Life of Ahmad — Page 40
BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD as 40 worldly turmoil. He still remained master of a few villages and received an amount from the British Government in reward for good services, plus the pension of a certain post he had held. But since all these were very inconsiderable compared with what he had once enjoyed, he remained always depressed and sad and often gave vent to his regret, saying that had the pains he had taken for vile worldly preferment been for the sake of religion, they would have served to make him a saint. ' Such was the lesson which Ahmad as learnt in his childhood; and so deep an impress did it leave on his mind that he was completely weaned away from this world and the whole of his life was devoted to the service of God. During the Indian Mutiny in 1857, when 'from village to village, from district to district, through hill, land and lowland, the signal—unexplained at the time, inexplicable still—sped; and in village after village, in district after district, the spreading of the signal was followed by the increased excitement of the people', the family of Ahmad as 'did excellent service'. Mirza Ghulam Murtaza 'enlisted many men, and his son Mirza Ghulam Q a dir was serving in the force of General Nicholson when that officer destroyed the mutineers of the 46th Native Infantry, who had fled from Sialkot, at Trimughat'. These excellent services of the family were acknowledged and commended by British officers, and promises were made for the