Life of Ahmad — Page 37
as BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD 37 darkness and people paid little attention to education. The Sikhs did not encourage learning and the country was in a state of chaos. It should not, therefore, be supposed that Ahmad as had a good or liberal education. Compared with the standard of modern education his teachers themselves did not know much. His fellow-students are known as men of very mediocre attainments; and, as a matter of fact, the education of those days consisted merely in the reading of Urdu, Persian and Arabic, and the ability to speak and write Persian. There were no facilities whatever for the acquisition of higher education. That which distinguished Ahmad as from other students and from other members of his family was however, that he was fond of study. He was so fond of his father’s library that many a time his father had to remonstrate with him, fearing that he might injure his health. The father was anxious to wean him from studious habits and to see him engaged in assisting him in his worldly affairs. A good deal of his time, however, was spent in the mosque, reading the Holy Quran, and he was fond of pacing up and down—a sign of restless energy. Ahmad as was not fond of games or sports. He seldom took an active part in any of them, although it is said that on several occasions he acted as an umpire or a referee. Ahmad as could swim and ride. He has said that he was once nearly drowned, and that an old man saved his life. He had never seen the old man before and never saw him again. He was once riding an