Truth About the Split — Page 229
229 Obedience to them therefore was obligatory upon the whole Community. This subject was stressed so much and by so many speakers that some of those present were able to guess at the real purpose of the speakers which they realised, was to depose Hadrat Khalifatul Masih ra from his office and to inaugurate their own Khilafat. For out of the fourteen members of the Sadr Anjuman about eight were particular friends of Maulawi Muhammad Ali. Some of them had made common cause with him, and others supported him because of the general esteem in which they held him. The Khilafat of the Sadr Anjuman, therefore, virtually meant the Khilafat of Maulawi Muhammad Ali who had managed by intrigue to secure the undivided control of all its affairs. On account of an urgent business, I could not be present at all the speeches delivered on the occasion of that year’s Jalsa, and even when I was present, my attention was not drawn to this aspect of those speeches. As subsequent events showed some of those present were able to guess the underlying plan of the speakers. The question which now began to be discussed in the circles of their friends were—What were the proper functions of the Khalifa? Who held the supreme authority over the Community, the Sadr Anjuman or Hadrat Khalifatul Masih I ra ? No suspicion of what was going on,