Khilafat Centenary Souvenir 1908-2008 — Page 56
Khilafat Centenary objectives as follows: The first duty of a prophet is to preach his mission to the people and to invite them to the path of truth and rectitude. That is to say, he calls on people to the acceptance of his claims and teachings and reinforces his preaching by reasons and arguments and by the heavenly signs, which God manifests, at his hands. His second duty is to train and educate those who ha ve accepted him as God's messenger into the laws and teachings that have been revealed to him. The third great responsibility w hich God imposes upon him is to teach his followers th e significance and inwardness of the ordinances, precepts and the rituals of the religion; And, his fourth duty w hich is at once the aim and object of all religions is to bring about in his followers a great spiritual and moral transformation with all the resources at his command and to raise them from the lowest depths of moral turpitude to the highest pinnacles of spiritual glory. According to the Islamic concept, the m1ss10n of a prophet is so vast, awesome and colossal that it is be y ond the power of a human being to complete it in a lifetime. It is, therefore, absolutely imperative that he should be succeeded by his Khulafa who would continue and bring his mission to fulfillment. A Khalifa, therefore becomes the spiritual leader of a community destined to establish a divinely inspired social and economic order. His responsibilities are vastly different from those of the president of a State or the secular head of a government. Islamic tradition, therefore, provides a unique procedure of his appointment. Almost imme diately after the death o a pro phet or a Khalifa at a e when the believers are eeply grief-stricken, when · hardly any opportunity to harbor any partisan = a successor Khalifa is elected. It is believed • • · mo ment of extreme emotional turmoil, ·on procedure takes place with extraordinary ~:c::2::1:e · ir~-- Th us, the Divine Will guides the outward p:::ci=~ce of election by the believers. As the Holy · ed to those among you who believe and do good works that He will, surely, make them Successors in the eart h, as He made Successors from among those w ho were befor e them; and that He will, surely, esta bli sh for them th eir religion whi ch He has c hos en for them; and that after their state of fear He will grant them peac e and security. They wi ll worship Me, and they will not associate anything with Me. Then w ho disbelie ve thereafter, they will be the rebellious ones. 77 The foregoing passage indicates, on the one hand, the enormity of the mission associated in the divine design with the institution of Khilafat. On the other hand, it also explains that behind the electoral procedure of a Khalifa, it is the Hand of the Almighty, which picks the Successor for this tremendous task. Obviousl y, there is no possibility, therefore, that a per son thus divinely appointed can be depo sed by any human procedural action. In the Hol y Qur'an, it is also prophesied that, in the latter da ys, Islam will experience a final and enduring renaissance with the coming of the Messiah. The institution of Khilafat, therefore, established after him, would logically continue until the Day of Judgment. As Hadhrat Ahmad as wrote: So, therefore, my dear friends, when this has always been the way the Will of Allah works, showing two manifestations of His power, so that He should demolish two false joys of the opponents, it is impossible that now He should proceed to alter this long esta blish ed Divine practice. You should not therefore grieve over this that I have told you, nor should you let yourself be heartbroken, for you ar e destined to see the second manifestation of God's power as well. And the comi ng of that manifestation would be bett er for yo u, for it w ould be ever lastin g, of whi ch the chain shall not br ea k until the Day of Qiyamah, and that second manif es tation cannot come excep t after I am gone. But w hen I go away, Allah shall send the second manifestation for you, and it shall stay with y ou always, as has gone Allah's promise in Baraaheen-e-Ahmadiyyah, a promise w hich is not for me personally, but for you. For has not Allah said that to my followers he would vouchsafe po wer and dominance? It is necessary that the