Pir Meher Ali Shah of Golra Sharif is recognised by some as the person at the forefront in striving to bring Ghulam Ahmad and his movement down.[citation needed] He penned the book on the ‘apostasy’ of Ahmad titled “Sayf-e-Chishtia”.[citation needed] Meher Ali was one of the spiritual leaders whom Ghulam Ahmad had challenged collectively to a ‘prayer duel’. 0n July 20, 1900,Ghulam Ahmad issued a poster in which he proposed a gathering at Lahore to hold a written contest in Arabic[citation needed] consisting of writing a commentary on 40 verses (selected by ballot) of the Qur'an after invoking divine assistance.
According to the poster the commentaries were to be written within seven hours and in the presence of witnesses, without the assistance of a book or any person. An hour was to be given for preparation. The commentaries were to span at least 20 pages, purely in Arabic. After their completion and signatures by the contestants, they were to be read out to three learned persons for adjudication nominated and seen to by Meher Ali Shah. After listening to the two commentaries, the judges would pronounce on solemn triple oath which one was superior and written ‘with Divine endorsement’.[43]
Pir Meher Ali Shah accepted the challenge to such a contest provided that first an oral debate take place between him and Ghulam Ahmad on the issue of his claims. Ghulam Ahmad refused to debate. Ahmad's followers claim that he had categorically vowed in Anjam-e-Atham not to engage in any more debates, as he judged them ineffective at convincing the religious clergy to reform (the reason why he had challenged Meher Ali Shah to such a decisive contest in the first place and not to a debate); rather he would invoke God for divine intervention by holding such contests or ‘prayer duels’ which he called ‘Ejazi-Muqabala’ or Miraculous contest between him and his opponents; primarily Christian missionaries and Muslim Scholars and divines.[11]
This remains a point of contention between the followers of Ghulam Ahmad and those of Pir Meher Ali Shah. According to the followers of Meher Ali Shah, he travelled to Lahore as per Ghulam Ahmad’s proposal where a large gathering of scholars and laymen had collected, and according to followers of Ghulam Ahmad, did so without notice. Ghulam Ahmad did not show up. Ahmadis argue that the condition of oral debate proposed by Meher Ali Shah was an indirect refusal of Ghulam Ahmad’s challenge and a deliberate attempt to trap him, for if he had accepted he would have broken his promise with God by engaging in debates, but if he declined it would be assumed that Meher Ali Shah was victorious and Ghulam Ahmad had withdrawn. Followers of Meher Ali Shah contend that he accepted the challenge even without the condition of oral debate, but Ghulam Ahmad failed to turn up.[43]
Ghulam Ahmad later issued another poster describing his beliefs and requesting a written response from the Pir.[citation needed] Later he published an advertisement proposing a battle of written commentary on the opening chapter of the Quran to settle their dispute. The two commentaries would be printed and published in book form within 70 days. A price of Rs.500 would be paid to Mehr Ali Shah if his commentary was adjudged by three scholars to be superior or equal to that of Ghulam Ahmad.[43] The party failing to write and publish the proposed commentary within the stated period would be regarded as a liar, and no further proof for that purpose would be needed. Ghulam Ahmad published his planned commentary under the title Ijaz-ul-Masih (Miracle of the Massiah).
As per the challenge, Per Meher Ali Shah was to write a commentary on the opening chapter of the Quran in Arabic. However, instead, Per Mehr Ali wrote a book in Urdu named Saif-e-Chishtiyyi.[44]
