Ahmadiyya Movement — Page 4
4 The blind and unreasoning attitude adopted by the people in opposition to him rendered those who were in the habit of writing against him bold enough to resort to all manner of falsehoods concerning him, and they did not hesitate to make even such imputations against him and his family, the falsehood of which could be conclusively demonstrated by reference to Government records. Even the attitude adopted by the Gov- ernment towards the Movement was far from being correct. For instance, one charge that was commonly preferred against him was that he was a person of very low origin and of no means, and that he had hit upon the claim of Messiahship as a means of cheating people out of their money, his statements that he be- longed to a very respectable family being mere falsehoods, which were part of his scheme! And this in the face of published Government records, which testified to the honour and respect in which his family was held and included among the families of the Punjab Chiefs ! People who lived at a distance were easily deceived by such calumnies, and were unable to conceive how a man who practised such falsehoods had been appointed to such a sacred and exalted office. Despite all this opposition, the hearts of men began to be drawn towards the Holy Founder of the Movement, and whosoever came in contact with him or read his books was deeply im- pressed by his truth, so that, by the time of his death, which occurred in 1908—18 years after he had published his claim to the Messiahship —the number of his followers had swelled from forty, to hundreds of thousands, and his Movement had found adherents in countries outside India, such as Afghanistan, Burma, Ceylon and Africa. After his death, the Movement continued to make steady progress during the time of his first successor, my revered Master, Hazrat Maulvi Noor-ud-Din (may God be pleased with him), and after the latter’s death, when the present writer was, by the Grace of God, elected Head of the Community,