Life of Ahmad — Page 50
EARLY LIFE as 50 Sayyid in Arabic. He also read later a part of his commentary on the Holy Quran but did not like it. It appeared to him that Sir Sayyid had, perhaps sincerely, adopted an apologetic attitude, as if there were anything in Islam that could not hold its own in the face of modern knowledge and science. 6 Of his friends and acquaintances at Sialkot, mention may be made of the following: Shaikh Alladad, a munshi of the court; Sh. Fa d l D i n, shop- keeper; Maulaw i Ma h b u b ‘ A lam, a pious mystic of the Naqshband i School; Na s rullah, headmaster of the Mission School; Hakim Man s ab Ali, a local petition- writer and Hakim Hus a mud-D i n a local physician. The last-named gentleman read one or two books under Ahmad as. He became one of his devoted followers later. Ahmad as was friendly with L. Bh i m Sain, pleader, whom he had often met at Batala. He was an enlightened person, well versed in Persian, and therefore, there was an affinity between the two. 6 In his commentary of the Holy Quran Sir Sayyid wrote, in keeping with his own Rationalist views, that Jesus as was not alive in the heavens with his physical body. The book was published in 1880. Ahmad as read this commentary but he did not think much of it. Nor did he 'pick up the crumbs of Sir Sayyid’s repast', as some of Sir Sayyid’s admirers imagine in their rank ignorance. On the contrary, Ahmad as reiterated in the Br a h i n-e- Ahmadiyya , published in 1884, the popular belief that Jesus as was alive in the heavens and that he would come again to this world (pages 351 and 499 margin on margin No. 3). He was not afraid of Rationalism, before which Sir Sayyid bowed in abject submission. It was in 1891, when God informed Ahmad as that Jesus as had died, that he changed his belief in this respect. He would not depart from the orthodox view unless and until God instructed him clearly to do so.