1832.] the followers of Syed Ahmed. 497 



immediate guidance and guardianship of God. One wonder followed 

 upon another, till one day the Deity taking his right-hand with Ins own 

 arm of power, and placing before him some of the rare treasures of 

 heaven, said to him, ' This I have given to you, and I shall give you 

 yet more.' About this time, some one entreated urgently to be received 

 by him as a religious disciple; when he put off giving a final answer 

 for a few days, and in the interim, applied with the eye of contempla- 

 tion to God, saying, i You have taken my hand, which whoever in this 

 world does*, attends always to the obligation thereby assumed, and 

 what relation can the virtues of mortals bear to the qualities of God ? 

 What course then is it your will that I should follow towards this man 

 who desires to adopt me as his religious guide ?' The reply from God 

 to this application was, i Should thousands and thousands seek to be 

 your followers, I shall provide for (or be sufficient to) them all.' And in 

 this way event crowded on event with him, and fresh miracle upon mi- 

 racle, till he reached the ultimate perfection of the Tariq i nabuwat, 

 and attained to inspired knowledge. 



Next as to the Tariq i wilayat — respecting this it is to be understood, 

 that the modes of exercise and contemplation followed in each of the se- 

 parate schools lead to a certain peculiar capacity of connection in the spi- 

 rit of the devotee with the Deity, which ordinarily is not acquired till 

 after all those preparations have been gone through. But occasionally 

 with some higher or more favoured spirits, this capacity precedes any 

 use of preparatory discipline. So it was with Syed Ahmed. In the 

 Kadiria and Nakshbandia schools, it was gained in a few hours, and 

 directly from communication by the spirits of the founders of those 

 schools— they having contended for nearly a month with each other for 

 the exclusive possession of him, and having in the end agreed to descend 

 upon him together. In the Chishtia school, its acquisition was com- 

 menced by communication from the spirit of the revered Kutbul aktab 

 Khwajat Bakhtiar Kaki, when Syed Ahmed was sitting in con- 

 templation on the tomb of that saint, and it was afterwards perfected 

 by communication from God himself. This happened to him in the 

 Akberabadi Masjid at Delhi, when he was engaged in devout con- 

 templation with a number of his followers, among whom the writer, 



* The form is that by which a Murshid, or religious guide, receives the adher- 

 ence of his followers. 

 t He was a celebrated Saint of the school. 



2 R 2 



