Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 319
THE RENAISSANCE OF ISLAM 319 resumed. A school was established, a weekly paper began to be published and the Annual Conference was revived. Rela- tions with the nGn-Muslim sections of the people of the town, at first tenuous and hesitant, became friendly, intimate and co-operative. The factor that proved most helpful in this respect was that the daily lives of the Ahmadis presented a spectacle of the practical exercise of the highest moral and spiritual qualities. They did not, for a moment, sulk in their tents, but were cheerful, forthcoming and co-operative in matters of common concern, and were ready to give of their best in the service of their fellow citizens. The civil adminis- tration found them honest, diligent, law-abiding and, to its surprise, loyal; though they were watched suspiciously every time tension arose between Pakistan and India. The adminis- tration had been assured, time after time, that having made the choice of Indian citizenship, they were bound to be loyal citizens, not as a matter of policy, but as a matter of faith, as Islam insisted on loyalty to one's country. Nevertheless it took a long time for the administration to be convinced and fully reassured on the point. The degree of confidence that the Ahmadis were able to establish between themselves and the non-Muslim sections of the population of the town might be judged, among other things, from the fact that after the passage of only a few years, Maulvi Abdur Rahman Sahib, Amir of the Community at Qadian, who had been elected a member of the Municipal Committee of Qadian, was later elected President of the Municipal Committee by his non-Muslim colleagues on the Committee, and discharged his duties as President to the entire satisfaction of everyone. Sahibzada Mirza Wasim Ahmad Sahib, a younger son of the Khalifatul Masih, and a permanent resident of Qadian, has, throughout, carried the responsibilities of the office of Secretary for Propagation of the Movement in India, and has now, on the demise of Maulvi Abdur Rahman Sahib, been appointed Amir of the community at Qadian. He is universally respected and held in honour by the whole population of Qadian, on account of