While Hazrat Mufti Sadiq Sahibra was in England, he wrote this letter to Al Fazl concerning an English priest located in India. This letter has been taken from Al Fazl, 2 April 1918.
My friend, Sheikh Abdul Qadir (bookseller, Hyderabad, Deccan) has written to inform me that a priest, Rev. Brown [a priest who resided in India at the time], has allegedly claimed that no Englishmen have converted to Islam and that my reports are nothing but tales.
Sheikh sahib has thus suggested that I get the English converts to sign their statements to testify my reports. He wished to show these to the Rev. Brown, so I have sent four signed statements from those who accepted Islam through me. But the priest could potentially simply reject them on the grounds that they were all forged.
I therefore challenge Rev. Brown to choose one of the following two methods to testify my claims:
The first method being that Rev. Brown should travel to England to testify my claims. Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Islam, Qadian shall bear his second-class travel and day-to-day expenses. During his stay here, he will be our guest and will get to meet the English Muslim converts in person. We will arrange for his doubts to be removed in every way.
If his doubts are removed and the truthfulness of Muslim missionaries proved, he will have to accept Islam. If he refuses to convert, he will pay back to our mission the amount spent on his journey, amounting to one-thousand pounds. And if we are unable to prove our claims, Rev. Brown will not be liable to pay us back, rather I shall repay him a thousand pounds and quit the activities of our mission.
If he is unable to travel, he can appoint a missionary based in London to represent him. In this case, all conditions will remain the same, save the reimbursement of travel expenses.
Either way, Rev. Brown will sign an agreement endorsing the above conditions (which will soon be published in Al Fazl and sent to him) and have it registered with our attorneys.
He may write to the Secretary of Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Islam Qadian to settle the arrangements in good time.
13 November 1917
Mufti Muhammad Sadiq, 4 Star Street, Edgware Road, London W2
(Al Fazl, 2 April 1918)