Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 206
206 AHMADIYY AT question ofKhalifa. God has made me Khalifa and now I cannot be set aside by any of you, nor has anyone the power to set me aside. If you persist in your attitude then remember that l have with me those who like Khalid bin Waleed will chastise you as rebels. Be warned, my supplications are heard in heaven. My Lord fulfills my purpose even before my supplications. To fight me is to fight God. So repent and give up all these vain things. Be patient for a while; thereafter he who succeeds me will deal with you as God wills. This address was delivered in the mosque erected within the area of the Ahmadiyya Buildings on Brandreth road, Lahore, which was the centre of all opposition to the Khalifa. The greatest single event of the period of the Khilafat of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih I was his courageous and valiant defence of the institution ofKhilafat, and the upholding of its dignity and authority. In the circumstances with which he was confronted this was without a doubt a unique achieve- ment. Those who were opposed to him were in the majority in the Central Association and had undoubtedly rendered valuable services to the Movement. They imagined that because of those services and of their academic qualifications and their professional experience, t~ey occupied such a posi- tion of influence and honour in the Community that even if they misconstrued and misrepresented some of the writings of the Promised Messiah, they could carry the Community with them. Though they had taken a leading part in inviting Hazrat Maulvi Nurud Din Sahib to assume the responsibili- ties of the office of Khalifa on the death of the Promised Messiah, almost immediately thereafter they began to be troubled by second thoughts and adopted the position that the Sadar Anjuman Ahmadiyya (Central Ahmadiyya Association) was the effective and authoritative Head of the Movement and that the Khalifa was subordinate to its auth- ority. In their estimation the strength of their position was derived from the fact that they had a large majority in the Anjuman and as far as could be foreseen there was no pro- spect of this majority being reduced to a minority, inasmuch