Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 208
208 AHMADIYY AT Khalifa placed his entire reliance upon the grace and mercy of God, those who were opposed to him placed their reliance upon their own qualifications and capacities, such as they were, and their plans and devices. They overlooked the elementary truth that their capacities were also a bounty of God and that any misuse and misapplication of them would dra w severe divine retribution upon them ashas been said: Call to mind when your Lord declared: 'If you will use My bounties beneficently, I will surely multiply them unto you, but if you misuse them, My punishment is severe indeed' (14:8). The repeated and emphatic admonitions of the Khalifatul Masih produced no change in their attitude. They kept making hypocritical professions of loyalty and obedience to him, but did not abandon, nor even relax, their efforts towards undermining his prestige and his authority and in sowing the seeds of disloyalty and dissatisfaction towards the Khalifa in the minds of the members of the Movement. One element that intensified their opposition to the Kha- lifa, and indeed to the very institution of the Khilafat, was their consuming jealousy of Sahibzada Mirza Mahmud Ahmad Sahib, the Promised son of the Founder of the Movement. They could perceive clearly the favour that the Khalifatul Masih accorded to the Sahibzada and the increas- ing esteem and affection in which the members of the Com- munity at l4rge held him. They had begun to apprehend that after the death of Khalifatul Masih I, the Community, with few exceptions, would manifest its preference for the Sahib- zada as. the next Khalifa. They began to have recourse to subtle devices that were calculated to restrict the activities of the Sahibzada in the cause of the Movement. He had given early proof of a very keen intelligence, a very just apprecia- tion of spiritual values and a highly developed faculty of giving expression. to his thinking in speech and in writing. His loyalty and devotion to the Khalifatul Masih were exemplary. He subordinated all his activities to the approval of the Khalifatul Masih. He was inspired by great zeal in support of the ideals and principles of the Movement.