Life of Ahmad — Page 291
as CHIEF SCRIBE OF DELHI 291 he might not be able to attend the meeting. Fiery speeches were already being delivered at the place where the debate was supposed to take place. The mob was trying to break open the doors of the house where Ahmad as and his wife and children were staying. It was with very great difficulty that serious trouble was averted. It was absolutely impossible to leave the house in such circumstances. The mullahs, therefore, immediately announced that Ahmad as had not come out for the debate because he was afraid of Nadh i r Husain. When Ahmad as wrote a letter to Nadh i r Husain he answered in ostensible disdain, on October 13th, 1891, by saying that his pupils, Abdul Maj i d and Muhammad Husain, would reply on his behalf and that Ahmad as should address his pupils, in future. Ahmad as , therefore, issued a leaflet on October 17th, in which he explainad the situation and exposed the tricks of the mullahs in their nakedness. He challenged Nadh i r Husain to a decisive debate in such terms that he was compelled to take notice of the leaflet. Ahmad as suggested October 18th, 19th or 20th for the debate and offered a reward of Rs. 25 for each Quranic verse or authentic tradition quoted by his opponents which showed that Jesus as was still alive in the flesh in the heavens. To leave him no loophole of escape, Ahmad as asked Nadh i r Husain to declare (in case he was not prepared to hold a debate) on a most solemn and emphatic oath, after hearing Ahmad’s as reasons in a meeting on the point, that Jesus as was