The Descent of the Messiah — Page 72
THE DESCENT OF THE MESSIAH mark upon their own faces. ¹ However, since Pir Mehr Ali Shah has declared me to be a pretender and a plagiarist and has cursed me repeatedly in the form of a prayer duel, therefore, in order to prove my innocence before the people I give Pir Mehr Ali a third opportunity. This is as follows: I have intended, God willing, to write some Arabic verses at the end of this book and to demand of Pir Mehr Ali, as well as of a Shiite gentleman known by the name Ali Hairi, to produce something equal to them. The request is that the Pir should show his own supernatural power, and Ali Hairi that of Imam Hussain, by writing something that is comparable to these verses in num- ber as well as in subject matter. If the two gentlemen, or either one of them, can fulfil these two conditions within the bounds of eloquence and elegance, I will admit that my claim in relation to a miracle in this regard is false. However, the condition is that within twenty days of the publication of this book, they should write the verses with the same eloquence and elegance and on the same subjects and have them printed and published across the country; otherwise, their failure will be made public through the newspapers. I reaffirm that if they can compete with me regarding these verses within the specified time, and their verses are equal to mine according to the testimony of the learned, and equal in number, then my claim that the miraculous power I enjoy in writing and composing poetry is one of God's signs that testify to my being the Promised Messiah will be rendered false without any doubt. In fact, I swear by God and state on oath that if their vers- es prove to be better than mine according to the testimony of 1 The footnote given here by the author, along with its sub-footnotes, has been given at the end of the book as Footnote 4 on page 315. [Publisher] 72