Life of Ahmad — Page 526
PT. LEKHR A M’S DEATH as 526 answer to Ahmad’s as invitation) to declare under oath that he was convinced of the existence of a conspiracy to murder Pt. Lekhr a m in which Ahmad as was involved. But he wanted a three-fold undertaking: (1) If after this oath Ganga Bishan did not die within one year as Ahmad as declared, then Ahmad as should be hanged. (2) He should be entitled in that case to receive Rs. 10,000 which should be deposited for this purpose with the Government or with some reliable bank of his choice. (3) He should not be killed at Qadian when he went there for the purpose of taking the oath. Ahmad as issued a leaflet on April 5th and announced acceptance of all these three conditions. The only condition that Ahmad as added was to bring the whole matter to a successful issue. He never let himself be side-tracked or the issue be confused. The whole purpose of the prophecy regarding Pt. Lekhr a m was the establishment of the truth of Islam. Therefore Ahmad as wanted Ganga Bishan to remember that his death after the oath within the period must be acknowledged by his co-religionists as the final and most conclusive evidence of the truth and of the superiority of Islam. But Pt. Lekhr a m’s exemplary punishment did not encourage anyone else to go to that length, so Ganga Bishan put forward the technical excuse (vide supplement of Bh a rat Sudh a r , dated April 11th, 1897 and Hamdard Hind , Lahore, dated April 12th, 1897) that there was no such condition mentioned in the original invitation. To this Ahmad as at once replied, in a leaflet dated April 12th, 1897, by