The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 346
BATALĀWI'S STATEMENTS & THEIR RESPONSES 345 and if some worldly benefit is dependent only upon telling a lie, he forgoes it. It is regrettable, however, that a man who himself eats filth considers all people to be eaters of filth. The people given to falsehood always say that without falsehood recourse to a court of law is impossi- ble. So, this statement of his would be true only under the circumstance when a party to a suit would never be prepared to bear any loss to him- self and wants to win each and every case by all possible means. But why should a man who always gives precedence to truthfulness do so? Why would someone, who is prepared to suffer loss, place any reliance on falsehood? Now, let it also be clear that it is true that in my late father's time I had to resort to the courts of law to get satisfaction of the family's legal rights in connection with the business of our estate. But my father's legal actions were either for the arrears of rent, or for compensation for cutting down a tree without permission, or for recovering the pro- prietary dues from village headmen. These were not complicated cases because of the administrative arrangement whereby the testimony of the Village Accountant—viz. the Patwārī—often sufficed for the deci- sion. Falsehood had no place in such suits, for they were decided on the evidence of official records. And because land was not properly taken care of in those days, there was always loss incurred in agriculture and many times one had to take a loss oneself when dealing with cultivators having little income by treating them favourably. Knowledgeable people are aware that a landlord who is honest can treat his tenants with the highest dictates of honesty and virtue. There is no inherent conflict between landlord-ism and goodness. Notwithstanding this, no one can prove that after my father's death I was concerned with any case except the one in connection with the letter which I have already mentioned. If I had not been temperamen- tally averse to litigation, I would have freely indulged in it throughout the fifteen years that have elapsed between my father's demise and now. Again, it must also be noted that only innately evil people would compare these lawsuits with the litigation of the moneylenders. I