Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 202
202 AHMADIYY AT On the piece of paper inside the envelope was written the name Mahmud Ahmad. Thereafter his health improved and he recovered the en- velope from Sheikh Muhammad Taimur and tore up its contents. During the course of his speech in the Annual Conference of 191I, on 27 December, he stressed the need of unity through taking firm hold of Allah's rope as affirmed in the Holy Quran (3. 104) and then referred to some of the differ- ences which had occasioned him some anxiety. He said: I am Khalifatul Masih and God has established me in this position. I had no desire at any time to hold this office. Now that God Almighty has made me wear this robe I dislike intensely all controversy on this subject. You cannot conceive how much I suffer from the. apprehension that differences might arise in the Community. I desire that I should not hear of anything which might indicate the existence of differences or contentions among you, and I wish to see all of you as practical examples of the Divine direction: 'Hold fast to the rope of Allah all together and be not divided' [3:104]. But this can happen only by the grace of God. I urge you once more, and he who is listening to this should convey it to others, that there should be no contention. When I die you will have plenty of occasions for contention. Perhaps you think that I have easily become Khalifa like Hazrat Abu Bakr. You cannot conceive of the reality, nor can you have any idea of my suffering or of the burden that has been placed upon me. It is the pure grace of God that I have been able to bear this burden. There is not one of you who can feel it truly, let alone bear it. Can he who has a relationship with hundreds of thousands of people sleep in comfort? Standing in this mosque with the Holy Quran in my hand and calling God Almighty to witness, I state that I had no desire whatsoever of becoming a spiritual preceptor. But who can have knowledge of the Divine design? He did whatever He willed. He gathered all of you" together at my hand and He himself, and not any of you, invested me with the robe ofKhilafat. I consider it my duty to honour it and respect it. Nevertheless, I have no desire for your wealth or anything of yours. I do not even desire that anyone