Fazl-e-Umar — Page 93
Fazle Umar 93 covenant of allegiance to the Promised Messiah [as]. At the time of his death, this number had grown not in hundreds or thousands but into hundreds of thousands of devoted adherents. At times the rich and the poor, the high and the low joined the Movement in such numbers that the courier of the completed initiation forms could not carry the bundles at one time. He had to make two or three trips to deliver the sack loads of forms to the Promised Messiah [as] ! Day by day the number of pilgrims increased ultimately leading to the creation of a guesthouse and hospitality centre. Numerous guests resided here on their arrival from many lands to meet the Promised Messiah [as] , though Qadian was still an isolated village, which could be reached only along a rutted dirt track after leaving the town of Batala. In those days travellers could make the 12-mile trip from Batala to Qadian by a cart drawn by oxen and the journey was slow, dusty, uncomfortable and occupied most of a day. 62 When transport was unavailable, the pilgrims preferred to walk to Qadian in their eagerness to meet the Promised Messiah [as] instead of waiting in Batala. The trickle of people coming to Qadian to listen to him became a flood. This caused such worry and anxiety for his opponents that whenever the opportunity arose, Maulvi Muhammad Hussain of Batala made it his habit to deter visitors to Qadian as they arrived at the Batala Railway Station. Nevertheless, the influx of pilgrims eager to meet the Promised Messiah [as] continued to grow and no opposition could deter the crowds of people, some days numbering a hundred people, from having access to him. In this regard it is worth mentioning a convert’s testimony who gave this very reason for his conversion that it was being a witness to this support of Allah Almighty of Hadhrat Mirza sahib [as] that he came to believe in him. On the one hand was Maulvi Muhammad Hussain who had worn out many pairs of shoes deterring people from the pilgrimage to the Promised Messiah [as]. On the other hand people had