The book, Bahas (Debate), which has been brought out by the local National Publication, attacks munafiks (hypocrites) and challenges the theology according equal status to Allah and Prophet Mohammed. The book does not bear the name of the author. But Ayyubkhan Pathan, a cycle-shop owner, admits he has written it.

Angry community leaders are threatening to take the matter into their own hands if the government failed to act. Wankaner taluka panchayat president Mohammad Javid Abdul Mutliv Pirzada cautions that ``it will be difficult to control the community'', if nothing is done. His brother H. Pirzada, who is an MLA, says the authorities should defuse the situation before it becomes a law & order problem. Already, mosque committees have been asked not to allow Pathan in for namaz.

But the author is unfazed by the controversy. ``Let them do what they want. I am not afraid and I am going to bring out Hindi version of my book also,'' Pathan says. ``I have expressed my views and I am free to do that''.

He has even issued a rejoinder to the denunciatory pamphlets brought out by religious leaders.

While the controversy threatens to snowball into a serious problem, the authorities seem oblivious. Rajkot Collector Pravin Trivedi said he had not received any report from the mamaltdar, to whom the Sunnis submitted a memorandum. Wankaner city police said no one had lodged any complaint with them.

The main objection Sunni ulema have against Bahas is that it underrates the status of Prophet Mohammad and contains sacrilegious references. For instance, they cite a sentence on page 38 which asserts that if Allah wished, ``he could create a thousand Mohammads, and that too, of higher calibre''. The ulema maintain that this runs against the Koran, which says Mohammed is the last Prophet and no one could be superior to him.

Maulana Mohammad Amin of Panchdwarka, Maulana Mustaq Ahmed Bukhari of Kothi and Maulana Dost Mohammed of Malya Miyana all point out several ``objectionable portions'' in the book. They allege that the author had simply lifted these from certain Wahabi writers, and suspect a conspiracy to divide Muslims by spreading hatred.

Mutliv Pirzada, too, sees a conspiracy. Wankaner is a sensitive area in the Saurashtra and Kutch region, and the Muslim leadership comes from the Sunni sect. He says, ``Perhaps some communal elements, financed by petrodollars, want to divide the community''.

But Pathan denies he is a Wahabi: ``I don't belong to any faction and I visit different mosques to offer namaz.'' He also denies that he has a ghost writer: the book does not carry his name simply because he did not want to be eulogised. Pathan claims he has not received any adverse comments from outside Wankaner. ``On the contrary, I have got some compliments,'' he says. Pathan, who has written two books before, regrets that no printing press in the town is now ready to print his book and even one of his brothers is annoyed with him.