The Commentary of Al-Qasidah — Page 65
The commentary of al-Qa si dah 65 left their hometowns, places of birth and residences in such a manner as to completely forget about them. Even when Mecca was conquered and the sounds of God’s greatness echoed from the deserts, hills, mountains, valleys, cities and villages of Arabia, the emigrants decided to return and remain in Medina with the Holy Prophet sa. This couplet also brought about a great change in me. We used to study in the Ahmadiyya School in Qadian (India). We were off on Fridays and we would return to our hometown, Sekhw an. It is about three miles from Qadian. Once the principal of the school, Sheikh ‘Abdur-Ra h m a n Sahib Mi s r i , came to our village and commented to my late father, Im a m-ud-D i n, how people go to Qadian on Fridays for the congregational prayers, but we children go back to our villages. He disapproved of our actions. However, we students had great love for our village, which was the place of our birth and residence. Therefore, Sheikh Sahib’s advice had no impact on us. In 1917 or 1918, I accompanied Ha fi z Roshan ‘Al i ra , a companion of the Promised Messiah as , to Lahore to attend a convention. At that time the Ahmadis of Lahore prayed at the house of Hadrat Mi an Chir a gh D i n outside the Delhi Gate. One day after the maghrib prayer [evening prayer], the late Hadrat Ha fi z Sahib recited a few couplets of this Qa si dah in a very melodious voice. When he recited this couplet it touched my heart so deeply that the love for my village disappeared. Following this event I rarely visited my village, and eventually stopped completely. Later on, my late father left the village and moved to Qadian as his place of residence.