The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 327
326 Α'ΙΝΑ-Ε-ΚΑMĀLĀT-E-ISLAM-DAFI UL-WASĀWIS for a heavenly Sign, I prayed, and the prayer having been accepted, God Almighty brought about circumstances under which the father of the girl had to make a request to me regarding an important affair of his. The details of this affair are that a sister of the said father had been married to one Ghulam Husain, a cousin of mine. This Ghulām Husain has been an absentee for 25 years, and nothing is known of his whereabouts. His land, to which I am an heir, had been mutated in the Government revenue papers in the name of the said father's sis- ter. In the course of the present settlement operations in the District of Gurdaspur, the said father, the addressee of my letter, expressed the desire with the concurrence of his sister, that the land which is valued at four or five thousand rupees be transferred by way of gift to his son Muhammad Baig. The deed of gift, accordingly, was drawn up with his sister as the donor. However, as the gift was inoperative without my consent, the addressee approached me with all humility to request me to give my consent to the gift and sign the deed. I was about to sign it, but it occurred to me, as is my habit in all important affairs, to beg Allah for guidance by doing Istikhārah. ¹ Accordingly, a reply in these terms was sent to the addressee. Then, after having been repeatedly importuned by him, the Istikhārah was undertaken, which turned out to be nothing but an indication that the time for the manifestation of a heavenly Sign in response to these people's request had drawn near. The result of the Istikhārah disclosed itself in this wise: The Powerful and Wise God informed me that I should propose for the hand of the elder daughter of this man, and should tell them that all the kindness that may be done to them would depend on this condition; that the nikāḥ would be a source of blessing for them, and that they would share all the blessings enumerated in the notice pub- lished on 20 February 1888,2 but if they rejected the proposal of nikāḥ, 1. A special prayer to seek Divine guidance in important affairs. [Publisher] 2. The year 1888 appears to be a scribal error. As referenced in Tabligh-e-Risalat, vol. 1, p. 116, footnote, the correct year is 1886. [Publisher]