Life of Ahmad — Page 392
DEBATE WITH ATHIM as 392 This debate, which was called Holy War 81 by the Christians, began at 6-15 a. m. on Monday, May 22 nd , 1893, at the bungalow of Dr. Henry Martyn Clark. Munshi Ghulam Q a dir Fas i h ra and Dr. Clark were appointed as presidents. Ahmad as was assisted by Maulaw i N u r-ud-D i n ra , Sayyid Muhammad Ahsan and Shaikh Aladiyya. Abdullah A thim was assisted by the Rev. I h s a nullah, the Rev. Abdullah and the Rev. Thomas Howell 82. Ahmad as dictated his paper for one hour, at the conculsion of which it was read out in the meeting. A thim spoke for five minutes in answer to Ahmad as , who began to dictate again when the Christians raised a point of order. According to the terms of the agreement, the first question to be discussed was the divinity of Jesus as , while Ahmad as had started a comparison of the Holy Quran with the New Testament. The actual terms of the agreement, which were in English, were referred to and it was discovered that the translation handed over to Ahmad as was wrong. Therefore Ahmad as began to dictate his paper on the subject of the divinity of Jesus as at 8:26 a. m. and finished it at 9:15, after which it was read out to the meeting. A thim began his paper 81 The Rev. Robert Clark calls it 'the great controversy' in his book The Missions of the C. M. S. in the Punjab and Sindh. C. M. S. London, 1904. 82 1. He called himself Bashir. On April 7th, 1885, he sent eight questions to Maulaw i N u r-ud-D i n ra , in answer to which he produced Fa s lul Khi ta b in 1888. Rev. Thomas Howell made an abortive effort in 1889 to make a reply which was entitled Jaw a b Ahlil Kit a b (Akhtar Hind Press, Amritsar). In those days he was posted at Pind Dadan Khan.