Mirror of Charm and Beauty — Page 90
and Islam making solid advances. . In this connection I have been reminded of one interesting incident. It so happened once that the Christians of Batala, a town near Qadian, who were especially prejudiced against the Promised Messiah on account of this nearness, and who were helpless against the powerful arguments produced by him in support of Islam, and who were burning in the fire of envy and jealousy, threw a challenge that they would put a piece of writing under a seal, and put the sealed cover on a table before the Promised Messiah; if he was really a Prophet of God, they said, he should be able to reveal the contents by bringing the powers of his soul to bear upon the matter. In this, most probably, they had hoped that the Promised Messiah would evade or ignore this curious challenge, and they would be able to exploit the incident against him. But as soon as he received this challenge, the Promised Messiah replied: "I accept this challenge, and I am ready for this contest, that by prayer and a concentration of the power of my soul, I should obtain knowledge of the contents of the sealed document. But the binding condition in that case would be that you people shall have to accept Islam" (Ashab-i-Ahmad Vol. IV. page 104). 90