Life of Ahmad — Page 775
as THE WHITE MINARET 775 dishonour and disgrace them because it would expose their houses to the gaze of the sightseers who whould come from all parts of the country. They submitted a site plan on a big sheet of tracing paper to show the position of the various houses in the neighbourhood of the Minaret under construction. They said that Ahmad as could build the Minaret anywhere else. On April 27th, 1903, H ukam Chand, Labh u R a m, Salig R a m, Mirza Ali Sher Baig and Mirza Imam D i n again complained to the authorities against the construction of the Minaret. The two last-named said that the mosque was a Waqf for all Muslims and that by raising there a private building for sightseeing Ahmad as was encroaching upon their rights. The Tahsildar of Batala asked Ahmad as about it and he wrote to him on April 27th, 1903, as follows: 'Received your letter. You have enquired about the Minaret, so I have to state that the construction of the Minaret in a corner of our big mosque commenced about two months ago. The work of excavation actually commenced on March 3 rd , 1903. Up till now the building has cost Rs. 1,100. The total expenditure, including the making of bricks, is Rs. 4300. The kiln was begun on April 22nd, 1901. All the people of Qadian knew that the Minaret would be built in the mosque. The complaint at this stage of construction is based only on personal enmity. The building of the Minaret does not interfere with anybody’s purdah. A Minaret goes up just