Life of Ahmad — Page 479
as CONFERENCE OF RELIGIONS 479 aspect of a tournament of religions, and the partisans of the different creeds each wished to see victory declare itself for his representative. Under such circumstances all the older systems, which could already count a large following, were safe enough because there were many in the assembly who would champion their cause. But the case of the Promised Messiah as was different. His essay was to be read in an assembly where his friends were few and the majority were his opponents, because at that time his followers did not number many, and of them not more than 50 were present at the conference. His paper was appointed to be read on December 27th between 1:30 and 3:30 p. m. He could not personally attend the conference, but appointed one of his disciples, Maulaw i Abdul Kar i m ra , to read the paper on his behalf. When that gentleman began to read the paper, within a short time, such a spell fell upon the assembly that they sat like statues and till the appointed time was finished nobody was aware how long the lecturer had been speaking. When the time for the lecture was over, the audience were greatly agitated because by that time not even the answer to the first question had been finished. There was therefore no bound to their joy when Maulaw i Mub a rak Ali of Sialkot, whose address was to follow next after that of the Promised Messiah as , announced that the time alloted for him might be given to the Promised Messiah as. Maulaw i Abdul Kar i m ra accordingly continued the reading of the paper till