Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 301
THE RENAISSANCE OF ISLAM 301 During the lifetime of the Promised Messiah the Talimul Islam High School had been raised to an Intermediate Col- lege, but in consequence of a set of new regulations of the University of the Punjab, compliance with which was beyond the resources of the Community, the College classes had to be closed in 1905. The need of a college had, however, progressively become more insistent and eventually the Tali- mul Islam College was restarted on 4June 1944, but this time the College was not limited to Intermediate classes. It was designed as a Degree College. Sahibzada Mirza Nasir Ahnlad Sahib M. A. (Oxon. ) was appointed the first Principal of the College, a position which he held for 21 years, till he was elected to the holy office of Khalifatul Masih. The College continued at Qadian for 3 years and had then, on partition of the country, to be transferred to Lahore pending the construction of the necessary buildings for its accommodation at Rabwah, the new Headquarters of the Movement. Thus though the College encountered a series of vicissitudes during the first decade of its existence, yet under the wise and devoted guidance of its Principal and the con- stant supervision of Khalifatul Masih II, it marched forward from success to success aJ;1destablished a high and enviable record of academic and athletic achievement. Admission to the College was not limited to youngsters of the Ahmadiyya Movement. Its doors were open to all stu- dents who were qualified for admission. After its permanent establishment at Rabwah the proportion of non-Ahmadi students on its rolls continued to rise progressively till almost half the students were drawn from non-Ahmadi homes, which was a tribute to the standards maintained by the College and to its universal popularity. In course of time the College started postgraduate classes in higher physics and became the only institution in the Prov- ince, apart from the Punjab University itself, which provided instruction in higher physics at the Master's level. The college has a brilliant record in that respect. Since the start of these classes almost all the candidates it has sent up for the Master of Science Degree in Physics have passed the examination in the