The Essence of Islam – Volume V — Page 202
202 Essence of Islam-V had since continued to be in possession of this land. Now Imam-ud-Din had erected a wall on the same land claiming that it was his. Thus after we had filed the suit we saw an old decree which placed an insolu- ble problem before us, and clearly indicated that our suit would be dismissed, for, as I have already men- tioned, this old decree established that Imam-ud-Din was in possession of the land. In face of this diffi- culty, our lawyer Khawāja Kamāl-ud-Din advised us to settle the matter through compromise. That is to say, we should appease Imam-ud-Din by offering him some money. I reluctantly agreed to this suggestion, but Imam-ud-Din was not to be persuaded so easily. He harboured a personal grudge against me, and in- deed against Islam itself. He had realized that our suit could never succeed, and therefore became more ar- rogant than ever. In the end we resigned the matter to God Almighty. But, as far as we and our advocate was concerned, we knew that there was no chance of success, for the old decree established the possession of Imam-ud-Din. And he intended even further mis- chief. He would stand in the courtyard in front of our house where our visitors' yakkās arrived and would obstruct them and abuse me. What is worse, he also planned that after our case has been dismissed, he would erect a long wall in front of the gates of our house in order to besiege us like prisoners and make it impossible for us to go out. These were days of great anxiety for us, so much so that the verse: