Truth About the Split — Page 77
77 him of the mischief that had been done and might have urged that I should be expelled from the Community. By this means he might have saved the Community from a grave calamity and won a great reward. But on the contrary we find at that time Maulawi Muhammad Ali heartily commending my views. May we now ask whether at that time Maulawi Muhammad Ali himself was one of that undiscerning set of admirers regarding whom he wrote "Being brought up within the narrow circle of admirers of his father, he contracted the narrow views which fall to the lot of young men brought up under similar circumstances" ( The Split p. 23), or was it that he was aiming merely at flattering me when he wrote the remarks quoted above? Or, was he aware that the Promised Messiah as really claimed to be a Nabi , but feared that as he was still alive a rejection of his prophethood might lead to an exposure of his (the Maulawi’s) own secret thoughts and the discovery of the truth? Or, was it also his own conviction at that time that the Promised Messiah as was really a Nabi '! These are the only three possible motives which could have actuated Maulawi Muhammad Ali when he commended my views. One would naturally feel curious to ask which of them it was that inspired his action? Was it a desire to humour me? Was it the fear