Life of Ahmad — Page 641
as POLICE HARASS AHMAD as 641 words of my adversaries so that impartial readers might judge which party was on the offensive side. My prayer to God, as stated in my Ishtih a r , resembled a cry of pain on the part of one who was in great distress, and what a misfortune it is that such a cry should be taken to be incriminating. Nature has ordained that everyone at times of great affliction should turn to God and seek refuge in Him. He is inspired by a belief that a party from whom he has received the injury shall be requited by God. Such is the natural law and every human being is subject to it. But what a misfortune it is if the injured party, after being subjected to so much pain and suffering, should pray only to God to requite the evil-doer with an evil similar to that which he has inflicted and should find that the Government, which always supports the cause of the injured and the oppressed, looks upon his prayer as likely to cause a breach of the peace. How painful that he should be persecuted on the one hand and prosecuted on the other! I humbly draw the attention of the Court to one or two extracts from the writings of Muhammad Husain and his party, which I have reproduced at the end, as showing the character of the foul and grossly vulgar language used for challenging me for a Mub a hala.