Truth Prevails — Page 137
( 137 ) with Khalifas of the Dispensation of Moses? Moreover, if the Khilafat-i-Rashida lasted for thirty years only; and after that period if it was eliminated for ever, it becomes binding to hold that the Lord God did not at all desire that for this Ummat He should keep the doors of goodness, virtue and blessings, open for ever. ” (Shahadatul Quran , page 57) Thus we get that in Sirrul Khilafa , the Promised Messiah has stated this only against the Shia view that, in case it is not held that Abu Bakr, alone, fell under this verse as the only Khalifa to whom it applied, fully and properly, the Khilafat of Hazrat Ali could not at all be proved, since one portion of the verse stands to the effect that by means of the Khilafat the sense of danger and insecurity would be replaced with peace and security – a circumstance, a condition which never came true in the Khilafat of Hazrat Ali, because in his time there was all along, disorder and unrest, while tranquility and peace could not be established. But apart from this, The Promised Messiah fully accepts the Khilafat of Hazrat Ali as rightful and true. In fact he has feelingly prayed: “Lord God, whosoever has love for Hazrat Ali love him Thou as well; and whosoever is an enemy of Hazrat Ali, Thou too become the enemy of such a man. ” And in Sirrul Khilafa the Promised Messiah has written in very clear words: “The fact is that the truth was on the side of Ali al-Murtaza ; and whosoever fought against him, in his time, he was guilty of rebellion. All the same, his Khilafat did not fulfill the condition relating to peace and a sense of security, promised by Allah. In fact Murtaza experienced a great deal of trouble at the hands of his contemporaries. ” ( Sirrul Khilafa , page 30) Evidently, therefore, the real intention of the Promised Messiah is that immediately after the Holy Prophet Mohammad, the verse of Istikhlaf applied fully to Hazrat Abu Bakr; and in the first instance, too, it applied only to him. Accordingly we read: “In the verse of Istikhlaf , Allah has promised Muslim men and Muslim women that, in any case, under His mercy and blessings, some of the believers would be made Khalifas ; and Allah would replace the sense of danger in their hearts with a sense of security and peace. So this is a circumstance, a condition, which does not properly and fully apply to any except the Khilafat of the Siddiq. ” ( Sirrul Khilafa , page 15) This is an indication that the Promised Messiah does not seek to deny that the remaining Khalifas were properly under the verse of Istikhlaf , even though he held that the first and foremost Khalifa under the conditions and circumstances, the attendant specifications, was Hazrat Abu Bakr.