Scattered Pearls — Page 47
46 that he should be taken to the mosque at a time when the Promised Messiah 'should not be there, So this friend took him at a time which was not the time for any of the daily Prayers, and the mosque was empty. . But it so happened, by chance, that just at the moment when this man stepped into the mosque, a door on the side opened and the Promised Messiah came in unexpectedly, in connection with something; and the moment this man's glance fell on the face of the Promised Messiah, he lost all control over himself, under the stress of a sudden emotion, and he fell down at the feet of Ahmad, there and then yielding the pledge of Faith called Bai'at, (Seeratul Mahdee, Part I, Riwaayat 73). This, however, should not be taken to mean that it is every man who accepts influence and impressions in this way. Had this been so, no one would have remained a denier of guidance and truth. Such incidents occur only under some special, circumstances, on one side when the moment happens to be such that some invisible shower of heavenly blessing is descending upon a Prophet or a Walee; on the other, when the spectator is, for one reason or other, specially attuned to see the light. . This is perhaps one of the reasons that Hazrat Abu. Bakr, on hearing of the claim of our Holy Master. Muhammad to Prophethood, immediately tendered belief; while at the same time Abu Jahl also heard the same news, but he took up a highly venomous attitude, which he never once abandoned to the last moment of his life, always insisting that if Muhammad was true in his claim, condign heavenly punishment should descend on him and strike him down. This is enough to prove, once for all, that where a man deliberately closes his eyes, and insists on keeping them shut, for him the light of the sun can be of no avail. Hafiz of Shiraz has very well said in this respect: "Hasan came from distant Basra,. Bilaal from Abyssinia,. And Sohaib from Room;. And accepted the Prophet: