Three in One — Page 54
the Holy Quran, we invoke Allah's curse be on those who lie. '166. While one does not deny that some Muslim scholars have expressed the opinion that the two parties should meet face to face in any challenge of Mubahala, there is absolutely no hard and fast rule laid down by the Holy Quran or Hadeeth which demands that such a meeting be a prerequisite to a Mubahala. . In fact, Abdul Hafeez's own 4 point counter Mubahala establishes that such a face to face confrontation of the parties engaged in this duel of prayer is not essential. This is indicated by his demand that Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmaday and he 'meditate for three days in separate closed rooms. 167 Now, if they were to meditate in separate rooms as demanded, then such a Mubahala could not be construed to be a face to face meeting between the contestants. Or could it?. The only purpose of such a meeting in the days in which the. Mubahala was instituted was to give it the widest possible publicity and bring to the knowledge of the masses that such a challenge had been assented to and therefore engaged into so that neither could, at a later stage, deny being a party to it. In this day and age of modern technology, Islam not being restricted to a localised region as in the days of yore - this system of assent to the Mubahala through the media as suggested by Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmaday is the best possible under the present circumstances. But Abdul Hafeez and his colleagues would rather avoid such wide publicity lest they be exposed as liars and disbelievers as well as enemies of the truth throughout the world. These mullahs do after all travel the length and breadth of the world to deceive masses into parting with their hard earned pounds and dollars as well as marks and francs. Why then would they want to jeopardise revenue in foreign currency?. As regards the question of fixing of the time limit, the 166. Ahmadiyya Muslim Association. Mubahala, Urdu ed. pp. 4/7 167. Shah, Syed Abdul Hafeez. Two in One, p. 19. 54