A Verdict Required — Page 20
20 A VERDICT REQUIRED Letter of Pandit Lekh Ram THIRD LETTER OF LEKH RAM Salutations, Mirza Şahib. I hate prolonged, stretched out fables and, therefore, do not wish to prolong this letter by repeating my words. The gist of my submission is that those same conditions (concerning witnessing a Divine Sign) that I had pre- pared and sent to you, a copy of which is already with you, should be sent to four arbitrators along with your own conditions. Then, we both should comply with whatever decision is made by the arbitrators. A wise man said: در لیر و محکم گیر Take hold of one door and hold fast to it. [ یکی در گیر : I act upon this, but sadly I do not find you holding fast to anything. My brother! It is indeed the case (that at the time of the manifestation of the truth or falsehood of the celestial Sign) if I am obliged to accept the Muhammadan faith, you too would be obliged to accept the Aryah Dharam. Otherwise, you will be liable to pay me three hundred rupees as penalty. If the Noble Lord grants victory to truth, I will col- lect the money from you. Otherwise, your money will be safe with you and my striving would be in ruins and your income would grow manifold. In such a case, you will be reaping both worldly and spiritual rewards. You are in excellent shape in every way, so why are you worried?. . . You claim that you are Mujībud-Dawāt [i. e. the one who answers prayers]¹ And if you are content by merely ☆ 1. ✩ Footnote: The use of the term Mujibud-Da'wāt here clearly betrays Lekh Ram's level of knowledge of Arabic. A child who has gone through even the first primer of Arabic grammar knows that the word mujib