this terrible trial, have been furnished by firstly the prophets, and especially the Lord of the Prophets (Peace and blessings be upon him), then his Companions and successors, and then the great persons who have followed in his way. ∗ ∗ ∗

With his miraculous eloquence, the Prophet pointed out with his saying: "The scholars are the heirs of the prophets," that it is no easy matter to be a scholar of religion. For since they are the heirs of the prophets, they have to adhere faithfully to the path of the prophets in questions of truth and its dissemination — even if it passes over rocky mountain, wilderness, muddy bog, stony desert, or abyss; or worse, if they suffer arrest, trial, and imprisonment; exile, isolation, poison, and the gallows; and whatever other unimaginable forms of persecution, oppression, and torture.

Bediuzzaman was such a person; all his life he trod that rough path and for over half a century pursued that sacred jihad, overcoming as lightning the innumerable obstacles confronting him, and proving by act that he was a scholar who was heir to the prophets.

Of all his numerous virtues, scholarly, moral, and literary, what captivates me most was his belief; it was firmer than mountains, deeper than the ocean, and broader than the skies. O Lord, what sublime belief! What enduring, inexhaustible patience! What a steel will! His head unbowed, his voice unlowered, his breath uncaught, despite all that oppression, repression, torment, and torture, which make one shudder.

At a time I wrote the poem called Mujahid, with the ebullient inspiration I received from the great Iqbal's poetry, some readers suggested that the following lines went too far in their poetic extravagance. However, any- one who reads the masterpiece for which I am writing this introduction, will understand some of God Almighty's servants can do anything and everything if their belief reaches the point of perfection!

If resolve enters a believing heart,

And a person reaches the final point of belief,

The bloodiest death will not restrain him,

A volcano's molten lava will not halt him.

The inspiration from his Lord strengthens his resolve,

Every night the Prophet appears to him in dreams.

Light is the constant mihrab of his believing heart,

Worldly light cannot illumine his horizon.

Neither blizzard nor storm nor pain disconcerts him;

All his life he passes in the cool summer shade.