Last Days of His Father — Essence of Islam Vol. 4

14 Sep, 2026 Essence of Islam 0

Essence of Islam Book Cover by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (AS)

Introduction

In this discourse from Essence of Islam (Volume 4), Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (AS), the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, expounds upon Last Days of His Father, presenting profound spiritual insights and scriptural verities.

Book Series: Essence of Islam (Volume 4)
Author: Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian (AS)
Section: Part 2: Family and Personal Background
Navigation: Book Table of Contents | « Previous: Early Services to Father and Family | Next: Early Revelations »

Family and Personal Background On account of this failure my father was always restless and melancholy. Observing these conditions, I was enabled to carry out a pure change in my own life. The bitter life led by my father taught me to value a clean life free from all worldly impurities. Although my father still owned a few villages and was in receipt of an annual stipend from the British Government and also enjoyed a pension for his services, all this was as nothing compared to what he had experienced in his younger days. This is why he was always sad and melancholy and often said that had he striven for the faith as much as he had striven for the world he would have been a saint of some repute. He often recited the verse: 9 And I often saw him recite this verse which he had written, and he would be greatly moved: 10 Sometimes I heard him recite his own verse: 9 My life is past and only a few days remain. It would be better if I were to spend my nights in the remembrance of God. [Translator] 10 O Succour of every helpless one! Surely, I can’t return emptyhanded from Thy door! [Translator] 11 With each passing day, he was more and more grieved by the thought that he would face his Creator empty-handed. He often regretted that he had wasted his life in the pursuit of useless worldly objectives. On one occasion, he related that he had seen the Holy Prophetsa in his dream proceeding in great dignity towards his house like a mighty monarch. My father advanced to welcome him and, when he had come close to him, he thought that he should make a present to him and put his hand in his pocket in which he found only one Rupee. Examining it closely, he discovered that it was a false coin. Perceiving this my father’s eyes became wet and he woke up. He interpreted this dream as meaning that love of God and of the Holy Prophetsa mixed with worldly ambition was like a false coin. My father used to say that the last days of his father’s life had also been spent in grief and sorrow, just like him. In whatever direction he advanced he met with failure, and he would often recite this couplet of his father (my great grandfather), of which I remember only one line: 12 11 With the tears of a lover and being the dust of someone’s feet, my heart beats in blood in place of someone else. [Translator] 12 Whenever I contrive to do something, destiny mocks me. [Translator] Family and Personal Background In his old age my father’s grief and sorrow multiplied manifold. About six months before, he built a mosque in the middle of the town—which is now the town’s main mosque—and directed that he should be buried in a corner of that mosque so that he should constantly hear the name of God Almighty being glorified, and this might perchance become the means of procuring forgiveness. It so happened that when the construction of the mosque was almost completed and just a few bricks remained to be laid in the courtyard, my father died of dysentery after a few days illness and was buried in the corner of the mosque which he had specified. 13 He was 80 or 85 years of age when he died. His sorrow over wasting his life in the pursuit of the world still affects me painfully and I realize that everyone who seeks the world must carry this sorrow with him. Let him who seeks understanding understand this.
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 4]
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 4, p. 13]

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Introduction