Life of Ahmad — Page 54
EARLY LIFE as 54 because it is in solitude that the passion for spiritual perfection best nurses itself. The soul communes with God in loneliness. In a small-natured man solitude only serves to make the hard heart still harder; but it is the nurse of great spirits, and in a large-natured man, solitude makes the pure heart purer. So Ahmad as spent his spare time in meditation and prayers. Some time later Mirza Ghulam Murtaza needed Ahmad as and ordered him to return to Qadian. Ahmad as was already sick of service so tendered his immediate resignation and came home in 1868. One reason for his recall was the serious illness and death of his mother. She passed away before his arrival. At Qadian, Ahmad as had to look after the affairs of the estate as he had done before. But the day was approaching when he was to be chosen to superintend affairs of a different nature altogether. Though its approach had been heralded by a vision four or five years before, yet a little incident that happened in 1868 or 1869 is most interesting and instructive. Muhammad Husain of Batala came to his native town having newly qualified as a Maulaw i. As he belonged to the Ahl-e-Hadith sect his views were not approved by his fellow citizens. So a man came to Ahmad as and persuaded him to hold a debate with Muhammad Husain. Ahmad as went to Batala in the evening and found Muhammad Husain and his father in a mosque. Muhammad Husain opened the debate with a speech, in which Ahmad as found nothing to which he could take objection. Accordingly, he declared that there