Truth About the Split — Page 359
359 No Plausible Pleas Maulawi Muhammad Ali cannot possibly put forward the plea that the tract had been written before the Will. Even if it had been so, there was time for its withdrawal, and if he wished he could easily have recalled what he had written. He cannot put forward this plea because he himself wrote in that tract that Hadrat Khalifatul Masih ra had declared that he should have a successor. Maulawi Muhammad Ali offers only one explanation of his conduct. He says that what Hadrat Khalifatul Masih ra meant by having a successor was that a person should be selected from among the Jama'at whose commands should be received with general respect. Such an interpretation, however, is obviously false, and I challenge Maulawi Muhammad Ali to say on oath, if he dares, that it was not the belief of Hadrat Khalifatul Masih I ra that he was a Khalifa of the Promised Messiah as , and the Bai‘at which people pledged to him was pledged to him in his capacity as Khalifa and not merely as an advanced Sufi or saint and further that after his death Khulafa’ who would succeed him would be Khulafa’ in the same capacity. I am sure, however, that Maulawi Muhammad Ali will never venture to deny this on oath, because he is fully aware that he has misrepresented Hadrat Khalifatul Masih I ra. He is also