Life of Ahmad — Page 368
ANXIOUS TO SAVE HIS ENEMY as 368 called Ahmad as a liar and an impostor. Ahmad as had asked him to come and stay with him as a seeker after truth so that God might reveal it to him by heavenly means. But he would not come; he was, he said, afraid for his life at Qadian. He would be satisfied, however, something else. ' This prophecy was fulfilled to the letter and Muhammad Husain’s house became totally desolate and ruined. His proud magazine Ish a ‘atus Sunnah (started in 1878), which he had devoted to bring ruin upon Ahmad as , could not maintain its own existence and ceased to appear. It should be remembered that its editor was at one time acknowledged as an enthusiastic advocate of the Ahl-e-Hadith and when he came out of his house people used to flock round him and greet him most respectfully. When Sir Charles Atchison left the Punjab, he gave its editor a certificate testifying to his ability and learning, Muhammad Husain boasted of it in his Vol. 20, No. 3. But this honoured advocate of his sect was soon reduced to a forlorn and miserable position. To keep body and soul together he had to teach a few infants in a deserted mosque. He had to go out daily to buy his provisions for the day as he could not afford to lay in even a small stock. Muhammad Husain had two wives and seven sons and three daughters. He himself says that they had all turned out to be thoroughly wicked and irreligious. They severed all connection with their father and some of them even conspired to kill him ( Ish a ‘atus Sunnah , Vol. 22 No. 8, pp. 225, 226). In 1910 Muhammad Husain complained of his children’s wickedness to the Editor of Al- H akam Qadian, who advised him to send the two younger ones to the Qadian school. He accepted this advice and sent them to Qadian. When his friends came to know of it he had to write in defence in the Ahl-e- Hadith , Amritsar, dated 25-2-1910 that the boys were well looked after and that their religious beliefs were not being interfered with. But the enemies of Ahmad as could not bear it, so they pressed Muhammad Husain to get his sons out of Qadian. At last he yielded and sent them to Rupar where they drifted into ways of profligacy. On December 1, 1912, the two boys were brought to the Anjuman Ahmadiyya, Lucknow, in a miserable state. There was a complaint and the matter came to the notice of the police and the court. The Ahmadis of Lucknow tried to wean them from their wicked way of life but with no success. Muhammad Husain died a miserable death in the beginning of 1920 at Batala. (See Bat a lv i k a Anj a m by M i r Qasim Ali, 1931)