Blessings of Khilafat — Page xiii
Introduction We are honoured to publish the first English rendering of the speeches delivered by Hadrat Khalifatul Masih II Mirza Bashirud- Din Mahmud Ahmad ra at Jalsah S a l a nah [Annual Convention], Qadian, in December, 1914, soon after he had been appointed by Allah the Almighty to the august office of Khalifatul Masih. It was a time when the Jam a ‘at [Community] faced serious challenges. After the demise of Hadrat Maul a n a Nurud-Din ra , the first Khalifah of the Promised Messiah as , efforts to undermine the institution of Khilafat gained momentum under the leadership of Maulav i Muhammad Ali and Khawaja Kamalud-Din, once counted among distinguished companions of the Promised Messiah as. Opponents of the institution of Khilafat favoured shifting the administrative powers of the Khalifah to the Anjuman, a body of executives that had been established by the Promised Messiah as to implement and supervise the day-to-day affairs of the Jam a ‘at. Allah the Almighty, in accordance with His glad tidings which the Promised Messiah as had recorded in al-Wa s iyyat , protected the Community and established it firmly, once again, on the institution of Khilafat under the leadership of Hadrat Mirza Bashirud-Din Mahmud Ahmad ra.