Blessings of Khilafat — Page 9
9 Functions of Khilafat The issue of Khilafat is not a complex one. In my speech on 12th April, 1914. 3 I had explained with reference to a verse from the Holy Quran what the function of a Khalifah is. The word Khalifah means someone who succeeds another and continues the work of his predecessor. To understand the function of a successor, one has to look at the function of the predecessor. God has explained the work of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, as following: 4 That is, he should 1. Recite the verses of God to the people, 2. Purify them, 3. Teach them the book and 4. Impart wisdom to them. I also explained that these four tasks of the Prophet cannot be performed by any ‘Anjuman’. They can be performed only by the person whom God Himself appoints after the Prophet, and who is entitled as Khalifah. I do not wish to go into details about this subject right now. For the time being, I will take up a few key 3 The speech has been published under the title: Man s ab-e-Khilafat. 4 S u rah A l-e-‘Imr a n , 3:165