Life of Ahmad — Page 425
as PROPHECY ABOUT A THIM 425 Ahmad as promised to pay A thim the sum of Rs. 1,000 as penalty by way of an acknowledgment of defeat. He invited A thim to declare in an open meeting, under a most solemn oath, that he had not turned to the truth. He offered him Rs. 2,000 100. But A thim did not come forward. He would not take the oath. Ahmad as sent registered letters to A thim, the Rev. Dr. Clark, and Im a d-ud-D i n; in answer to these the Rev. Dr. Clark wrote to say that A thim was not prepared to take the oath. In the next leaflet, therefore, Ahmad as offered Rs. 2,000 and asked A thim again to come forward and swear in the name of God as a witness 100 This leaflet was printed at the Riya d -e-Hind Press in 10,000 copies. It should be noted here that the printing and distributing of thousands of leaflets necessitated a great deal of attention and work. Ahmad as used to post these leaflets to the opponents concerned under registered covers. He had no money, but God helped him in a mysterious manner. Seith Abdur Ra h m a n ra of Madras rendered a great service in those days. It was he whom Ahmad as approached for a loan of Rs. 1,000 or more to offer A thim. This righteous gentleman was drawn to Ahmad as on account of his purity and piety of character. His younger brother, Muhammad Salih, received a work by Ahmad as , Fat h -e-Islam , from Ghulam Q a dir Fas i h of Sialkot. This book impressed Seith Sahib and his brother very much, and he procured the rest of Ahmad’s as works, perhaps in 1892. Then he visited Qadian with Maulaw i Hasan Ali ra very soon afterwards and became a devoted disciple of Ahmad as. This is just one illustration of the manner in which pious souls were attracted from distant places. People poured daily into Qadian, received the light and went away. It should not be supposed that men like Seith Abdur Ra h m a n heard only one side of the story. The mullahs and the enemies of Islam took good care to meet every possible visitor to Qadian. At Amritsar and Batala the opponents of Ahmad as had so arranged that someone of their party must see such visitors and try to tell them all kinds of stories to dissuade them from seeing Ahmad as. These votaries of falsehood met Seith Abdur Ra h m a n and his friend and did their utmost to deceive them. As a matter of fact they did not leave until one was severely rebuked by the Seith Sahib.