Tadhkirah — Page 71
1882 71 December 30, 1882 (A) I was thinking of your 84 town 85 in connection with a wonderful vision that I saw on Saturday, December 30, 1882 whereby God the Almighty disclosed to me the sincere good wishes of a person of Ludhiana of whose name I was not aware 86. In the vision I was told his name and address but it has escaped my memory. I can recall only that he is a resident of Ludhiana and concerning him I saw the writing: 84 M i r ‘Abb a s ‘Al i of Ludhiana [Jalal-ud-Din Shams] 85 Ludhiana [Publishers] 86 There was a gentleman in Ludhiana of the name of M i r ‘Abb a s ‘Al i , who had entered into the covenant of bai‘at with me. He made such good progress within a few years that his then condition was disclosed to me in a revelation: [Arabic] [ Its roots are firm and its branches spread into heaven. ] This meant that at that time he was a sincere believer and all the indications supported this. He was constantly occupied with talking about me and copied out in his own hand every letter that I wrote to him and invited other people to have similar faith in me. If he discovered a dry piece of bread as my leftover he would eat it as something full of blessings. He was the first one from Ludhiana to come to me in Qadian. At one time it was disclosed to me in a vision that ‘Abb a s ‘Al i would stumble and draw away from me. Even that letter of mine he copied into his collection of my letters. Thereafter, when he met me he expressed surprise over my vision saying: How can that be, for I am ready to lay down my life for you? When the time came that I put forward my claim of being the Promised Messiah he took it ill and for some time did not disclose his uneasiness. Thereafter, during the debate with Maulav i Muhammad H usain in Ludhiana concerning my claim, he had the opportunity of associating with my opponents and then the divine decree became manifest and he turned against me openly. [ H aq iq atu l -Wa hi , p. 294, R uha n i Khaz a ’in, vol. 22, p. 307]