Fazl-e-Umar — Page 123
Fazle Umar 123 Khalifa, and we are all agreed that you should be Khalifa; but we request that no deci- sion should be taken till after our arrival from Lahore, lest someone should take some step in a hurry that might cause trouble. Our arrival must be awaited. ” Sahibzada Sahib heard him without interruption, though he had resented the implication that while none of them wished to be Khalifa he was eager for the succes- sion, and when he finished he observed, “I consider that even the discussion of the question, in the lifetime of a Khalifa, who should succeed him is sinful, let alone the determination that a particular individual should be his successor. ” Having said this he left them to their devices. The injury on the temple of Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih was slow in healing and became a sore. On the night of 19 January 1911, perceiving some pressure on his heart he called for paper and writing materials and wrote “Mahmud Ahmad” on a piece of paper and enclosed it in an envelope and having closed the envelope wrote on it: Following the example of Abu Bakr, in Arabic, and below it in Urdu: Swear allegiance to the one whose name is inscribed on the enclosed. He committed the envelope to the custody of his favourite disciple, Shaikh Muhammad Taimur, and told him: In the event of my death the direction contained in this should be followed. After a few days, his health having improved, he called for the envelope and tore it up. The fact of his having given this direction was acknowledged by Maulvi Muhammad Ali in his account of these events in the words: “I have learnt on the most reliable authority that in his testamentary direction of 1911, he set out the name of Mian sahib as his successor. ” Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih led the first Friday noon service, after his accident on 19 May 1911, after an interval of six months. It was an occasion of great rejoicing throughout the Community. Thereafter for quite a long period he attended the Friday noon service in the mosque, while all Prayer services including the Friday noon service,