Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 8
8 AHMADIYY AT quence my father was often upset with me. He was most kind and affectionate towards me, but he desired that I should pursue worldly affairs like my contemporaries and I was much adverse to it [Kitabul Bariyyah, pp. 175-7, footnote]. While his first teachers, Maulvi Fazal Ilahi Sahib and Maulvi Fazal Ahmad Sahib, carried on their tuition of him in Qadian, Maulvi Gul Ali Shah Sahib, after a short while, moved back to Batala where he belonged, and Mirza Ghu- lam Ahmad had to take up his residence in Batala for a time so as to continue his education with his tutor. At that stage Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had already started taking an interest in religious studies, among which his deep study of the Holy Quran always held pride of place. But he did not confine himself to the study of Islamic subjects alone, and began to take an interest in the study of Christian religious literature also. He was much struck by the aggres- sive and often highly offensive Christian polemics directed against Islam and the Holy Prophet. This left a deep impress upon his mind. In the meantime, as was customary in those days, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's marriage to a first cousin was arranged. The bride's name was Hurmat Bibi. From her he had two sons, Mirza Sultan Ahmad and Mir'za Fazal Ahmad, born in 1853 and 1855 respectively. At the time of his marriage Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was still engaged in his studies and he did not permit his marriage to affect in any manner his programme of studies or his manner of life, which became progressively more studious and con- templative. The only change was that he began to devote more and more time to divine worship, prayer and the study of the Holy Quran. He spent a good deal of his time in the family mosque, walking up and down most of the time engaged in deep thought and contemplation. He had learned swimming and riding at an early age but his principal form of exercise was brisk walking. He kept to it all through his life, even during its busiest periods. When he had finished his formal schooling his father