Life of Ahmad — Page 79
as AFTER HIS FATHER’S DEATH 79 of quotations from his standard scriptures which might exceed, equal or amount to one-half or even one-third of the quotations which he would bring forth from Muslim scriptures on the subject. But no one took up the challenge. The A rya Sam a j published a statement in the Vak i l , Hindustan, dated December 7th, 1877, to the following effect: 'The souls that exist are infinite and so many in number that even God does not know their number; therefore, they will continue attaining salvation for ever and will never cease to exist. ' Ahmad as considered this a direct insult to the Almighty; and was, therefore, moved to defend the glory of God. He wrote a series of articles against this belief, which were published in the Saf i r-e-Hind of Amritsar from February 9th, 1878, to March 9th, 1878. Swami Day a nand was touring the Punjab in these days. In these articles Ahmad as challenged the Sam a j to vindicate their position and offered a prize of Rs. 500 to anyone who would prove the truth of the above statement. The arguments that Ahmad as put forward were so conclusive that L. J i wan D a s, secretary of the central Sam a j of the whole of the Punjab, was compelled to issue a statement in which he declared that the belief disproved by Ahmad as did not form part of the essential principles of the A rya Sam a j. He went even further. He said in the statement, published in the same paper, that members of the A rya Sam a j did not consider themselves the blind