With Love to the Muslims of the World — Page 42
42 territory, Fati h Muhammad and this new Ahmad i hap- pened to be members of an expeditionary force. It was quite common for the British army to send surreptitious fact-finding expeditions deep into the Russian territory. This new Ahmad i was also included in one of these expeditions. It so happened that one day, they came upon a town where they found a domed building which looked very much like a mosque. But when they entered, they found a different type of arrangement inside: Instead of mats and carpets in the prayer hall, there were chairs which are not customar- ily provided in the prayer halls. Fortunately there were some people present who, when questioned about the presence of these chairs in the mosque, explained that they regularly held preaching sessions in the mosque which were attended frequently by members of other faiths, like Jews, Christians, etc. . As such, they considered it neces- sary that comfortable seating be made available for the visitors. Hence the chairs. They were then questioned further as to who they were, and they said they were Muslims of course. Fati h Mu- h ammad enquired whether they believed that Jesus was alive in heaven. They said that he had passed away like all prophets of God. Thereupon, Fati h Muhammad observed that since Jesus was to come back and what did they think of that. They replied that it would not be the same Jesus who was to be sent back but someone from the umma of the Holy Prophet sa was to be raised as Jesus as , in the spirit