Hazrat Maulvi Nooruddin - Khalifatul-Masih I — Page x
x eminent divine, a great lover of the Holy Quran, an outstanding and reputed physician, was acclaimed as his spiritual Successor, and the members of the Movement swore allegiance to him in his capacity of Khalifatul Masih. In that capacity, as ordained by the divine will, he was destined to perform the same role as Hadrat Ab u Bakr ra , the first Successor of the Holy Prophet sa of Islam, had been similarly destined to perform at the time of a far graver crisis in the fortunes of Islam and of mankind, thirteen hundred years earlier. Divine grace enabled Hadrat Maulaw i N u r-ud-D i n ra to perform that role so well, that by the time of his death, in March 1914, the Movement, which completed its first quarter century about then, had been fully safeguarded against disruption and disintegration. The test came immediately in the shape of a challenge to the very institution of the Khilafat , by a number of well-known prominent members of the Movement, who claimed that they had the support of ninety five percent of the members of the Movement. They were soon undeceived. The bulk of the Movement withstood and defied the challenge firmly, and the Movement has since marched forward from triumph to triumph under the wise and inspiring leadership and fostering care of Hadrat Khalifatul Masih II (1914- 1965) and Hadrat Khalifatul Masih III. By now its branches are strung around the globe, and its membership, which is increasing daily, exceeds ten million. It is being widely recognised as the divinely promised renaissance of Islam (9:33). The place of Hadrat Maulaw i N u r-ud-D i n, Khalifatul Masih I ra , is securely established in the history of the Ahmadiyya Movement and of Islam. Little is, however, known of his life and character, to those members of the Movement and other seekers after truth who are not familiar with Urdu. This is a