The Afghan Martyrs — Page 112
carried the ambition to be martyred in a similar manner. During his last days in prison he felt greatly distressed as he knew that while he was in London. Hadhrat Khaleefa-tul-Maseeh II (MAPH) would be greatly disturbed and distressed on hearing of his imprisonment. On one hand there was the onslaught of the forces of apprehension and anguish and on the other he was being endowed with equanimity, courage, steadfastness and the overpowering desire to sacrifice his life. His heart and his mind were saturated with a distinctive kind of spiritual tranquility and he experienced no fear. The complete darkness of the cell had turned his heart into an illuminated receptacle which he has described in his letter in these terms: "As darkness deepens, simultaneously, to a corresponding degree the Almighty grants me light of the heart and also tranquility. " Mulla Neymatulla had not seen much of the world. He was in the early stages of his youth and was passing through a phase when normally one fantasizes one's ambitions and goals. When all around one see greenery and beds of flowers who would visualize death at that stage of one's life, a stage which can be termed the spring of one's life. However the world in which Mulla Neymatulla spent his youth was totally different from the world of the others. He loved, cherished and prized martyrdom more than his life. He loved the hereafter far more than this world. He was enamoured with the spring of the Heavens far more than the luxuries of this world. We can assess his state of mind from a letter that he wrote a few days before his martyrdom. He wrote: "I request my Ahmadi brethren to pray that the Almighty may 112