Life of Ahmad — Page 554
DR. CLARK DRAGS HIM INTO COURT as 554 Batala, who came forward as a prosecution witness to lend support to the prosecution story. I must here say that it was only the priestly class of the Muslims that sided with the Christian missionaries; the masses, so far as is known, had little sympathy with the Christian missionaries. On the contrary, they deeply resented the action of the Muslim priests in identifying themselves with the Christian missionaries, as was evidenced by the fact that even the Muslim orderlies of the court and the Muslim constables asked Maulaw i Muhammad Husain to quit the chair in which he had seated himself in the verandah of the court. One of the crowd which had assembled outside the court to witness the proceedings of the case offered the Maulaw i Sahib his own chudder to sit on, little suspecting that the Maulaw i Sahib had come there to assist the prosecution, but when he came to know the purpose of his visit, he too requested the Maulaw i Sahib to leave his chudder. That the case was being really conducted by all three parties combined was admitted by Dr. Clark himself in court. When questioned whether he had paid any fee to Pundit R a m Bhaj Dutt, he replied by saying, "We, all the people, are taking a concerted action against a man who is our common foe. " In short, the case brought against the Holy Founder of the Ahmadiyya Community had the