Seerat-i-Tayyiba — Page 20
20 In Qadian there was a man, named Muhammad Abdullah, who was generally called by the nickname of ‘Professor’. He was not a very educated man, but he was very sincere. He earned his living by showing to children pictures of different scenes through a peeping box. He was rather of an excitable kind of temperament, who sometimes lost his balance when agitated by something. On one occasion the Promised Messiah was sitting with some friends and disciples, when someone related that at some particular place the opponents of the Promised Messiah had used very strong and abusive language in regard to him. At this the ‘professor’ became furious, and said that had he been present he would have broken the heads of such people. There at the Promised Messiah involuntarily and spontaneously remarked: “No, no ; you should not say that: our teaching is one of patience and mildness on such occasions. ” But the ‘Professor,’ who at the moment was beside himself with rage, replied with great heat: “No, sir; oh no! What is this that where a man offers any insult to your Peer (meaning the Holy Prophet Muhammad) you immediately jump into the arena with a challenge for Mubahala: and you do not rest until you throw him into hell by that means. But to us you say that if a man abused you in our hearing, we should control ourselves, and treat the culprit with forbearance!” This, however, was an error on the part of the said ‘Professor’. There is none who has shown greater patience and forbearance than the Promised Messiah in dealing with his enemies and opponents; nor will anyone do so in future. But this small incident gives us a glimpse of the extent and intensity of Love which the Promised Messiah had for the Holy Prophet Muhammad, and the jealous sensitivity of his mind where there was any question of the fair name and honor of Hazrat Muhammad, (peace and the blessings of God be upon him). 5 Pundit Lekh Ram was a well-known person. He was a prominent leader of the Arya Samaj, and an extremely bitter enemy of Islam, whose foul tongue ran like a pair of scissors and slashed like a sharp knife where Islam or its Holy Founder was concerned. Standing up, in opposition to the Promised Messiah, all his life Pundit Lekh Ram continued to heap dirty and absurd objections and foul insults both on Islam and the Holy Prophet, though every time he received silencing replied from the Promised Messiah. But the Pundit was not a man to be silenced by reason and argument, and the tussle finally led to a Mubahala (a prayer by the contestants that Allah destroy the party that was wrong) between the two. Subsequently during the