Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 207
THE RENAISSANCE OF ISLAM 207 as according to the rules of the Anjuman, for the framing of which some of them alone were responsible, a vacancy in the membership of the Anjuman, which normally arose only on the death ofa member, was filled by the nomination ofa new member by the surviving members of the Anjuman. Thus the Anjuman was a self-renewing body in which a majority once established acquired more or less a permanency. Where, however, the majority made a miscalculation was with regard to the character of the Khalifa. Time after time the tricks and devices to which they had recourse were frustrated by the firmness, far sightedness, courage and high resolve of the Khalifa and by his complete trust in God. They dared not come out into the open in their opposition and hostility to the Khalifa, as fairly early they had begun to perceive that the Khalifa enjoyed tremendous prestige among the Community and that if a situation was brought about in which the Community might be forced to make a choice between the Khalifa and the Anjuman, at least ninety per cent of it would support the Khalifa rather than the Anjuman. With the passage of time they began to give currency to ideas and concepts which were designed to tone down the differences of doctrine, teaching and practice between the Ahmadiyya Community and the mass of orthodox Muslims. Their object was that they would thereby overcome the hostility of the orthodox towards the Movement and would gain popularity among them through propagating the philo- sophy and teachings of Islam as the Promised Messiah had set forth, but without making any reference to him. Here again they were the victims of miscalculation, the extent of which was made manifest only gradually, though for some time they prided themselves on having discovered a formula which would not only make them popular with the ortho- dox but would put them in the vanguard of all Islamic movements and win them credit for whatever progress was achieved by Islam and the Muslims. Their fundamental weakness, however, was that while the