Perseverance — Page 29
Part II – My Life as a Muslim 29 the very Messiah that Dowie was waiting for. By definition, one of these men had to be a liar. The Promised Messiah as challenged Dowie to a mubāhalah, or prayer duel. The prayer duel was a public challenge to expose which of the two men was a liar, and each was to pray to his respective God that the liar would die in the lifetime of the truthful claimant. Dowie had every material advantage in this contest. He lived in the plush conditions of America, whereas the Promised Messiah as lived in a remote village in India. Dowie was approximately 15 years younger and in good health, whereas the Promised Messiah as suffered from several chronic ailments. Further, the Promised Messiah as was the target of Islamic extremists who considered it a meritorious act to murder him. The Promised Messiah as made it emphatically clear that Dowie’s material advantages would avail him naught, as the matter would be decided by the One True God. Although Dowie did not explicitly accept the challenge, his actions implicitly accepted it as was warned by the Promised Messiah as. In this way the Promised Messiah as left no escape for Dowie and foretold not only Dowie’s earlier death, but also stated that Dowie would die a miserable death for all to see with his city in shambles. This was published in over 20 American newspapers. Dowie died in 1907, ousted by his family and followers from the very church he founded. In humiliation, he was publicly accused of financial mismanagement and was exposed for his personal improprieties and hypocrisies. On the other hand, the Promised Messiah as died in 1908 and his Community now flourishes in over 200 countries and numbers well into the millions.