[Lord, You are my Paradise, and Your mercy is my shelter, and Your Signs are my food, and Your grace is my attire].The martyrdom of Sahibzadah Maulawi ‘Abdul-Latif is also a Sign of my truth, for, ever since God created the world, it has never happened that a person should knowingly sacrifice his life for the sake of an impostor, charlatan, and liar; put his wife through the misery of becoming a widow; be willing to make his children orphans; and embrace death by stoning for himself. True, there are hundreds of people who are killed unjustly, but when I proclaim here the martyrdom of Sahibzadah Maulawi ‘Abdul-Latif to be a grand Sign, it is not because he was killed unjustly and was martyred; rather, it is because he demonstrated such steadfastness at the time of his martyrdom that there cannot be any greater miracle than that.
On three different occasions, the Amir counselled him gently that if he would only renounce the oath of allegiance to the man from Qadian who claimed to be the Promised Messiah, he would be freed, and, indeed, he would be honoured even more than before; otherwise, he would be stoned to death. But every time he replied: ‘I am a man of learning and have experienced the world. I have entered into his bai‘at [pledge of allegiance] by way of enlightened conviction. I know him to be better than the whole world.’
He was kept in prison for many days and was gravely tortured. He was tied from head to foot with a heavy chain. He was then counselled time and again and was promised honour if he renounced his bai‘at, for he had a long-standing relationship with the State of Kabul, and possessed privileges in the state due to his services. But he repeatedly said: ‘I am not insane. I have found the truth. I am absolutely convinced that the Messiah who was to come is none other than the one in whose hands I have pledged bai‘at.’
Then, despairing of him, they put a string through his nose, and led him in chains to the ground for stoning. Just before stoning him to death, the Amir once again advised him, ‘There is still time for you to revoke the bai‘at and renounce.’ He replied, ‘This shall never be. Now my end is near. I would never prefer the life of this world over my faith.’
It is reported that after witnessing such perseverance on his part, hundreds of people were awestruck and their hearts trembled and they declared: ‘How unshakeable is this faith! We have never seen anything like it.’ And there were many who said, ‘If the man, to whom he pledged allegiance had not been from God, Sahibzadah ‘Abdul-Latif could never have shown such perseverance.’ Thereafter, this innocent man was stoned to death but he did not let out so much as a sigh. For forty days his dead body lay in the pile of stones. His last words were that he would not remain dead more than six days. In response to this, the Amir posted a guard at the place of his stoning for fear that it was some sort of trickery. But what he meant by this statement was that within six days his soul would be raised to Heaven with a new body.
Ponder over it with honesty and fairness. Can the people belonging to a Movement which is based on nothing but fraud, deceit, lies, and fabrication, demonstrate such steadfastness and courage that they willingly agree to be crushed by stones without any regard for their children and wives? They surrender their lives with such courage and refuse to give up this path despite repeated promises of freedom contingent upon breaking their covenant.
Similarly, Sheikh ‘Abdur-Rahman was slaughtered in Kabul. All the while he remained resolute and did not offer to break his bai‘at in exchange for his freedom. This is the very Sign of a true religion and a true Imam that when someone attains full cognition of him and one’s heart and soul is satiated with the sweetness of faith, such persons do not fear death in this path. Of course, those whose faith is superficial and faith has not entered into the fabric of their being, like Judas Iscariot, can turn apostate for a petty temptation. There are quite a few instances of such unholy apostates in the time of each Prophet. God be thanked that I am accompanied by a large Jama‘at of sincere followers, each one of whom is a Sign in my support. This indeed is the grace of my God. [Lord, You are my Paradise, and Your mercy is my shelter, and Your Signs are my food, and Your grace is my attire].