Life of Ahmad — Page 370
ANXIOUS TO SAVE HIS ENEMY as 370 Husain to another Quranic method of test. He suggested that a meeting be convened at which each of the parties be allotted (by casting lots) a Quranic chapter of not less than 80 verses for the purpose of writing a commentary in Arabic extending to a certain minimum number of pages. A poem of not less than 100 verses should also be written in Arabic by each of the two contending parties in praise of the Founder sa of Islam. Forty days should be given for this purpose and then the poems of the given metre (to be decided by casting lots) and the commentaries should be read out in a public meeting where it should be decided as to who excelled in point of discovering the true and deep meanings of the Holy Word and in point of the beauty and perfection of expression in the Arabic language. The acceptance of this invitation by the mullah was to be notified to Ahmad as by April 15th, 1893, (later it was extended to the 20th), but it appears nothing came of it. The mullah wrote to Ahmad as on April 18th, 1893, from Lahore that he was prepared to accept all his invitations (1) To have Mub a hala , (2) To write a commentary in Arabic, etc. , but that he would reply to everything through the pages of his journal in the month of April. Ahmad as acknowledeged and published the acceptance on April 19th and expressed his complete satisfaction with it. But the mullah never came forward. Ahmad as reminded him on May 8th, 1893, and repeated his invitation in various forms several times but the mullah could not be pinned down to anything.