Seerat-i-Tayyiba — Page 44
44 up with his wife, and the passing unpleasantness in his home thus became the basis for tranquility and joy for the future. ” ( Seeratul Mahdi, part II, pg102 ) 12 A man’s children also are included in the main of the word ‘ Ahl ’ occurring in the Hadeeth above mentioned: and in his attitude towards his children as well the Promised Messiah stood at an extraordinary eminence. He was very fond of his children, gentle, kind and affectionate. But his love for his children like all his feelings and emotions, was subordinate to his love of God. When our youngest brother Mubarak Ahmad, fell ill, those were days when the Promised Messiah himself was repeatedly receiving Revelations from God which bore on the near approach of his own end. The Promised Messiah nursed him with the most painstaking care, and gave him every medical help. But when he breathed his last, he took the blow with extreme fortitude, and reconciled himself so whole- heartedly and thoroughly, with the will of God that after reciting the following couplet he practically seemed to have forgotten all about the child he had just lost: “He was eight And a few months When Allah called him Unto Himself. This call Was indeed from Him Who is the most dear of all; And thou, O Heart, Should concentrate all thy love On Him and Him alone. ” In the matter of the upbringing of his children, apart from tender advice and particular care to keep them away from harmful associates, the Promised Messiah concentrated a great deal on prayers in their behalf. The simple poems he wrote on the various occasions when his children finished their first reading of the Holy Quran serves as very good example of the way he adopted in this matter. I here set down a few lines out of these poems: “O my Lord and Master,