Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 64
64 AHMADIYY AT be guilty of the mose despicable falsehood that God spoke to him, if in fact He did not. All commentators of the Holy Quran and eminent Muslim divines have been agreed that the prophecy set forth in the Holy Quran in the following words, 'He it is Who sent His Messenger with guidance and the Religion of Truth, that He may make it prevail over every other religion, even though those who associate partners with Allah may dislike it' (9:33), would be fulfilled through the Promised Messiah and Mahdi. At the time of the advent of Ahmad, Islam was in the situation of one who is encircled by bitter enemies and is assaulted continuously from every direction. The Hindus, and more particularly the Ayra Samaj and Brahmo Samaj, were looking forward to the acceptance of their creeds throughout India and were making rapid progress in certain parts of the country towards the achievement of that objec- tive. Christian missionaries had put forward a similar claim on behalf of their faith, and prominent British statesmen had announced that God had bestowed the sovereignty of India upon the British for the purpose that, through the efforts of Christian missionaries, the whole of India might be redeemed by and find its salvation in Jesus Christ. It was against this background that Ahmad proclaimed his challenge in Braheen Ahmadiyya that he would hand over the whole of his property, then valued at ten thousand rupees, to any non- Muslim, Arya, Brahmo, Sana tan Dharmist or Christian, who would set forth from the sacred books of his religion even as little as one-fifth of the proofs in support of the teachings of his religion as Ahmad proposed to expound in Braheen Ahmadiyya in support of the teachings of Islam. No one took up the challenge seriously during his lifetime or has done so since. Pandit Lekh Ram, of tragic memory, pur- ported to do so in a most offensive manner which clearly betrayed that his only purpose was to seek an opportunity of unburdening his mind of part of the filth with which it was