The Light of Truth — Page 259
A CHALLENGE TO IMAD-UD-DIN AND HIS ASSOCIATES knowledgeable. They may seek any helper and supporter for themselves, be they near or far, and this includes their Messiah, who in their view is the Lord-though there is no Lord besides Allah, the Sustainer of all the worlds. They may also draw sup- port from their Holy Spirit who used to teach languages, if they are indeed truthful. This, being agreeable to my mind and comforting to my heart, is what pleases me. I am also content with the British government serving as an arbiter between them and me. So if it finds that these people—who criticize the eloquence and lin- guistic refinement of the Quran; who say that they are maulawis like the ulama of the Muslims; and who claim that they are nei- ther foolish nor ignorant, but rather, possess the ability to dis- tinguish between eloquent and inarticulate speech, and assess the subtle intricacies of a word and its eloquence—are indeed earnest in this trial and successful in this field, then it will be incumbent upon the government to give my reward to them, consider my word to be false, and to publicize the perfection of their knowledge across countries and nations, and make known their superiority to the farthest countries, and record their names among the elite. However, if the government does not find them to be scholars and eloquent speakers—and instead find them to be a foolish and ignorant group, at a great distance from this cool, clear water, and far removed from the like of this work of excellence then I hope that the British government's sense of justice will prompt it to prohibit these liars from calling themselves maulawīs, and assailing the eloquence of the Holy Quran, despite being utterly ignorant. The first person to whom I address this challenge, and my first invitee for this contest, is none other than the author of Tauzīnul-Aqwāl, ‘Imād-ud-Din, because he denies the 259