A Verdict Required — Page 12
12 A VERDICT REQUIRED deep conspiracies and long-contemplated strategies. It was on this very basis that they collectively exerted pressure to impli- cate this writer as the culprit, blackening column after column of newspapers in expressing this notion. They made reports to the Government, so much so that on Thursday, the 8th of April 1897, British officers came to Qadian and searched my home. During the search, letters bearing Pandit Lekh Ram's sig- nature were discovered. Moreover, the document of agreement was also found, wherein conditions regarding the manifestation of celestial Signs having been established, and with the mutual consent of both parties, a true prophecy had been designated as the criterion for discerning truth from falsehood. Accordingly, the contents of the document were read out in the presence of the District Superintendent of Police. It was written therein that the prophecy that would be made regarding Pandit Lekh Ram would serve as a decisive verdict between the religion of Islam and the Aryah faith. If the prophecy were to prove true, it would stand as a testi- mony to the truth of Islam and would be evidence of the false- hood of the Hindu religion. Conversely, if it were to prove false, it would testify to the truth of the Hindu religion and signify- God forbid-the falsehood of Islam. This condition was writ- ten upon the insistence of Pandit Lekh Ram himself, and since I had complete trust in the promises of Allah the Almighty, I too accepted this condition. Now, the difficulty that necessitated the soliciting of this Istiftā' is not only that the Aryah gentlemen accused the author of a clandestine conspiracy, but that some esteemed individuals from our own community also concurred