Approaching the West — Page 12
A pproaching the West—12 Elijah, the forerunner for the Second Coming of Jesus–who would, according to Dr. Dowie’s claim, descend in Zion. He also engaged in using abusive language insulting the Holy Prophet of Isl ā m. In 1902 he prayed for the annihilation of Isl ā m. Only one voice of concern was raised from the Muslim world, indeed from the East. Responding, Ḥ a ḍ rat A ḥ mad wrote to Dr. Dowie, beseeching reason and restraint, urging him to stop proclaiming for the destruction of millions of Muslims. But Dr. Dowie heightened his expression of animosity and insulted Ḥ a ḍ rat A ḥ mad by declaring, Do you think, I shall reply to these gnats and flies. If I put my foot on them, I would crush out their lives. When reasoning was of no avail, Ḥ a ḍ rat A ḥ mad offered an easy way to prove the truthfulness of his claims. Dr. Dowie should simply pray only for one man’s death and destruction–that of Ḥ a ḍ rat A ḥ mad! It was a challenge for a prayer-dual (mub ā halah) stating that whosoever of the two was a liar should die a miserable death during the lifetime of the other! Ḥ a ḍ rat A ḥ mad was 12 years older than Dr. Dowie at the time (1902) and not in good health, whereas Dr. Dowie was in robust health and enjoyed great prosperity and popularity. This challenge was amazingly unique to the Western mind, and the American news-media picked it up immediately. In mid 1903, more than thirty newspapers and periodicals, including Chicago Interpreter, Literary Digest, New York Mail and Express, Rochester Herald, Boston Advertiser, Washington Pathfinder, Chicago Inter Ocean, Baltimore American, Houston Chronicle, and Morning