The Ahmadiyya opened a mosque in Zion in 1982 and claim about 200 members. ... They enjoy a reputation as a peaceful, generous people who are involved in Zion civic events. [City Commissioner Shantal Taylor]
Source/Credit: Chicago Tribune
By Lisa Black | June 23, 2012
'Prayer duel' still a bone of contention
"Divine healer" John Alexander Dowie designed the city of Zion to operate as a Christian theocracy in 1900. Everything started with his church, from land sales to government, schools and social services.
Over the decades, new churches splintered off, and officials were forced to observe laws requiring separation of religion and state.
But in an odd twist, Dowie's "Christian utopia" also attracted attention from the founder of a Muslim sect in India, who in 1902 challenged Dowie to a "prayer duel" in response to perceived insults against Islam.
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, founder of the Ahmadiyya movement, wrote to Dowie twice, inflamed by the Zion preacher's writings in his international weekly, "Leaves of Healing."
Ahmad claimed that he was the only real Messiah. Dowie claimed that he was Elijah the Restorer, a messenger sent by God.
Whoever died first would lose the prayer duel, Ahmad proclaimed to newspapers worldwide.
In short, Dowie lost. He died in 1907, impoverished and kicked out of his own church.
Since then, the Ahmadiyya have used Dowie's downfall to bolster their contention that their founder is the true "divine person who was appointed by God as the Reformer of the age," according to a booklet compiled by followers.
"The prayer duel was the outcome of one man's hostility towards others," said Naser-ud-Din Shams, general secretary for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Lake County, in an email responding to questions.
"When those 'others' are people of God, then it is tantamount to hostility towards God. We believe the Hand of God responded to Dowie's ignorance, and his end can be judged by the court of international public opinion."
The Ahmadiyya opened a mosque in Zion in 1982 and claim about 200 members. They often send tours through the Shiloh House, Dowie's historic home. They enjoy a reputation as a peaceful, generous people who are involved in Zion civic events, city Commissioner Shantal Taylor said.
The community, with 70 branches worldwide, recently launched a campaign to promote peace, focusing on the Zion prayer duel as a warning against ignorance.
Several Zion historians dismissed the Ahmadiyya's claims about the significance of the prayer duel, describing it largely as a one-sided challenge that Dowie ignored.
"Dowie acknowledged it in the sense that there is one comment in his 'Leaves of Healing,'" said Tim Morse, secretary of the Zion Historical Society. "He never named the guy. If you didn't know anything, you wouldn't know it was him."
Morse has reviewed the Muslim group's materials about Zion history and concluded that "for the most part, it's pretty accurate."
"When they get to the prayer duel," he said, "that's where we part ways."
lblack@tribune.com
Read original post here: Muslims part of Zion's history
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