Invitation to Billy Graham

INVITATION TO BILLY GRAHAM INVITATION TO BILLY GRAHAM To: Rev. Billy Graham Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission The Visiting Evangelist 792 Washwood Heath Road in Birmingham Birmingham, B8 2NP 19 June 1984 Dear Sir In our time relations between religions seem to change from phase to phase. Hostile at one time, they have tended lately to become tolerant, perhaps even sympathetic and friendly. It is time they also became fruitful; in terms of the discovery of truth. They have not been fruitful because parties to religious controversies have set no rules, prescribed no limits or controls over their advocacy. Each ex- change seems like a race run without rules. If statements on behalf of a book and arguments in support of those statements are taken from and based on the book, parties to a discussion of the merits of holy books would assess the merits of those books instead of assessing the merits of their exponents. To promote a universal outlook in matters spiritual we have to put some kind of order in our discussion of religion. Today religion is -fighting a rearguard action. It is being assailed from every direction and appears sore pressed. The central and most vital value in religion is faith in a Supreme Creator. Even this citadel of faith is now under assault. One hears pronouncements like; God is dead; or, God is only the centre of our being; or, we should drop the very word God from our vocabulary. The truth nevertheless is and this is fundamental to all faiths that God is as Supreme today as He was before He created the world and man. All His attributes continue in operation all the time. For in-, stance He hears prayer and communicates with His righteous ser- vants as He was wont to do in ages past. It is open to any of us to ‘establish, maintain and strengthen communion with our Maker by following the guidance revealed by Him. We have the fullest assurance today, for instance, that God hears and answers the prayer of His righteous servants. The only method of restoring faith in the Existance and Majesty of the Supreme Creator is the witnessing of His living Signs. This can, INVITATION TO BILLY GRAHAM for instance, be done through prayer and manifestation of God’s attribute of the Acceptor of prayer. The Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement, Ahmad of Qadian (1835—1908) called the followers of all faiths to establish the truth of their respective faiths through a sign of the acceptance of prayer, but not one of them was willing to respond to his call in the capacity of a representative of his faith. His fourth successor, the present head of the Ahmadiyya Move- ment, Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad has renewed this call. And I as the Preaching Secretary of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Birmingham address the following communication to you Rev. Billy Graham. The communication is self explanatory. “I have to give to you the glad tidings that he for whom the Christians and the Muslims have been waiting, has appeared and has illumined the world with his light and filled it with his glory. Nation has risen against nation and famines, wars, earthquakes, pestilences and iniquity abound, and the sun and the moon have been darkened and the stars have fallen from heaven and the powers of heaven have been shaken and the sign of the Son of Man has appeared in heaven. So, as the lightning cometh out of the East, and shineth even unto the West, the coming of the Son of Man has been. He appeared in India, which is in the East, and which has from ancient days been the seat of knowledge and learning, and very soon his teachings were propagated in the farthest corners of the earth, so that his followers are to be found in all the continents of Asia, Africa, Europe and America. The Prophet Ahmad of Qadian (1835-1908), appeared in India, in the power and spirit of Christ as John the Baptist came in the power and spirit of Elias, and everything that was written in the Scriptures with regards to his coming has been fulfilled, even the gathering of the Jews in Palestine. To convince you of the truth and righteousness of Ahmad of Qadian, I, one of the least and humblest of his followers and servants venture to pro- pose a decisive test for Your most serious consideration and acceptance. Jesus Christ has said, “A good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither does a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by its fruits.” Again he has said, “Verily, I say unto you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto the mountain, remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible to you.” Again he has said, “And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believ- ing, ye shall receive.” A living faith, must exhibit the signs of life, and we the followers of Hazrat Ahmad realise within ourselves that Islam, our faith, is a living faith. We firmly believe that should you as the Well Known Evangelist, be prepared to put to the test the truth of Islam and Christiani- ty, God will surely cause the good tree to bring forth good fruit and He shall not give His beloved son a serpent for a fish or a stone for bread, but shall open for him and shall accept his prayers. INVITATION TO BILLY GRAHAM We have time after time invited Christian divines to have recourse to this test, but none has so far ventured to come forward. I approach you therefore, and through your Evangelical Crusade every other Christian divine in the world, with the request that we may all pray for the achieve- ment of a certain difficult object, in order to demonstrate the truth of our respective faiths. For instance, let us take a certain number of sick persons whose life is clinically despaired of and then divide them among ourselves by lot, and let the Christian Church pray for the recovery of those alloted to it and we shall pray for the recovery of those alloted to us and let the world witness the Sign of God’s grace and mercy being vouchsafed in answer to the humble supplications of those of His servants who adhere firmly to the truth. In accordance with the test laid down by Jesus Christ, the prayers of His believing righteous servants will find gracious acceptance with God and the majority of those alloted to them will recover, while the maladies of the majority of those alloted to the other party will follow their normal course in accordance with medical opinion. _ In conclusion, I entreat you to ponder over this humble offer in all sincerity, as I have conveyed to you these tidings of the kingdom of Heaven out of the fullness of my love, for in the presence of God we are all equal. Yours sincerely Matiullah Dard. Preaching Secretary Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam Birmingham (•Delete as n&cessary} Return this portiort to the address in Section 1 3-| ss! 10 INVITATION TO BILLY GRAHAM REPLY MLR/ZT 3rd July 1984 Mr. Matiullah Dard, Preaching Secretary, Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, 792 Washwood Heath Road, Birmingham, B8 2NP. Dear Mr. Dard, I had delayed answering your letter until we had had adequate time to consider our reply to you. I would not in any way want to minimise the power of prayer for physical healing, but that is not the essence of the Ministry of the Mission in which Mr. Graham is currently involved. During the period of Mission England, his total energy is concentrated on the proclamation of the Christian Gospel in all its simplicity, and it would not be appropriate for him to be diverted into other Christian Ministry at the present time. It has been our experience over many years that those who find Christ often experience the healing power of the Holy Spirit in their lives.. This is a by-product of the Evangelistic Ministry, and we pray that this will be the situation throughout the present Mission. In the light of this, we regret that we must decline your invitation to him. Yours sincerely, Maurice L. Rowlandson Director