Hazrat Ahmad — Page 20
20. HADHRAT AHMAD. Industrious Life. Although indifferent to worldly affairs, he was by no means slothful, on the contrary, he was used to hardship. He loved retirement but was never afraid of hard work. When he had to perform a journey, he would often send his servant before him with his mount and himself traverse on foot a distance of 22 or 25 miles to reach his destination. As a matter of fact, most of his local journeys were performed on foot. He seldom made use of any kind of conveyance. This habit of walking he kept till his last days. . After he had passed the age of 70 years and was a prey to several serious maladies, he would still in his constitutional walks transverse daily a distance of 4 or 5 miles and sometimes of 7 or 8 miles. In his younger days, he would sometimes rise before the hour of morning prayer (which is due 14 hour before sunrise) and go for a walk and would reach Wadala (which is about 5½ miles from Qadian on the road to Batala by the time of the morning prayer. . His Father's Death. He was just over 40 years of age when in the year 1876, his father was taken ill, and though the illness was not serious, the. Divine revelation came to him in Arabic meaning: 'We call to witness that which will happen during the night and thou knowest not that which will happen during the night,' and he apprehended that the revelation presaged the death of his father, which was to occur after nightfall. This was the first verbal revelation that came to him, although before this he had many experiences of truthful dreams which met with clear fulfilment at their proper times, and to which even Hindus and Sikhs, many of whom are still living, bore witness. In this revelation, God seems to have meant to break to him compassionately that, now that his worldly father was about to leave him, henceforth God Himself would be a Heavenly Father for him. . Thus the first revelation that came to him was the one which prophesied to him the death of his father. The news was naturally of a painful character and made him sad and the thought passed through his mind how after his father was gone, he would make shift. Upon this there came another revelation in which God consoled him and fully allayed his fears. The event is best