Khalifatul Masih II: Pearls of Wisdom

Hazrat Musleh Maud (may Allah be pleased with him) once said that great achievements are wrought by prayer whereas people skilled in mesmerism/hypnotism can also bring about changes in people through their knowhow but these changes are temporary and individual and they do not bring about revolutionary advantages. However, when prayer is made with all its due requisites it can turn around fortunes of nations.

Hazrat Musleh Maud (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated an account from the life of the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) regarding Sufi Ahmad Jan Sahib. Sufi Sahib had spent many years serving a Pir and performed spiritual exercises and endeavours. Later, he became devoted to Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (on whom be peace) whom he identified before his claim that this person would be the Messiah.

Before his claim of messiahship the Promised Messiah had written his book 'Baraheen e Ahmadiyya' which gained huge popularity among saintly and scholarly Muslims. When Sufi Sahib, who was one of the most God-fearing holy people of his time, saw the Promised Messiah's (on whom be peace) poster he started correspondence with him. Sufi Sahib was a most devout person who had also gained mesmerism/hypnotism skills. He requested the Promised Messiah to let him know next time he visited Ludhiana so that they could meet. He invited the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) to his place for a meal and as they walked back together after the meal Sufi Sahib told the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) that he had served a Pir for a number of years which had given him so much power of concentration that if he focussed and concentrated the person walking behind them could fall over. Hearing this, the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) stood still and slowly raked the ground with the tip of his walking stick. He raked the ground with the tip of his walking stick whenever he felt passionately about something. He asked, Sufi Sahib, if the man were to fall over, how would it benefit you or him? Sufi Sahib had a great foresight. He pondered over it deeply and said that he repented and would abandon this practice. He said he now realised it was a worldly practice and was not something spiritual. He had it announced that none of his followers should consider the practice as part of the faith of Islam but should consider it a worldly practice.

Sufi Sahib's farsightedness is evident from the fact that when the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) wrote 'Baraheen e Ahmadiyya' Sufi Sahib realised that he was going to go on to become the Promised Messiah although God had not yet revealed it to Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (on whom be peace) that he was going to go on to make any claim. Sufi Sahib wrote an Urdu poetic couplet to Hazrat Mirza Sahib in a letter: 'We, the ailing look up to you alone, For God's sake be the Messiah!' God had told him about the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) therefore before passing away Sufi Sahib advised his children to accept Hazrat Mirza Sahib when he made his claim.

Hazrat Musleh Maud (may Allah be pleased with him) said that the resolve and focus of hypnotists is nothing compared to the resolve and focus of faith and cannot stand before it. God-given resolve and focus and any individual's resolve and focus are worlds apart. Once as the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) sat in Masjid Mubarak addressing a gathering a Hindu accountant from Lahore came by. He was a skilled hypnotist and had come with the intention to hypnotise the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) while he was in a gathering to, God forbid, make him dance. This Hindu person had himself narrated this account to an Ahmadi. It so happened that the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) gave one of his books to an Ahmadi from Lahore and asked him to deliver it to a particular Hindu person. When the Ahmadi took the book to the Hindu, he explained that he was a skilled hypnotist. If he wanted he c