Hazrat Maulvi Nooruddin - Khalifatul-Masih I — Page 173
Hadrat Maulw i Nur-ud-D i n ra — Khalifatul Masih I STATUS OF KHALIFA 173 Anjuman , which the Promised Messiah as had appointed his Successor, as of no account, and regard the Khilafat as supreme, are guilty of involving the community in perplexity and will suffer severe chastisement. How sadly mistaken he was! He and his colleagues were soon undeceived. Following his cue Dr. Mirz a Ya‘q u b Baig went to Hadrat Khalifatul Masih and exclaimed: "Felicitations! It has been explained to everyone that the Anjuman is the Successor. " He was met with the retort: "Which Anjuman ? The Anjuman that you deem to be the Successor amounts to nothing. " The emissary turned away crestfallen. Things were going to be difficult! But he and those whom he represented had yet no notion of what lay immediately ahead. The consultative body, approximately two hundred and fifty persons, was summoned to meet on the sunlit roof of the mosque. When they had all arrived Hadrat Khalifatul Masih ra came and was invited to occupy a seat that was prepared for him in the middle of the roof. But he declined it and moving to the north stood in that portion which had been constructed under the directions of the Promised Messiah as. The brick roof was bare. Some years later, Hadrat Khalifatul Masih II described the scene in these terms: "In the eyes of a worldly person that gathering of two hundred and fifty persons seated on the bare brick floor may have appeared bizarre and inconsiderable, but their hearts were full of faith and they believed firmly in divine promises. They felt that they had met together to determine the future of Ahmadiyyat,