Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 330
330 AHMADIYY AT Tahrik Jadeed opened the way of farther and faster progress of the Movement. In 1953, the orthodox Muslim divines made a tremendous effort to incite the masses to wipe out the Movement by violence. While no great harm was done in Karachi, which was still the seat of government, murder, grievous hurt, arson and large-scale destruction of property were let loose against the members of the Movement. Yet again, the grace and mercy of Allah enabled the Community to weather the storm. The aftermath lingered yet awhile, and bitterness and rancour rankled in some bosoms. In March 1954 the Khalifatul Masih completed forty years of his Khalifat. It will be appreciated that from the moment of his election to his sacred and exalted office, the Khalifatul Masih had been continuously preoccupied with problems of a baffling variety and volume calling for the exercise of the highest qualities of astonishing diversity, and that on no occasion was he found wanting. If he had confined himself entirely to urging the Community towards the maintenance of a high standard of moral and spiritual qualities, that in itself would have been a full-time occupation, calling for the very best that any human being could put forth. Under his wise and fostering care, reinforced by his continuous humble and earnest supplications to the Divine, in all seasons and at all hours, but more particularly during the latter part of the night, the Community had grown vastly in numbers and was now spread all around the globe. Its constant care and super- vision, the provision of comfort and consolation for different sections in diverse situations of trial and tribulation, the constant urging towards higher achievement in all walks of life, the demand for the upholding of the highest moral and spiritual values, imposed upon the Khalifatul Masih a heavy strain which, but for the grace and mercy of God, would have destroyed a lesser person within the space of a few years. His high and sterling qualities and characteristics had, how- ever, been presaged in glowing and superlative terms by God Himself in the galaxy of prophecies set out in the announce-