Hazrat Ahmad — Page 16
16. HADHRAT AHMAD injure his health and also seeking to wean him from his studious habits and to engage his interest in his own worldly affairs. . Post-Scholastic Period. By the time he finished his education, the British power had already been consolidated in the Punjab. The turbulent times of the. Mutiny had passed and the people had come to recognize that the road to advancement lay through service under the British. Government. Accordingly many young men of noble families became solicitous for administrative appointments. Similar consideration, coupled with a realization of the fact that the young man took no interest in the affairs of the estate, persuaded his father to counsel him to seek employment with Government. . Accordingly, he proceeded to Sialkot and took up an appointment in the office of the Deputy Commissioner. Nevertheless, the great part of his leisure time still continued to be devoted to literary and religious pursuits, and the moment he was free from the duties of his office, he occupied himself either in study, teaching or in religious discussions. His piety and godliness came to be universally recognized, and though he was only a young man of 28 or 30 years, he was held in high esteem by older people from the ranks of the Muslims and the Hindus alike. He possessed a retiring disposition and spent most of his time indoors. This was the period when the Christian missions had newly started their activities in the. Punjab, and the Muslims, unfamiliar with their aggressive methods, frequently suffered defeat at their hands. It so happened, however, that whenever Ahmad took part in the discussion, it was the. Christians who had to beat a retreat. He thus came to enjoy the regard of such of the missionaries who, notwithstanding a difference of creed, possessed a reverence for truth. . The victory of the British was considered by the missionaries as a prelude to their own triumph, and they were simple enough to imagine that within a short period of time the British Government would force the Muslims to accept Christianity at the point of the sword. This can be gathered from a perusal of the books published by them at that time against Islam. They had no compunction in using the strongest language for Islam and its holy founder, so much so that of the wiser heads among the British officials were forced to observe that it would be no wonder if in consequence of such provocative writings a recurrence of the mutiny of 1857