Khilafat-e-Rashidah — Page 205
KHILAFAT-E-R A SHIDAH 205 The answer is that Allah, the Almighty has promised that He will appoint as Khalifah the Jam a ‘at that passes the test of faith and acts of goodness. Khalifah means the successor of a predecessor. The minimum condition to satisfy this promise is that after every Prophet there should be successors. This condition would be satisfied if the successor of the Prophet is of the same type as the Prophet whom he succeeds. And as the Promised Messiah as was not in charge of a political system, whoever serves the functions entrusted to his Prophethood would fulfil this promise. Had a political system been assigned to the Promised Messiah as , an objection could have been raised about such successors as do not have political authority. But since a political system was not granted to the Promised Messiah as , this objection cannot be raised. The Khalifah of a Prophet will get the same thing which is given to that Prophet. How can the Khalifah acquire what his Prophet does not have? There is a well-known fact related to Hadrat Khalifatul Masih I ra that he himself used to mention. Whenever he was in need of money, Allah, the Almighty sent it from somewhere. Once somebody gave him thirty two rupees as trust, which he spent to meet some need. After a few days the person came and demanded his money. At that time he did not have it, but he asked him to wait for a while and promised to give it back to him immediately. After ten to fifteen minutes a patient came and placed some money as fee