Fulfilment of a Grand Prophecy - Hazrat Ahmad’s Challenge to John Alexander Dowie — Page 57
Fulfillment of a Grand Prophecy. THE DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE, Rochester, New York,. Thursday, June 25, 1903. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Quadian, India, threatens to pray Prophet Elijah Dowie to death. 59. All Right. Such long range assassination as that is permissible. Sail right in, Mirza. . THE SUNDAY TIMES - UNION, Jacksonville, Tennessee, Sunday, June 28, 1903. One Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who dwells in. Northern Hindustan, challenges Alexander Dowie to a praying match, and threatens to pray him to death. He might the way he spells it, but if he spelled it with an "e" Dowie would give him six in the seven and beat him out. . THE MONTANA DAILY RECORD, Helena, Montana, JULY 1, 1903. Challenge to Duel of Prayer. Alexander Dowie has found a foeman worthy of his steel. The Chicago prophet recently predicted that in fullness of time his cult would spread over all the earth, and that in that time all those of the Mohammedan faith would be annihilated as being hateful in the sight of the. Lord. Why Dowie chose to pick upon the followers of that other prophet is not recorded. . But his temerity has marked him for the test. He has been challenged to fight a duel to demonstrate which is right. . Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is the self-constituted champion of the Mohammedans. He comes from a race of Indian fakirs, and he, too, proclaims himself a Messiah. But he is not as cruel as Dowie. . He does not want to annihilate a whole people to settle the issue. With merciful feeling that puts the. Chicago man in shame he proposes that each enter upon a season of prayer, that upon their bending knees they shall pray each for the annihilation of the other. Who so survives, if the other shall perish, will be easily and naturally removed from the field. The other will as easily and naturally fall heir to the following of the misguided one, Mirza. Ghulam Ahmed is playing for big stakes, For it is common report that Dowie has a rich bank account and much real estate, the results of years of frugal labor in the vineyard as a Messiah. It is a business that has paid in Chicago. . Seemingly the East Indian has the better of the argument thus far. At least, those who do not want to see the indiscriminate slaughter of all the adherents of a faith will prefer the plan of Ahmad to the prediction of Dowie. The whole thing would seem ridiculous if it were not for the terrible earnestness of the followers of both. It would be sac religious if anyone else believed that the pretensions of the rival "Messiahs" amounted to anything. Dowie, who has openly professed to have the power of withering with his curse and healing with his blessing, and who has turned the credulity of his people to good account, should not miss the opportunity to prove what he can really do. There is the chance that Mirza Ghulam. Ahmad, who is a simple man and wears scant raiment may contract a severe case of rheumatism from kneeling on the bare ground; and if the disease should prove fatal wouldn't it be worth to. Dowie as advertising!