Fulfilment of a Grand Prophecy - Hazrat Ahmad’s Challenge to John Alexander Dowie — Page 18
18. Fulfillment of a Grand Prophecy that to withhold or suppress it is in our opinion a serious crime. It is not to exult over a fallen enemy that we refer to certain circumstances in. Dowie's life. Such a thing is farthest off from our ideas. It is only in the cause and for the furtherance of truth that we publish these facts. . The holy religion of Islam, no doubt, teaches us not to mention the faults of the dead, but this does not mean that facts should be concealed when their disclosure is in the interests of society and a service to humanity, truth and God. In bringing disaster upon Dowie's head and ultimately in his untimely death brought about with sorrow and torment. Almighty God has given His judgment exactly as He had informed His Messenger three or four years previous to these occurrences. It is a judgment, which distinguishes the true. Messenger of God from a false claimant, the true one from an im. John Alexander Dowie was a Scotchman and he first landed at San Francisco in America in 1888. Before this he was for a short time a convict in Tasmania. It was in 1892 that he took to preaching and soon began to build up a separate following. He claimed the power of healing, and it was this claim, which brought to him many a credulous but wealthy people. With their wealth he became a rich man. The site of Zion city was bought in 1900 and lots were sold to the faithful who established themselves there. It was on the 2nd June 1901 that he first declared himself as. Elijah the Prophet. The claim brought to him more wealth and a greater number of followers still. So great was his success that as a New. Year's gift he was no satisfied with less than a million dollars, and when traveling he occupied the most expensive and luxurious state-rooms. In 1902 he published a prophecy to the effect that all the Muhammadans living on the earth would be destroyed unless they bowed before the cross. It was on his publication of this prophecy that the. Promised Messiah addressed to him a letter published in the Review of Religions for. September 1902 inviting him to a Mubahala. It as was a reply to Dowie's prediction of the destruction of the Muhammadans and in this letter he was challenged to "pray to God that of us two whoever is the liar may perish first. ” Such was the gist of this challenge, which was published, in numerous English and American newspapers. We give here the names of some of these with the dates of the issues in which the remarks appeared in them to facilitate reference. They are the. Chicago Inter Ocean, 28th June 1903; the. Telegraph, 5th July, the Literary Digest, 20th June; the New York Mail and Express, 25th June; the. Herald, Rochester 25th June; the Record, Boston, 27th June; the Advertiser, Boston, 25th June, the. Pilot, Boston, 27th June; the Pathfinder,. Washington, 27th June; the Argonaut, San. Francisco, 1st December 1902; the Burlington. Free Press, 27th June 1903; the Worcester Spy, 28th June; the Jacksonville Times, 28th June; the. New York Mail, 25th June; the Buffalo Times, 25th. June. It is needless to name all the newspapers, which published this notice. . Dowie, however, took no notice of the challenge, nor did he make any mention of it in his paper, the Leaves of Healing. But he continued his vituperations of Islam. On the 14th of February, 1903, he wrote, "I pray to God for the day to come when the crescent shall disappear. May God grant it. May God destroy it. " And on the 15th. August he wrote in the same paper referring to. Islam: "The Zion will have to wipe out that shocking blot upon humanity. " Accordingly on the 23rd August 1903, the Promised Messiah published another announcement headed "Predictions concerning Pigott and Dowie" which contained a plain prophecy as to the end of the impostor. The following extract from the New. York Commercial Advertiser is sufficient to prove the vast circulation of the notice in America. . Under the heading "Dowie is challenged," the paper wrote: "From far away India comes a printed circular from Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who as