482 Notice of the Tenets held by [Not. 



retinue towards the end of 1821, and immediately a great majority of the 

 Mahommedans of the place, of all ranks and stations, flocked to become, 

 or to profess themselves, his disciples. In the early part of 1822, he 

 proceeded with his friends, the two Moulavis, to Mecca, from whence 

 he returned in October of the next year, having touched for a few 

 days at Bombay, where, with reference to the shortness of his stay, 

 his success, in gaining numerous followers, was nearly as remarkable 

 as in Calcutta. In December, 1823, he again started for Upper 

 India. The next important event of his career, his commencing a 

 religious war in the Lahore territories, did not occur till after a con- 

 siderable interval, though the enterprise was one in which he had long 

 openly announced his intention to engage. Its date is given in the 

 following extract from the " Targhzb-ul Jihad,'" or u Incitement 

 to Religious War," a little treatise written in Hindustani during 

 the continuance of the struggle, by a Moulavi of Kanouj, with the 

 view, as its name purports, of rousing the Faithful to rally round the 

 standard which had been raised in the Panjab. " The tribe of Sikhs," 

 says the indignant Moulavi, " have long held sway in Lahore and 

 other places. Their oppressions have exceeded all limits. Thousands 

 of Mahommedans they have unjustly killed, and on thousands have 

 they heaped disgrace. The i Azdnj or summons to prayer, and the 

 killing of cows, they have entirely prohibited*. When at length tbeir 

 insulting tyranny could no longer be borne, Hazrat Syed Ahmed, 

 (may his fortunes and blessings be permanent !) having for his single 

 object the protection of the faith, took wi;h him a few true Mussul- 

 mans, and going in the direction of Kabul and Peshawar, succeeded 

 in rousing the Mahommedans of those countries from their slumber 

 of indifference, and nerving their courage for action — Praise be to God 

 — some thousands of believers became ready at his call to tread the 

 path of God's service j and on the 20th Jummadi-ul-ula, 1242, 

 Hijrf, (or the 21st December, 1826,) the Jihad against the Kafir 

 Sikhs began." The events of this war were watched with a natural 

 interest by the Mahommedan population of India generally, whether 

 followers of Syed Ahmed or not. Many of the inhabitants of our 

 Western Provinces went in bodies to range themselves under the 



* This is a grievance of old standing among the Mahommedans of the Lahore 

 territory. Malcolm, speaking of the period when our army under Lord Lake 

 pursued Holkar into the Punjab, in 1805, says, "The Mahommedan inhabitants 

 of the Punjab used to flock to the British camp, where they said they enjoyed 

 luxuries which no man could appreciate, that had not suffered privation. They 

 could pray aloud, and feast upon beef." 



