It was in 1892 that Swami Sadhu Shogan Chander, interested in the reformation of Hindu Dharam, conceived the idea of bringing other faiths to a conference. The first conference was held in Ajmer in 1894.

On December 29, 1895, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) presented a better and improved concept to hold a conference designed to make a comparative study of religions. This conference was intended to give an occasion to the representatives of all creeds - Jews, Christians, Aryas, Parsis, Brahmins, Jains, Buddhists, Sanatan Dharam, and the Hindus etc. to represent the good points of their religions out of their own scriptures in a conference. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) wanted this conference to be held in Qadian where all those representatives would be entertained at his own expense. He was also ready to pay for the return fare of the guests and to make proper lodging arrangements for them during the length of the conference. This proposal was not accepted.

Towards the end of 1896, a number of people belonging to different faiths, however, decided to hold a conference on these lines in Lahore. The conference was eventually held on December 26, 27, 28, 1896, and it was extended to December 29, on unanimous demand of the audience to hear the full speech of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) which was read out by Hazrat Maulvi Abdul Karim (ra), his companion. 

The Book 

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) was invited to present the views of Islam on the following five subjects, on which the representative of each religion was to give the views of his faith. The subjects were:  

• 1. The physical, moral and spiritual conditions of man.
• 2. The state of man after death.
• 3. The object of man's life on earth and the means for attaining the same.
• 4.  The effect of action in this life and the next.
• 5. What are the means for the attainment of spiritual knowledge?

When Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) began writing this essay, he was divinely informed that his essay would come out on top, meaning that his paper would excel all others at the conference. Accordingly, he issued a handbill announcing the Divine Will that his essay would carry the day at the conference.

His paper was to be read on December 27, between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. As he could not personally attend the conference, he appointed one of his disciples Hazrat Maulvi Abdul Karim (ra) to read the paper on his behalf. When Hazrat Maulvi ‘Abdul Karim (ra) began to read the paper, within a short time, such a spell fell upon the assembly that they sat like statues and none realized that the appointed time had come to an end. The audience, however, was greatly agitated to find the time was over, and by that time, not even the answer to the first question was complete. There was, therefore, no limit to their joy, when Maulvi Mubarak ‘Ali of Sialkot, whose address was to follow next, announced that the time allotted to him might be given to the Promised Messiah’s essay. Maulavi ‘Abdul Karim (ra) accordingly continued the reading of the paper till 4.30 p.m., which was the time for the rising of the conference, but even then the answer to the first question was not complete. The audience desired that that part might be concluded before the sitting broke up. The directors accordingly ordered that the reading might be continued and it accordingly went on till 5:30 p.m. As soon as the reading was over, the audience unanimously requested that the sitting of the conference be extended by another day in order to allow the paper to be finished. Accordingly, arrangements were made so that the sittings next day could be held an hour earlier, at 9:30 a.m., and that the first paper to be read would be that of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as). On the third day, it had not yet struck nine, when people of all creeds and sects began to pour into the Hall in large numbers and the proceedings commenced punctually at the appointed time. On this day, also the period of two hours and half assigned for the finishing of the paper proved inadequate and since the audience with one voice desired that the reading should continue, the directors had no option but to extend the sitting to the next day. In short, it took two days, seven hours and a half to finish the reading.

There was a stir in the city of Lahore and everyone agreed that the essay had carried the day at the conference, and the followers of all creeds and sects were unanimous in its praise. Those who wrote the reports of the conference estimated that during the time the paper was being read, the audience gradually swelled between 7000 and 8000, while on earlier days the gathering was small.

(Taken from An Introduction to the hidden Treasures of Islam)