Hazrat Maulvi Nooruddin - Khalifatul-Masih I — Page 168
STATUS OF KHALIFA Hadrat Maulw i Nur-ud-D i n ra — Khalifatul Masih I 168 Prophet, Messenger and Redeemer of this age. " 69 Thus the plea that as the Promised Messiah as was not a Prophet there could be no Khal i fa after him, was a mere pretence; it was without substance. But once adopted as a clever dialectical device it became part of the creed of the opponents of Khilafat. They saw a further advantage in repudiating the Prophethood of the Promised Messiah as. They conceived that if they ceased to lay stress on it, the principal barrier in the way of the bulk of orthodox Muslims identifying themselves with the Ahmadiyya Movement would be removed, and they and those who thought alike with them would be readily acclaimed as leaders who were in the van of the spiritual and intellectual revival of Islam. They would base themselves on the teachings and philosophy of Islam propounded by the Promised Messiah as , but would not insist upon his claims being accepted. Some of them, particularly Khaw a ja Kam a l-ud-D i n, began to mould their public addresses into such a framework, and imagined that they were being rewarded richly. It took them some time to discover how sadly mistaken they had been. On the question of Khilafat , it should have been enough for them that the Promised Messiah as had, in his writings and speeches, from time to time, made illuminating references to Khilafat. For instance, only six weeks before his death he stressed in a speech: "The Su f i s have said that the person who is to be the Khal i fa after a Shaikh, or Messenger or Prophet is the first one who is inspired by God to accept the truth. The death of a Messenger or Shaikh is a severe earthquake and is a time of great danger. But God provides