Way of The Seekers — Page 63
63 THE complimentary opinion about him. I said: All right, I am here before you; I shall not leave until I prove the hollowness of your charge. I invite you to raise as many objections against his writings as you possibly can and I shall rebut every one of them. He said: I am a well-wisher; I do not want to join issue with you. I said: You must, if you possibly can. He said: No, you will lose face. I said: If we are pretenders, it is your duty to expose us. If we are based on truth, your criticism will not harm us. In fact, it will be helpful. But he failed to set forth any objection. However, he added apropos of nothing in particular, that Arabs would never accept a non-Arab as the Promised Messiah. I said: I am going to establish an Ahmadiyya Mission here. We will also organize a community here. You are welcome to do all you can to stop us from doing so. My visit to Syria was to last only for five days. But God be praised, a surprising thing happened. On the eve of my departure from Damascus, a scholar and master of Arabic, Persian and Turkish languages, sent me a letter at 10 p. m. He wrote that he had been waiting to see me since morning and was not sure if he would be able to see me at all. Hence the letter. He affirmed his faith in the Promised Messiah. He also offered to be posted as a missionary wherever I liked. Now we have a full fledged mission and a community in Damascus. Even the gentleman who had predicted no Arab would accept Ahmadiyyat has sent word that his bona fides should not be doubted and that he would never oppose the Movement. Therefore, do not be perturbed that you are poor and weak. Any one who believes that poverty and weakness are a bar to success, is guilty of setting up associates with God; for he mistakenly thinks that it is because of his person who con- siders himself useless is equally guilty of ascribing to the All- Knowing God the error of choosing a useless tool–his own self –to bring about a spiritual revolution in the world. If a soldier armed with a damaged gun or a broken sword sets out to face the enemy, could he be called a good soldier? If not, then how can he be useless whom God selects to serve his cause? Indeed,