First Grain of Sand — Page 62
46 FIRST GRAIN OF SAND last eighteen years in Tashkent and would often lead the other inmates in Prayer. He owned two large orchards, had two wives, and a son. Even though he was much senior to me at sixty years of age, he held a great deal of respect for me. He was a rather pious and intelligent person and held quite a bit of influence within the Tashkent prison. If he ever did a shorter translation of the lessons, other Turks would get upset that why he was not translating it properly. Because Abdullah was an Imam and more scholarly, I would show even greater respect and honour to him. However, even though he was a pious, respectable, and influential imam and scholar, he began to feel hurt by how much respect and honour the others were giving me. Hence, I would especially make it a point to delicately take him aside and preach to him privately, which he seemed to appreciate very much. Since he was the wisest and most influential man in the cell, it took me longer to open him up towards me and convince him to join the Ahmadiyya Movement compared to the others. One time, Abdullah wanted to debate me in order to give a bad impression about me in front of the other inmates. He asked me whether it is permissible to wipe water over socks [during wuzu, the ablution for Islamic Prayers]. Based on the way he spoke as he approached me, I understood this was not a genuine question to seek enlightenment on the topic; rather, he was seek- ing to create discord and pull our fellow inmates away from me and towards himself. So, I responded very gently and lovingly, saying: