The Challenge

I hereby offer a reward of 10,000 rupees to all those who can prove that their scriptures are equal to the Holy Quran in respect of all the arguments and incontrovertible proofs, which I have adduced from the Holy Book; or, in case their scriptures fail to provide such arguments, make an admission of this failure in their books and try, at least, to refute all of my arguments one by one.

I, the author of Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, publish this announcement on my own behalf, offering a reward of 10,000 rupees.1 It is addressed as a challenge and as the completion of proof against all the elders of various religions and creeds who do not believe in the truth of the Holy Quran and the Prophethood of Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa [the Chosen One], may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.

I hereby make a legal and binding declaration and a pledge warranted by the shariah, inviting anyone from among the disbelievers to prove, on the basis of arguments derived from his own Revealed Book, that it is equal in status to the Holy Quran in respect of all the arguments that we have produced2 from our Holy Book in support of its own truth and the truth of the Prophethood of Hazrat Khatamul-Anbiya’ [the Seal of the Prophets], may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him; or, if he cannot advance arguments equal in number to our arguments, he can produce from his own scripture at least half of them, or one-third of them, or one-fourth of them, or one-fifth of them. Or, if he is totally incapable of doing any of this, he can at least refute my arguments one by one. In either case, I, the publisher of this announcement, shall, without resorting to any kind of excuse, give to the one who duly responds to this challenge the possession and the right to make use of my property worth ten thousand rupees, provided that three judges, acceptable to both parties, unanimously give the verdict that the conditions [laid down for the contest] have been duly met. Let it be clear, however, that if he is unable to advance rational arguments from his own scripture, or if he, in accordance with the conditions laid down in the announcement, fails to put forward even one fifth of the arguments, he will have to make a written submission, in clear and unequivocal terms, that the inadequacy and irrationality of his scripture has rendered him incapable of fulfilling this clause. If, however, he does advance the required number of arguments, he should keep in mind that the permission to advance up to one fifth of the arguments does not mean that he can advance one-half or one-third or one-fourth or one-fifth of the total number of arguments. This condition rather applies to each category of arguments—he will have to advance one-half or one-third or one-fourth or one-fifth of the arguments from each category.

Some people might not understand what I mean by the ‘category of arguments,’ so let me explain that the arguments given by the Holy Quran as proof of its own divine origin and the truth of the Prophethood of Muhammad, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, are of two types. First, there are arguments that are based on the internal evidence of the truth of the Holy Scripture [Quran] and of the Holy Prophet, i.e. arguments based on the inherent excellences of this Sacred Book and those based on the holy character, excellent morals and perfect qualities of the Holy Prophet himself. Secondly, there are arguments that are based on the external and incontrovertible evidence of the truth of the Noble Quran and of the Holy Prophet, i.e. arguments based on objective facts and established, recurrent events.

Each type of [the above mentioned] arguments is further divided into two categories—the simple argument and the composite argument. The simple argument is the argument that is in itself sufficient for establishing the divine origin of the Noble Quran and the truthfulness of the Holy Prophet(sa), and does not need anything else to support it. The composite argument is the argument whose validity requires a set of mutually dependent arguments, which, when considered as a whole—i.e. when all its components are taken into account collectively—is found to be so perfect that it necessarily establishes the truth of the Holy Quran and of the Holy Prophet; but when each component is considered individually, it may lack the required degree of cogency. And the reason for this discrepancy is that the value of the whole always differs from the sum of its components. For instance, ten people can collectively lift a weight, but if the same number tries to lift it one by one, they will find it impossible. All the individual arguments, which belong to either of these two types of arguments, will be referred to as ‘categories of arguments’ in this book. And it is in this context that, in the beginning of this announcement, I outlined the condition that anyone who intends to take up the challenge should, from each category of arguments, advance [from his own scripture] half of the arguments of the Holy Quran or one-third of them, or one-fourth of them, or one-fifth of them. This is in case he is unable to produce all the arguments that fall under one category.

Furthermore, it should also be clear that if anyone wishes to cite an example of the composite argument—which I have just defined—from his scripture, then, if the constituent parts of an argument form an argument in their own right, it will be binding on him to produce at least one instance of all these sub-arguments from his own scripture.

As an illustration of the above condition, I cite one of the many authentic composite arguments in support of the truth of the Holy Quran. It is as follows: The fundamental teachings of the Holy Quran are based on rational arguments. That is to say, the Holy Quran proves with logical arguments every fundamental principle of faith on which salvation depends and establishes its truth by strong and powerful philosophical arguments. For instance, it proves the existence of the Creator, establishes His Unity, advances irrefutable arguments to show why divine revelation is necessary, and never fails to prove a truth or refute a falsehood. And this constitutes a very powerful argument to prove that the Holy Quran is from Allah, and also to categorically establish its truth and its supremacy. For, it is impossible, without divine help and divine revelation, to purge all corrupt beliefs of every form and type of error through manifest and clear arguments, and to eradicate by means of irrefutable arguments all sorts of misgivings and doubts, which have crept into people’s hearts, and to record in one’s book a collection of such proven, true and established principles as have not been mentioned in any other scripture, nor truly discovered by any sage or philosopher on the basis of his reflection, meditation, reason, speculation, thought or understanding. What is more, no one has ever brought forward the slightest evidence that the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, ever, even for a day, attended any school or learnt rational or traditional sciences, or ever associated with philosophers or logicians, as a result of which he was able to advance philosophical arguments for each and every established principle and demonstrate the truthfulness of all the beliefs on which man’s salvation depends, with such clarity that nothing like it is to be found in the annals of history. This is such a magnificent achievement as could not be accomplished by anyone without divine support and revelation. Thus, reason is compelled to rule that the Noble Quran is from God, who has no associate and whose knowledge cannot be equalled by anyone. I have given this argument as a specimen of the composite arguments whose components are arguments in their own right. Hence, all the components of this argument are such that each of them is based on axiomatic truths. Since this argument, too, belongs to one of the categories of arguments, therefore, just as the disputant is bound to produce all the other categories of arguments, so must he also produce arguments of this category. In doing so, however, it is necessary to produce all the sub-arguments on which this argument is based, and whose totality constitutes it, such as the argument for establishing the existence of the Creator, the argument for establishing His Unity, the argument or establishing His creative power, etc., all of which are components of this argument.3

The existence of a whole is not possible without the existence of its component parts, nor is the realization of any value possible without considering the value of its constituents. Thus it is also4 mandatory on the disputant to advance all these sub-arguments, though he has the option that where we have, for instance, given five sub-arguments to prove a principle, he may—to prove or disprove a claim, as his view may be—give only one sub-argument by deducing it from his scripture in conformity with the conditions and limits I have laid down in this announcement.

Announced by the humble one,

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
Qadian, District Gurdaspur, Punjab