Hazrat Maulvi Nooruddin - Khalifatul-Masih I — Page 171
Hadrat Maulw i Nur-ud-D i n ra — Khalifatul Masih I STATUS OF KHALIFA 171 replies by a certain date, and that representatives of all branches should be convened at Qadian on 31st January for consultation. When the questions reached Khaw a ja Kam a l- ud-D i n in Lahore, he called a meeting of the community at his residence and harangued them that the community was confronted by a crisis which might destroy it if they were not careful; that the true Successor of the Promised Messiah as was the Anjuman and that if this was not established the community would be put in peril and the Movement would be destroyed. He asked all present to subscribe to a statement to that effect. Only two of them, H ak i m Muhammad H usain Quraish i , Secretary of the Local Anjuman , and B a b u Ghul a m Muhammad, Railway Foreman, refused to do so, on the ground that having sworn allegiance to a personage who was far more learned and God-fearing than they were, and who revered the Promised Messiah as more than any of them did, they would conform to whatever he might enjoin. When news of this meeting reached Qadian, Shaikh Ya‘q u b ‘Al i ‘Irf a n i , Editor of Al- H akam , convened a meeting at his residence in which speeches were made in support of the Khilafat and its lofty status, and a resolution was adopted affirming loyal devotion to the Khal i fa. Out of those present, forty two in number, only two refused to subscribe to the resolution. By the evening of 30th January, the representatives of the community had arrived in Qadian. Most of them spent the night in prayer and supplication in Masjid Mub a rak , the rest joined them before dawn. There was so much agonised beseeching of the Divine and heart-rending supplication for