The Essence of Islam – Volume III — Page 413
Repeated Challenges 413 sport and jest. Therefore, let Reverend Whitebrecht hold a public meeting in Batāla and state on oath that if I dis- close to him, within ten weeks, the contents of a sealed envelope which will be presented by him he will imme- diately discard the Christian faith and become a Muslim. If he fails to do so, the amount of one thousand rupees, which he shall deposit in advance with a third party to be agreed upon, will be paid over to the Anjuman Himāyat- e-Islām, Lahore, as penalty. After this public announce- ment and its publication in Nür Afshan, if I disclose the contents of the sealed envelope within ten weeks, the reverend gentleman will be under obligation to carry out his promise. Failing to do so, he will lose his deposit of one thousand rupees. On the other hand, if I fail to dis- close the contents of the sealed envelope, I will renounce my claim of being the recipient of revelation and will submit to whatever punishment may be imposed upon me. Announced by, Ghulam Ahmad of Qādiān, 9 June 1888. [Majmü'ah Ishtihārāt, vol. 1, pp. 150-152] Lack of Righteousness among Christians Is any Christian cleric blessed with the Holy Spirit? I am tired of calling upon Christian clerics of the whole world to come forward, but not one of them has responded. Some Christian clerics published a challenge in Nür Af- shān requiring the disclosure of the contents of a sealed envelope which they would present in a meeting, but when this challenge was accepted on condition that, upon such disclosure, the challenger or challengers would ac- cept Islām, they forgot all about it. The Christian clergy- men have long put a seal on the possibility of revelation. Now that the seal has been broken and the grace of the