Fazl-e-Umar — Page 33
Fazle Umar 33 one and started wearing it. The next incident also happened in Gurdaspur. “The same late friend took me aside and said, ‘today you are wearing a tie then tomorrow we will watch shows of dancing girls because we have to learn lessons from you. Whatever steps you take we will follow you. ’ “He said this and asked me for the tie. I took it off and gave it to him. “So I can never forget these two admonitions by him. I feel this is how a sincere disciple should be. If a member of our family fails to realise his responsibility then you must not spoil him by calling him Sahibzada Sahib! Sahibzada Sahib! Rather you should say that you used to be Sahibzada (son of a respectable person) no doubt but now you look worse than a Ghulamzada (born of a slave). Therefore, you should reform yourself. ” 15 While we learn many lessons from this report, an interesting fact also comes to light. The intense love for the Promised Messiah [as] had so overwhelmed the hearts of his companions that they had no care for such love that was in conflict with it. It is true that the companions of the Promised Messiah [as] had great love for his children. And we find much evidence that they treated his children with intense love and affection but their love was not the result of some blind conformity. It was because of their deep understanding that the Promised Messiah [as] was the source of all blessings and all noble values. They were well aware of the fact that a branch is only worthy of the degree of love based on its proximity to its source. A question arises here. Does Islam specify some outward dress, the discarding of which can make a man accountable and whether a Shalwar Qameez alone is an Islamic dress? To draw such a conclusion from the above report is not right. As a matter of fact, the English came to India as rulers and the Indians did not adopt their dress, manners and customs because they were somewhat superior but this copying started as a result