Fulfilment of a Grand Prophecy - Hazrat Ahmad’s Challenge to John Alexander Dowie — Page 8
8. Fulfillment of a Grand Prophecy himself expressed the extent of this devotion in a poem he wrote in Persian, from which is quoted the following couplet: "After the love of Allah, I am intoxicated with the love of Mohammed; if this is an infidelity, by Allah, I am the greatest infidel. ". Dowie's verbal abuses upon the character of the founder of Islam ostensibly hurt Mirza. Ghulam Ahmadas. He responded to Dowie's venomous attacks with polite remarks of resolving the matter amicably through prayer. This fell on deaf ears and Dowie's verbal attacks increased as time passed. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad" then challenged Dowie to a prayer duel in which each of the claimants would pray to God Almighty that whoever is the liar would perish in the life of the other. . At this point, the world press, which had been silently watching this drama, jumped in and broadcasted news of the prayer duel throughout the world. Scores of newspapers documented this duel in large headlines. Many important newspapers like The New York Times, The. Boston Herald, and Inter-Ocean Chicago even wrote editorials about this prayer contest. . This booklet is designed to collect most of these documents that appeared in the world press from the first announcement of the prayer duel until its final results. As these news clippings are from a century ago when technology was in its mere infancy, we have presented the text of these articles as separate, typed excerpts embedded within and in continuity with the pages of this booklet's text. Photocopies of these microfilms, however, are also included for each article. . We are indebted to all the newspapers that documented this important event of history. . In particular, we thank the Montana Daily Record and the Boston Pilot for sending the microfilm copies of their clippings that appeared a century ago. For retrieval of newspaper clippings, we thank Abubakr Salahudin, Amjad M. Khan, Idris Saeed, Maulana Dost. Mohammad Shahid, Mukhtar Ahmad Chema, Muhaimin Kareem, Nazir A. Ayaz, along with sisters Aatifa Khan, Amtul Jameel, and Amtul Shakoor. For assistance in translation, we thank Anis Shaikh, Dr. Aziz Chaudhry, and Munawar Saeed. Dr. Ahsan M. Khan, Arshad. M. Khan, and Attiya Rehman assisted in the editing part of the manuscript, and Dr. Basharat. Munir Mirza, Hasan Hakeem, Mobasher Ahmad, and Rashid A. Arshed assisted in design and layout. . We are also thankful to the members of Messiah 2000 Conference Committee for their valuable suggestions. Special thanks are extended to our respected President Sahibzada. M. M. Ahmad Sahib for his continued guidance and support. . July 20, 2000. Anwer M. Khan. Chino Hills, CA