Life of Ahmad — Page 538
JUBILEE OF QUEEN VICTORIA as 538 and untenable. A curse implies estrangement and enmity. Jesus as was never the enemy of God, nor was God ever the enemy of Jesus as. It could not be. So Ahmad as appealed to the Queen to give the matter her most serious consideration and discard on this auspicious occasion such an erroneous and disparaging creed. The Vice President of the General Committee of Indian Muslims, Muhammad H ay a t Khan, C. S. I. , fixed June 20 & 21, 1897, as the dates on which the jubilee should be celebrated throughout the country. So Ahmad as issued a leaflet on June 7th asking his followers to reach Qadian on June 19th for this purpose. In response 225 men gathered at Qadian from distant parts of India. Meetings were held and lectures were delivered in six languages—Urdu, Arabic, Persian, English, Punjabi and, Pashto. The speakers included Maulaw i Abdul Kar i m ra , Maulaw i N u r-ud-D i n ra , Maulaw i Burh a nud D i n ra of Jhelum, and Maulaw i Jam a l D i n ra of Sayadwala, Montgomery. Prayers were offered and the poor people of the town were entertained. Streets, mosques and houses were all lit on June 22nd, and a congratulatory telegram was sent to Lord Elgin, the Viceroy, on the 20th. A beautifully bound copy of Ahmad’s as book Tu h fa’-e-Qai s ariyya was sent to Queen Victoria through the Deputy Commissioner in commemoration of the auspicious occasion. Copies of the book were also sent to the Viceroy and the Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab.