Fazl-e-Umar — Page 128
Fazle Umar 128 execution of the idea to which objection could be taken. Nevertheless, certain people from the very outset frowned upon the Anjuman. A barrage of criticism was directed against it. To begin with it was suggested that its name was ridiculous, it was meaning- less, it was in fact, much worse; it was mischievous and a libel against Ahmadis who were not members but who, nevertheless, were better Ansar (helpers of the cause of Islam) than the members of this new fledged Anjuman. Some suggested he set up the Anjuman in rivalry to Khawaja Kamal Uddin. Others went a step further and said that its originator was only sowing a crop of dissentions. These voices babbled end- lessly. Before long it began to be whispered in select circles that the Anjuman was but a conspiracy hatched by Hadhrat Sahibzada Sahib to encompass his own election to Khilafat, and soon afterwards this preposterous accusation was flung about openly. When the crisis developed over Khilafat, it became one of the main items in the indictment against him. It is not necessary here to attempt a serious refutation of this criticism because it is palpably absurd. As Hadhrat Mian sahib wrote in the article referred to, when a man named his son Muhammad, did it mean that he took all others to be no better than Abu Jahl? As for creating a separate Anjuman, Hadhrat Maulvi Nooruddin [ra] had once created a society of which the condition for admission was that the candidate undertook not to indulge in suspicions with regard to his brethren. This was in the time of the Promised Messiah [as]. Even then it was urged by some that to permit such an association to be formed would mean by implication that those who did not join it, were prone to indulge in suspicion. But the Promised Messiah [as] approved of the idea. Hadhrat Sahibzada Sahib’s plan of work for the Anjuman Ansarullah in addi- tion to creating an organisation for Islamic missionary work abroad, embraced the following items: