Al Fazl, 17 January 1921
Two new converts
With the grace of the Omnipotent God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, I am very well and I always remember members of the Jamaat in my prayers. I hope the article which I wrote for the Jalsa arrived on time. The friends may have heard it in the Jalsa and read it in the newspaper.
Recently, two more Christians were granted the strength to accept Islam by the grace of God. The name of one gentleman was Mr Russell and he was given the Islamic name Ghulam Rasul and the other elder’s name was Mr Hutchinson. He was given the Islamic name Muhammad Ali.
Weekly gathering
A public gathering is held every Sunday at 3pm. Its announcement is published in the daily newspapers beforehand. One announcement is published in a newspaper for 10 rupees. Below are the words of the announcement:
Ahmadiyya Jamaat
Every Sunday at 3pm, lectures of Ahmadi missionary, Mufti Muhammad Sadiq Sahib, are held at house No. 4334, Ellis Avenue, on the religion of Islam and Oriental subjects. Enter without tickets [as it is] an open invitation and [it is also] allowed to ask questions.
Next Sunday’s lecture will be on “the Islamic Bible”, the Holy Quran. Thousands of newspapers are printed here on a daily basis and several editions are published each day.
Twelve editions of the newspaper, Daily News, are published throughout the day. However, most of the pages carry the same content and only the pages of the news and the telegrams are changed a bit. After my lecture in the gathering of 21 November [1920], Siddiqatun Nisa (Mrs Garber) read a poem and a short essay in praise of Islam and Ahmaddiyyat. This essay has been sent to Qadian for the magazine, The Review of Religions (English).
Lectures
In the past few weeks, lectures were held on the following topics:
7 November 1920: The attributes of the Holy Quran
14 November 1920: Biography of Hazrat Ahmad Nabiyullah [Prophet of Allah]
21 November 1920: The qualities of Islam
28 November 1920: Muslim way of prayer
5 December 1920: Islamic Bible, the Holy Quran
The effect of prayer
One of the questions asked after the lecture of 28 November [1920] was, “Did you include today’s audience in any of your prayers? Because I feel the effect of that prayer.”
It was true that I had prayed in seclusion before the gathering took place and I also prayed for the audience during the lecture.
Greeting cards for tabligh
It is customary in this country to send printed New Year greetings cards. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I printed tabligh cards and sent them to prominent personalities. Some literature was also sent to everyone along with the cards.
Muhammad Sadiq, 2 December 1920
Allegiance to the Khilafat
To his Holiness, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih, peace be on him, After formal greetings, I express with outmost respect that after the last meeting with Hazrat Khalifatul Masih II[ra] at the Batala station, I kept thinking as to which aspect of the Promised Messiah’sas prophethood should I believe in.
Consequently, I brought up some questions on the basis of fundamental doctrines [of Islam] to be solved with respect to ghair mubai‘een [those who denied to perform bai‘at of the second Khalifa]. The subject of these [questions] was why the person who does not accept Hazrat Mirza Sahibas as a messenger of Allah should not be called a kafir [denier of the Promised Messiahas]?
Moreover, they [ghair mubai‘een]wrote Al-Nubuwwah fil Islam and raised objections, but I proved them wrong in light of the Holy Quran. As every objection kept on proving wrong in accordance with the Holy Quran, so did the manifestation of the truthfulness of the Promised Messiahas keep instilling in my heart.
Eventually, after drawing up 14 questions, the glory of the Promised Messiahas had such a profound effect on my heart that even the most hidden curtains of my heart were illuminated by the light of this sun of truth, which is why I now know his truth through ilmul yaqin [knowledge by inference].
I am confident to say as a ta‘liq bil mahal [rest a matter on an impossible event] that it is possible to deny the existence of the Sun in broad daylight but it is impossible to deny the sun of the truth of the Promised Messiahas. Thereafter, when I moved on to praise the Promised Messiahas, that is, when I wished to prove that he was also a mercy for the world, every word of the Holy Quran bore witness to the fact that the time of the appearance of the Promised Messiahas is the same as that of the Holy Prophetsa, i.e. age of manifest corruption.
As a matter of fact, in terms of plurality of religions, rising materialism and increase in wrongdoings, it [the time of the Promised Messiahas] is even darker [than that of the Holy Prophet’ssa age]. It is as if the Holy Quran has been revealed to the world once again and the way in which it has been revealed is through Divine revelations on him [the Promised Messiahas], which re-enlightened the pearls of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy Quran.
Further, when I looked into the issue of Khilafat, the wave of greatness and majesty of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih II[ra] converted my heart into Noah’s ark and took me to Darul Aman, Qadian. In other words, it felt that I was among the humblest servants of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih.
When I get the opportunity to meet you in the near future, I will express those things that were a hindrance in my way like dark and stark caves and the idea of crossing them was not even in my imagination.
However, when Allah the Almighty, by His Own grace, gave the shamma-e-aymen [Divine manifestation witnessed by Prophet Mosesas] of the revelation’s light in my hand, I got through all the darkness and obscurity, and entered the abode of Islam. All praise be to God, Lord of all the worlds.
In the end, keeping due regard of the precious time of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih, I do not want more than for this letter to be published as a lesson for other people … Peace be upon the messengers and all praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all the worlds.
Humbly yours, Abdul Aziz Nabi Bakhsh Numberdar, Batala