Truth About the Split — Page 369
369 another. Some caught hold of my hand and pulled, insisting I should accept their Bai‘at. Still I hesitated, whereupon some who sat close to me began to urge that for the safety and security of the Jama'at I should accept Bai‘at. I noticed that men were bursting with eagerness for Bai‘at and were pushing closer and closer so that at last I was completely surrounded by them. I might even have been crushed by their weight had not some friends thought of making a cordon behind me. I did not know the words in which Bai‘at was administered, and I sought to make that a ground for holding back. I said, "I know not the formula of Bai‘at. " But Maulawi Sayyid Sarwar Shah Sahib offered to repeat the formula, and urged that I should only accept Bai‘at. Then I understood that such was the Will of God and to His will I submitted. I accepted Bai‘at from the people, and in spite of my reluctance, it all came to pass as it had been decreed from the beginning. Out of about 2,000 people who were present at the time, only about 50 withheld their Bai‘at. All the rest took the pledge. The Bai‘at over, funeral prayers were offered for Hadrat Khalifatul Masih I ra. The Bai‘at then had been taken. The men who entered into the Bai‘at were more numerous, and the congregation which agreed on the Bai‘at was larger