Hazrat Maulvi Nooruddin - Khalifatul-Masih I — Page 158
KHALIFATUL MASIH Hadrat Maulw i Nur-ud-D i n ra — Khalifatul Masih I 158 A h san, Sahibz a da Mirz a Bashir-ud-Din Ma h m u d Ahmad, Nawab Muhammad ‘Al i Kh a n, Shaikh Ra h matull a h, Maulaw i Muhammad ‘Al i , Dr. Mirz a Ya‘q u b Baig, Dr. Sayyid Muhammad H usain Sh a h and Dr. Khal i fa Rash i d-ud-d i n. Though death was sudden and notice was short, a large number of respected friends arrived from Ambala, Jullundhur, Kap u rthala, Amritsar, Lahore, Gujr an w a la, Waz i r a bad, Sialkot, Jammu, Gujr a t, Bat a la, Gurd a spur and other places, and unanimously accepted Hadrat Qibla H ak i mul Ummat, may Allah keep him, and joined in the funeral prayer for the Promised Messiah sa. This intimation is addressed to all members of the Movement, that on its receipt they should immediately take the pledge of allegiance to Hadrat H ak i mul Ummat, Khalifatul Masih wal Mahdi ra , in person or by letter. " 59 On receipt of this intimation the total membership of the Movement speedily and eagerly took the pledge of allegiance to Hadrat Khalifatul Masih ra , and within a very short period the whole of the community was once more gathered under one standard. Thus the vessel of Ahmadiyyat, which had been launched nineteen years earlier, safely weathered the fierce storm that had overtaken it so suddenly, but soon creakings and rumblings became audible. The first indication of a rift appeared in less than a week. On the sixth day after allegiance had been sworn to the Khal i fa , whose orders were to be as binding as the orders of the Promised Messiah as had been, Khaw a ja Kam a l-ud-D i n happened to arrive in Qadian. In the course of a conversation with Sahibz a da Mirz a Bash i r-