jesus as by the Wise Men of the East. When, however, he put his hand into his pocket, he found that he had only one rupee and that it was a counterfeit coin. This brought tears to his eyes. At this point he awoke. This he interpreted to mean that the love of God and His Prophet sa , mixed with the love of this world, is nothing better than a false coin. His disappointment with regard to his worldly affairs was very keen and he often regretted that he had not served God with all his means and power. He directed in his will that he should be buried in a corner of the mosque he had