Claims and Teachings - Ahmad The Promised Messiah and Mahdi — Page 328
328 appointed, for the debate. On the opposite side, were; eight Muftis headed by Khan Mulla Khan while :a Punjabi Doctor who was an enemy of the Ah. rnadiyya sect, acted. as ail arbit- rator. Eight men with drawn swords in. their hands stood ovsr the head of the prisoner. The debate was carried on in writing and the audience was kept ignorant of the arguments' oi both sides. It lasted from seven in the morning till about; 3 P. . M: At the time of the later afternoons prayers; the -judgment of heresy was declared against the Maulvi Sahib. . He was; asked if he- believed ;in the second corning of Jesus, but he firmly denied and stated that the Holy Quran bore testimony that Jesus ^was dead and. that he would not come back. Upon this they abused and;Gur8e ; d the holy man and raised, their. cries like' the chief priests and elders of the/Jews before Pilate. He was thereupon sent back 'to the 'gaol with^ all those heavy- fetters. The -. judg- ment was then sent to the Amir but the papers containing the proceedings ; of the debate were intentionally detained. . Such a secrecy of the proceedings of the controversy is-a: clear evidence that the Maul vies- failed to:refute the arguments:of:Maulvi Abdul Latif,;and the consciousness of their failure was the only reason of keeping both the public and the Amir in the dark as to the force of his arguments. Alas for the Amir, that he passed the 3entence simply on. the judgment of the' Maulvies and did nob care to see even -the proceedings of the debate. It was bis duty jf he had any fear of the great and just Ruler of the: Universe to whom he must return alone and empty-handed, to hold the debate in his presence, for; he knew that/ its consequence would be the death of an innocent mam Moreover, the. parties to the debate ought to have been. treated with fairnesa:iand justice, and placed on a platform of. equality. Was it consonent with justice to keep Maulvi Abdul Latif in severe ^and rigorous imprisonment