The Devotion of Life — Page 498
498 The Ship Returned The late Dr. Sardar Nazir Ahmad Sahib ra had a great passion for preaching. He would spend days and nights in preaching, ignoring everything else. A faith-inspiring incident related to his passionate absorption in preaching is detailed here. Dr. Sardar Nazir Ahmad Sahib ra narrates: “I was employed as a Physician on a ship. On one particular return trip, the ship anchored in Aden and I went into the town to preach. I became so absorbed in preaching that I forgot the ship’s time of departure. Returning to the seaport after preaching, I noticed that the ship had already left. At this, I was so distraught that I was perspiring profusely. I was worried about what the crew of the ship would think of me? If any passenger were to die, by law I could be blamed and arrested for that. I passed the whole night praying in a very troubled state of mind. ‘O God Almighty! I was doing Your work. I was giving the message of truth to the Arabs. I was not doing anything personal. Now that the ship has left, I do not know what to do. I beg You to bring the ship back. ’ While praying, I fell asleep. That night I saw in a dream that the ship had returned. Those to whom I had been preaching already had made me a laughingstock of me because my ship had left and now I was in trouble.