Life of Ahmad — Page 364
SECOND ANNUAL GATHERING as 364 issued a leaflet on December 17th, 1892, in which he exposed the ignorance of the mullah. The second annual gathering took place on the dates fixed and about 500 persons attended. In the preceding year there were only 75 or 80 present but this year, in spite of bitter opposition, the number increased. Over 300 came from distant places like Mecca, Bombay, Etawah, Delhi, Rajputana, Peshawar, Bareilly, Aligarh, Shahabad, Saharanpur, Naushehra, Muzaffargarh, Rawalpindi, Karnal, Ambala, Gujranwala, Jullundur, Ferozepur, Jhang, Hoshiarpur, Shahpur, Nabha and Jammu-Kashmir. The following are the first ten areas in order of their numerical strength: District Gurdaspur 98, Patiala State 26, District Ludhiana 23, District Sialkot 22, District Amritsar 21, District Lahore 20, Kapurthala State 19, Malerkotla State 13, District Jhelum 11, and District Gujrat 10. On the first day, the 27th, Maulaw i N u r-ud-D i n ra delivered an excellent discourse in which he proved that Jesus as had died like ordinary mortals never to return. After him Sayyid Hamid Shah of Sialkot recited a Qa si da in honour of Ahmad as. In the afternoon, Ahmad as vindicated his position as a true Muslim against the fatwas of excommunication and explained his mission. He also instructed his followers in the paths of peace, righteousness and virtue. The next morning, a lawyer from Amritsar related the story of his conversion. First a sunni, he had become a shia, then an A rya and so on, until finally he had