Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 271
THE RENAISSANCE OF ISLAM 271 Head of the Movement. He expressed his appreciation of and sympathy with the point of view of the Khalifatul Masih, but he expressed the hope that the Khalifatul Masih having made his point of view and his position quite clear should now treat the matter as having been closed. When this was conveyed to the Khalifatul Masih he explained that he had aired the matter publicly not out of any desire for personal gratifica- tion or with the purpose of humiliating the government, but solely to uphold the dignity and honour of the Movement which had been grossly affronted. If he were suddenly to become silent over the matter his forbearance might be misconstrued as submission to the point of view of the government under th~eat of coercion. The Governor appre- ciated the apprehension of the Khalifatul Masih and the matter was eventually settled by means of a letter from the Home Secretary of the Provincial Government addressed to the Khalifatul Masih in which the government expressed its appreciation of the point of view of the Khalifatul Masih and its regret at the mistaken action of the government. On his side the Khalifatul Masih in his next Friday sermon announced that as the government had expressed its appre- ciation of his point of view and acknowledged that a mistake had been made in issuing the notice under the Criminal Law Amendment Act, the matter was now amicably settled and was finally closed. In a subsequent meeting between the Khalifatul Masih and the Governor which came about by chance, they were able to remove any lingering misunder- standings in their minds. But incidents continued to happen which demonstrated that a section of the official hierarchy still entertained feelings of strong prejudice against the Movement. " When Sir Herbert Emerson's term as Governor was approaching its end he was granted an extension for two years and a half. Before starting his extended term he took four months' leave and went home. Towards the end of his leave, when he was preparing to return to Lahore, he suffered a severe attack of internal haemorrhage while playing golf.