Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 281
THE RENAISSANCE OF ISLAM 281 have to accept this change. Then, have no fear that if we raise our voice in support of the veil and against mixed schools our girls will rebel against it or their parents will rise against it. Not only the girls and their parents but those who are giving currency to such ideas will apologize to us on their knees. It will never happen that our women may discard the veil and we may be put to shame and become remorseful in this context. The advocates of these new- fangled ideas will come before us with heads bent in shame and remorse and would confess that they had been following the wrong path and that the right path is the one laid down by Islam. This is a divine decree and no power, no government, no kingdom can obstruct its enforcement. . . . So prepare yourselves for these changes and keep supplicating God Almighty and cultivate cer- tainty and confidence. The day you are filled with certainty, all your doubts and suspicions and apprehensions will disappear and you will find yourselves standing firmly on a strong and high minaret of progress. In March 1939 Khalifatul Masih II completed 25 years of his Khalifat. During this period the Movement had gone forward in leaps and bounds and the message of Ahmadiyyat had been carried to the ends of the earth. It was felt by some members of the Movement that this was a fit occasion for a celebration by way of gratitude to God Almighty for all these numberless hounties and His guardianship and protec- tion of the Community throughout, in the face of trials an~ dangers. When this idea was submitted to the Khalifatul Masih, he signified his assent to such a celebration not because of the completion of 25 years of his Khalifat but because of the completion of the first 50 years of the Movement, adding that the completion of the first century of the Movement should be celebrated with great iclat. The celebration of the jubilee took place during the Annual Conference of 1939. The whole proceeding, the addresses, the march to the site of the Conference, the illu- mination of the white Minar, etc. , were carried through with great dignity and in a spirit of prayerful gratitude to the Divine for all His bounties. The Standard of Ahmadiyyat was