Malfuzat – Volume X — Page 63
27 December 1907 63 he hated the priests bitterly. 1 These people are very fair-minded. If they were not just, their rule would not have lasted. It should be kept in mind that their rule is also a blessing of God. Consider the Sikh era. They would kill even for calling out the Azan [Muslim call for the Prayers]. But under the pres- ent government, with the blessing of God Almighty, there is freedom in every way. And its presence has been a source of great blessings for us. Even in our village, Qadian, there was an administrative office where our mosque is located now. I was a child at that time, but I have heard this from reliable people that even after the English took over, the previous ordinance remained in effect for a while. It was in those days that a Government Administrator was visiting here. He had a Muslim soldier with him. The soldier came to the mosque and asked the moazzin [the person who calls the Azan ] to call the Azan. The man did so in a low fearful voice. The soldier asked him if that was the way he regularly called the Azan. The man replied that this was how it was done here. The soldier chided him and told him to get on to the rooftop and call the Azan in as loud a voice as possible. He [the moazzin ] was scared but eventually did so on the urging of the soldier. 2 1. In Badr, it is further written: There was another Englishman in whose court my case was tried. The opposite party was a priest who presented even seven or eight witnesses. Besides, you know the administrators have all the author- ity and he had the same nationality as well. But I heard that he point blankly said that he couldn’t do the mean thing to punish an innocent person. He sent for me and congratulated me. If these people did not have these qualities, they would not have become our rulers either. When Muslims deteriorated to the extent that they started fighting among themselves like dogs fighting over a bone thrown at them, and there was no brotherhood and compassion left, the superior wisdom of God took away the governance from them ( Badr, vol. 7, no. 1, p. 8, dated 9 January 1908). 2. From Badr: And he called out the Azan loudly. No one had called out Azan for the last forty years ( Badr, vol. 7, no. 1, p. 8, dated 9 January 1908).