Fazl-e-Umar — Page 381
Fazle Umar 381 ing majority of the Electoral College. As soon as the choice of the 206 members of the Electoral College became known it was universally felt as if comfort and consolation were descending upon every heart from heaven. Hadhrat Mirza Nasir Ahmad [rh] then spoke to the Jama’at and took the pledge of allegiance of all those present, which numbered approximately five thousand members, at ten thirty in the evening. The funeral prayers over the beloved departed, led by the newly elected Khalifa, and his burial later on the same day were a deeply moving experience for everyone, which was born of conflicting emotions: of grief and bereavement on the one hand and steadfast submission to the Divine Will, and a firm resolve to march forward in earnestness, giving of one’s very best on the other. The bonds of brotherhood were felt to be gaining in strength, and the urge towards greater uprightness and righteousness in every sphere appeared to be the prevailing mood. A C K n O w L E d G M E n T OF T H E S E R v IC E S OF H A d H R AT M U SL E H M AU ’ O O d [ra] U P O n H I S dE M I SE Hadhrat Musleh Mau’ood [ra] was a source of mercy and blessings for his fol- lowers as well as non-believers and the wise and learned in the world were aware of his status and value. Therefore at his demise not only the press and non-believers in his own country but people from all over the world acknowledged his services and mourned his death. At the news of his passing away, the President of Pakistan, Field Marshal Moham- mad Ayub Khan, sent the following condolence telegram: