USA Souvenir 1989 — Page 56
REPLY OF THE LETTER: Dear Sir, recieved your letter , dated 24th of February 1887 which proved itself to be great delight to my heart and a satisfaction to my anxieties. The contents of the letter not only increased my love towards you but led me to the hope of a partial realization of the object which I have in view - for which I have dedicated the whole of my life viz. , not to confine the spread of the light of truth to the oriental world but , as far a s it lies in my power, to further it in Europe, America, etc. , where the attention of the people has not been sufficiently attracted towards a proper understanding of the teachings of Islam. Therefore, 1 consider it an honor to comply with your request ; and have a strong confidence in the Almighty Creator , Who is with me, and lie will assist me in giving you a perfect and permanent satisfaction. I give you word that in the course of about five months I will compile a work containing a short sketch of the teachings of Al - Quran, have it translated into English and printed and then send a copy of it to you. I strongly hope th a t it will bring full and final conviction to a ju s tful, considerate and uncontaminated mind like yours, enoble your soul, endow you with a firm belief in God and improve your knowledge of Him. But, perhaps it may be, that the various demands on my time may not allow me to spare a sufficient tim e for sending the whole work at once ; in such a ca s e I will send it to you in two or three batch e s. I will not end the communication of instruction to you by this treatise but will continue satisfying your thirst after the investigation of truth for the re s t of my life. Your friendly words permit me to entertain the happy idea that I will in a short ti me have the in te 11 i gence that the instinctive moral greatness has directed not only to you but to many other virtou s men of America to the right wa y of salvation pointed 56 out by Islam. Here I end my letter of earnestness and sincerity. May you and I be kept secure from all earthly and heavenly misfortunes and have all our hopes and plans realized. Yours sincerely, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Chief ofQadian Gurdaspur District Punjab India Regarding his conversion to Islam Mr. Webb wrote: "I adopted this religion because I found, after protracted study , that it was the best and only system adapted to the spiritual needs of humanity. . . . About eleven years ago I became interested in the study of Oriental religions. . . I saw Mill and Locke, Kant, Hegel, Fichte, Huxley and many other more or less learned writers discoursing with a great show of wisdom concerning protoplasm and monads, and yet not one of them could tell me what the s oul was or wh a t became of it after death. . . my adoption of Islam was not the result of misguided sentiment, blind credulity, or sudden emotional impulse , but it was born of earnest, honest , persistent, unprejudiced s tudy and investigation and an intense desire to know the t ruth. The essence of the true faith of Islam is resignation to the will of God and its corner stone is prayer. It teaches universal benevelonce, and requires purity of mind , purity of action , purity of speech and physical cleanliness. It, beyond doubt, is the simplest and most elevating form of reli g ion to man. " Mr. Webb was appoint e d the United States Ambassador to the Phillipine s and at the end of his assingnment he al s o visited India. On return to the United St a tes he continued his correspondence with Dr. Mufti Muhammad Sadiq. On learning of the death of the Promi s ed Messi a h and Mahdi, peace be on him, he wrote a letter of condolence to Dr. Sadiq in which he remarked : "Hazrat Mir za Ghulam Ahmad accomplis hed a gre a t undertaking and conveyed the light of