The Afghan Martyrs — Page 66
We clearly recollect the event concerning Sahibzada Abdul Lateef. He was the second of the followers and missionaries of Mirza Sahib who appeared in Mghanistan. The writer was a participant in the debate between the Sahibzada and the divines. The Sahibzada was indeed one of the famous Mullahs of Khost and he had a number of pupils in the Kabul region. Before becoming a Qadiani the Sahibzada was a Wahabi, i. e. he was a practicing member of the 'Ehle Hadeeth' sect. In the early days of the reign of His Exalted Highness the Sahibzada decided to proceed for pilgrimage to the House of Allah. On arrival in India he met Hakeem Noor-ud-Deen, the first Khaleefa of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and at once became convinced of the truth of his beliefs. So, without performing the pilgrimage, he returned to Khost. In the letters that he wrote to his pupils he explained why he had returned to Khost. In them he said that the beneficence that he received in Qadian seemed to him to exceed that which he would have received in 'Bait-ul-Haram'. Therefore he had abandoned the plan for Haj and was back home. When the news reached the government the Sahibzada was summoned and imprisoned. At his own request some divines were invited to debate with him. At that time approximately fifty scholars had assembled in the Royal Academy for preparation of the book 'Siraj-ul-Ahkaam' and an assembly for the debate was convened in the premier mosque. Murad Khan the Qazi of Kabul was chosen to represent the divines at the debate which lasted from early morning until late afternoon. The Sahibzada held that on the authority of 'Bukhari Shareef the death of Hadhrat Isa (PBUH) stands proven. He was given a copy of Bukhari Shareef and although he turned the pages for a while he was not able to trace the Hadeeth that he was looking for. In short, in this debate a lot was said and heard. In the end the divines unanimously appealed to him to renounce the Mirzai belief, they even bared their heads 66