Life of Ahmad — Page 35
as BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD 35 Ahmad as remained tending the herd. Here we have an unconscious symbolisation of the character of the good shepherd, which has provided an elevated symbol in the great religions of the world. The Holy Prophet sa had also been the paid shepherd of the Meccans ( Bukh a r i ). Once his playmates asked him for some sugar. He went into his house and filled his pockets with white stuff, thinking it was sugar. While coming out he also felt a desire for something sweet and so took a big pinch of the stuff—and was nearly choked because it was salt. This incident may appear to the uncritical as merely that of thoughtlessness; but in the light of later events, the more reflective person may well ponder and ask whether this was not the first awakening of a mind that, immersed in holy things, lived in an atmosphere of purity not of this world. An interesting anecdote of his childhood may be mentioned here. While he was a mere child he once requested a girl playmate of the same age as himself, to whom he was afterwards affianced, to pray for him that he might 'be granted the grace of prayer. ' This yearning for the grace of prayer in his childhood, in a home devoted to worldliness, proved him to possess a heart pure in a wonderful measure and destined to work a mighty change in the world. There existed no school, college or educational institution in those days, and knowledge was generally at a discount. But as Ahmad as belonged to a noble family, his father engaged a tutor for him when