Malfuzat - Volume IX — Page 60
Malf uza t - English translation of Urdu Volume 9 60 not raise the Call loudly to have it reach others?’ The mullah said, ‘Why should I call it loudly? To be hanged?’ The officer responded, ‘No. Ascend to the top of the build- ing and raise the Call in the loudest voice. ’ He knew that the sovereignty had changed. Eventually, when the mullah raised the Adh a n loudly at the behest of the policeman, there was great uproar and there was a complaint lodged with the gov- erning officer that their doughs had been defiled, and they and their children had remained hungry and that they had been wronged. The governing officer asked for the mullah to be brought to him, so they caught the mullah and presented him. That upright policeman also followed after the mullah. When the mullah arrived before the governing officer, he asked him, ‘Did you raise the Call to Prayer?’ The policeman stepped forward and submitted, ‘He did not raise the Call, I did. ’ When the governing officer heard this, he told the complainants to return to their homes as now even cows were being slaughtered in Lahore. 1 The Adh a n is also an Islamic invitation and in this vein it is an abridged invitation to Islam. What is the meaning of حَی َّ عَلَی ِحَی َّ عَلَی ِالصَّلٰوۃ الصَّلٰوۃ [Come to Prayer] and ِ حَی َّ عَلَی الْف َاَلَح ِ حَی َّ عَلَی الْف َاَلَح [Come to Success]? It is indeed that you should become Muslims. But these people were enemies of Islam; therefore, they were also the enemies of the Call for Prayer. A similar incident took place in Hoshiarpur. Someone raised the Call for Prayer there, so a case was brought against him in court. The District Commissioner heard the case with utter amazement. He directed for that person to be brought to the court. When he appeared, he was told [by the District 1. From Badr : ‘This was the first blessing of the British Government that we attained because the Call for Prayer is a form of invitation to Islam that is set forth in brief words. ’ ( Badr, vol. 6, no. 3, p, 9, dated 17 January 1907)