A Critical Review of the Pamphlet, 'Fateh-e-Qadian' — Page 12
12 A critical Review of the Pamphlet—‘f a te h -e-Qadian’ incumbent upon him to repent and take the bai ‘ at [pledge of initiation] at my hand. (Announcement dated July 20, 1900, Majm u ‘ah Ishtih a r a t , vol. 3, published by Ash-Shirkatul Isl a miyyah Ltd. , Rabwah, Pakistan, pp. 327–330) The Promised Messiah as published this announcement with signatures of twenty of his followers as witnesses. He asked P i r [Meher ‘Al i ] to publish an announcement of his acceptance of this challenge within 10 days of receiving this announcement, endorsed by the signatures of twenty other respectable people, and to include a solemn promise to take bai ‘ at if he was to be defeated. (see Majm u ‘ah Ishtih a r a t , vol. 3, published by Ash-Shirkatul Isl a miyyah Ltd. , Rabwah, Pakistan, p. 331) P i r’s Announcement Since P i r [Meher ‘Al i Sh a h] did not have the strength to enter the field of scholarly contest, and did not want to disclose his true state of mind either by issuing a clear rejection, he published an announcement on July 25 saying that: ‘I whole-heartedly accept the invitation to attend the meeting in Lahore with the conditions laid down by Mirza [ Ghul a m Ahmad ] , but first of all we will have a verbal debate on his claim to be the Messiah. Then, if Maulav i Muhammad H usain Bat a lv i and both of his companions express the opinion that in this debate Mirza [ Ghul a m Ahmad ] is not right in his claim, he will have to take the bai ‘ at [pledge of initiation] on my hand. The contest of writing commentary shall only be allowed