Truth About the Split — Page 246
246 and think over the matter, and if they really felt prepared, then alone should they come and take the oath of Bai‘at again. Then turning to Shaikh Ya‘qub Ali, the editor of Al-Hakam who had been the promoter of a meeting in which signatures were taken in support of the Khilafat, Hadrat Khalifatul Masih ra said that he too had made a mistake and should therefore renew his Bai‘at. Accordingly these three men renewed their Bai‘at , and the meeting was dissolved. At that time, a feeling of satisfaction came to dwell in every heart and those present felt that Providence had saved the Community from a grave crisis. But Maulawi Muhammad Ali and Khwaja Kamaluddin who had just renewed their Bai‘at felt seriously aggrieved, and subsequent events proved that their Bai‘at on the occasion was a mere show. They never sincerely recognised the authority of the Khalifa. It is reported (on the authority of Maulawi Abdur Rahim Nayyar who was in those days on very intimate terms with these gentlemen) that no sooner had they alighted from the roof of the mosque than Maulawi Muhammad Ali spoke to Khwaja Sahib saying, "To-day we have been badly insulted. It is something more than I can endure. It is as if we had been beaten with shoes in an open meeting. " One