Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 128
128 AHMADIYY AT restrain the mischievous activities of the forces of disorder. In these circumstances the Promised Messiah considered it essential, as part of his service to the cause of Islam and humanity, to make a detailed and reasoned exposition of the true concept ofjehad as propounded in the Holy Quran and as illustrated by the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, in his practice. This roused a fierce storm of hostility against him on the part of a certain type of Muslim divine, the principal object of which was to bring him into hatred and contempt in the estimation of the common run of the Muslims who were not conversant with the teaching of the Holy Quran on this, or on any other, philosophic question. In his exposition of this pro blem he called attention to the general policies of the government of India, one of the cardinal principles of which was complete non-interference in religious matters and a guarantee of freedom of the profes- sion and practice of religion. This invited a charge from his opponents that he was a stooge and an instrument of the alien government of India and that his claim of being the Mahdi- Messiah had been inspired by the British so that they might make use of him for the purpose of promoting their own Interests. This was a somewhat ironic situation, because those very divines who sought to make him out to be an instrument of the British were diligent in carrying tales to government officials that he was contemplating a rebellion against the government and that he would prove even more dangerous than the Sudanese Mahdi. In actual fact, loyalty towards the established government of every country by its people was inculcated by the Promised Messiah as one of the cardinal principles of Islam to which the members of his Movement were constantly admonished to adhere. The instances of the exposition of Islamic doctrines and teachings that we have mentioned above were only a fraction of his great service to the cause of Islam. In his voluminous writings, in his speeches and addresses and in the course of conversation he based everything that he set forth on the