Announcement for a Forty Day Prayer Vigil — Essence of Islam Vol. 3
Introduction
In this discourse from Essence of Islam (Volume 3), Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (AS), the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, expounds upon Announcement for a Forty Day Prayer Vigil, presenting profound spiritual insights and scriptural verities.
Book Series: Essence of Islam (Volume 3)
Author: Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian (AS)
Section: Part 13: Repeated Challenges
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Repeated Challenges 399 251
Those who have read my previous announcements will be aware of my announcement that if a respectable Arya gentleman, Christian minister or some other gentleman out of the opponents of Islam were to come and stay with me at Qadian for one year, and did not witness any heavenly sign during that time, I would pay him two thousand four hundred rupees by way of compensation.
[Surmah Chashm-e-Arya, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 2, pp. 309-310]
I despatched this offer by registered post to all the principal Christian ministers and leading Arya gentlemen, but none of them came to Qadian. In the case of Munshi Inderman Sahib, I sent that amount in cash to Lahore to satisfy him that the money would be available for the award, but he slipped away to Faridkot. One gentleman by the name of Lekh Ram of Peshawar did come to Qadian, and he was repeatedly invited to stay here for one year on payment of his expenses at the rate of twice the salary which he received when he was a government servant at Peshawar; and in the end it was even suggested that if he could not stay at Qadian for a whole year he should at least stay for forty days. He rejected both propositions, and yet made several false allegations in his announcements. In Surmah Chashm-e-Arya, he has again been invited to come and stay at Qadian for forty days. Everyone can read it there.
The the purpose of this announcement is to carry the 251 Anyone can issue a statement by way of boasting, But truthful is the one who produces a true sign. [Publisher] matter to its limit vis-à-vis Munshi Jiwan Das Sahib who, from among the Aryas, appears to be a most decent and gentle person, and Lala Murlidhar Sahib, drawing master, of Hoshiarpur, who I also believe to be one of the better type of Aryas, and Munshi Inderman Sahib of Muradabad who is, as it were, the joint founder of the Arya Samaj and Mr. ‘Abdullah Atham, formerly Extra Assistant Commissioner from Amritsar who is a decent and gentle minded Christian, the Reverend ‘Imad-ud-Din of Amritsar, and Reverend Thakar Das Sahib, the author of Izhar-e-‘Iswi. I now reduce the period of one year to forty days on the condition that the gentleman who is willing to take up the challenge should stay with me throughout the period of forty days at Qadian or at any other place where I may be residing. If, during that time, I put forward no extraordinary prophecy, or the prophecy proves to be wrong, or, if it is not proved wrong but the gentleman is able to match it, he will immediately be awarded five hundred rupees. But if such a prophecy is fulfilled, the gentleman making the trial would have to accept Islam…. If the gentleman has doubts about the prophecy, or if he thinks it is only a matter of guess work, he may himself make such a prophecy within forty days and prove that it has been fulfilled. If he fails to do so and my prophecy is fulfilled, then he will have to accept Islam. All this will be committed to writing and attested to by both sides.
These gentlemen are granted three months from the date of the publication of this book, i.e., 20th September 1886, within which to respond to this invitation. If no fair response is received from any of them during this time, it will be understood that they have evaded the contest. Repeated Challenges 401 Peace be on those who follow the guidance.
Announced by: Ghulam Ahmad From Qadian,
Distt. Gurdaspur, Punjab.
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 3, p. 399]
252
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 3]
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 3, p. 401]
Book Series: Essence of Islam (Volume 3)
Author: Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian (AS)
Section: Part 13: Repeated Challenges
Navigation: Book Table of Contents | « Previous: Refutation of the Aryas’ False Doctrines | Next: For the Careful Attention of Sardar Raj Indar Singh »