Life of Ahmad — Page 471
as CONFERENCE OF RELIGIONS 471 principles. He can, of course, make a reasonable refutation in gentle and polite words of all those charges with which he thinks his religion might have been wrongly assailed. But if he departs from it none of those present shall be entitled to object, because in such case he shall himself suffer the consequences of doing so by weakening his own cause. 8. In establishing then truths and beauties of his religion the speaker shall dwell especially on the following two things: (a) Reasons to believe in the existence of God, especially derived from the words of the sacred book in which he believes. (b) The necessity of religion in general and of a belief in his faith in particular in order to bringing about salvation. The speakers will have full liberty to bring forward arguments in support of their claims but giving offence to another religion or making remarks derogatory to others must strictly be avoided. The arguments of each speaker must be exclusively based upon the words of his sacred book, which he shall have to quote in the original with full particulars. For example, a Muslim speaker shall recite the verses of Al-Quran in support of his arguments and not only produce a translation. Similarly, a Christian theologian and an A rya pundit will have to quote verses in the original respectively