Truth About the Split — Page 361
361 subject of his tract, then they also wrote out a statement and circulated it among Ahmadis who had come from outside with a view to ascertaining their opinion on the subject. The statement requested those who agreed with it to put their signatures on it, so that it might become clear to which side the opinion of the majority was inclined. From these signatures it was found that of those assembled more than ninety per cent were of the opinion that there must be a Khalifa, and that he should possess the same functions and powers as the late Khalifa. This statement has been misrepresented by Maulawi Muhammad Ali and his friends as a kind of intrigue. But what I wish to ask is whether it is an intrigue to ascertain openly the views of people, whether it was not Maulawi Muhammad Ali who, in his tract, had first invited Ahmadis to express their opinion on the questions in dispute, and whether it was not he and his party who first opened the door to this method of ascertaining the views of the people. Thus when the door was first thrown open by them, and others were constrained by the situation to enter the same door and make use of the same method, how could there be anything to object? Still there is this to be said to the credit of others that while Maulawi Muhammad Ali proceeded in the business with secrecy and craft, others acted throughout in an