Life of Ahmad — Page 542
542 CHAPT ER 57 DR. CLARK DRAGS HIM INTO COURT The death of Pandit Lekhr a m in exact and the manifest fulfilment of the clear and mighty prophecy of Ahmad as had produced a sudden paroxysm of terror, but it made no permanent impression on his hardened enemies. Their terror soon vanished and its place was taken by insolent confidence. The result of their machinations showed itself in a new kind of strategy, involving one of the most perilous and deeply-laid of all the schemes to entrap and ruin him. The deadly nature of the plot appeared in the fact that, to carry it out, parties usually ranged against one another in strong opposition were now banded together in a conspiracy for the ruin of their common enemy. The plan is reminiscent of the Arab confederates who formed a formidable coalition against the Holy Prophet sa and marched upon Medina in 627. A. D. They were sore troubled, in fact enraged in their hearts, at the progress of Ahmad’s as movement and so they resolved upon a new mode of persecution.