Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 19
THE RENAISSANCE OF ISLAM 19 Creator of the universe, that human souls are not co-existent with God, and that they are all created by God. Pandit Kharak Singh made no response to the proposal of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Sometime later he became a Christian and wrote several pamphlets condemning the teachings of the Arya Samaj. In 1879 Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had an exchange of views with Pandit Shiv Narain Agni Hotri on the subject of revela- tion, through correspondence which was later published. Pandit Shiv Narain Agni Hotri was a teacher in the Lahore Government High School. He was also editor and proprietor of the Hindu Bandu and was looked upon as a leader of the Bramho Samaj which denied the possibility of verbal revela- tion. The exchange of views continued from 21 May to 17 ]uneI879. . Kharak Singh's experience was repeated in the case of Agni Hotri. In later life he ceased to be a member of the Bramho Samaj and claiIfled that he himself was a recipient of divine revelation and founded a new sect called Dev Samaj. In 1878 Mirza Ghulam Ahmad sent the manuscript of an article for publication to the Vakil Press, Amritsar, in a packet stamped at the rate prescribed for postal packets. He also placed in the packet a letter addressed to the Manager of the Press giving him instructions about the article. This was a contravention of the Post Office regulations which was punisha ble with fine or imprisonment. The Press belonged to Ralya Ram, a lawyer, who was a bigoted Christian. He made a complaint against Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to the postal authorities and a prosecution was instituted against him. He was summoned to Gurdaspur to answer the charge and engaged a lawyer, who was a friend of his, to defend him. The lawyer advised him very strongly to deny that he had put the letter in the packet. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad emphati- cally rejected the advice of the lawyer and told him that he could not depart from the truth in the least degree. The lawyer told him that in that case he was bound to be con-