Khilafat-e-Rashidah — Page 87
KHILAFAT-E-R A SHIDAH 87 Attempt to Save the Jam a ‘at from Disunity As the physical condition of Hadrat Khalifatul Masih I ra was deteriorating, everyone was concerned what would happen after him. For me, the only question was that of the unity of the Jam a ‘at. I was not concerned from which side the Khalifah would be. Although, apparently, the companions of Maulaw i Muhammad Ali believed in the Prophethood of the Promised Messiah as , yet, they believed that they could not enter into the Jam a ‘at of a person whose beliefs were different from theirs, because that would destroy Ahmadiyyat. To the contrary, I started convincing my friends that if there is even a small chance of discord after the demise of Hadrat Khalifatul Masih I ra , we should pledge Bai‘at to anyone from those people in order to save the Jam a ‘at from dissension. Thus, I convinced my friends that if the only bone of contentions were that the Khalifah should be from their faction, then we should be mentally prepared to pledge Bai‘at at the hand of one of them. Demise of Hadrat Khal i fatul Mas i h I ra On March 13th, 1914, Hadrat Khalifatul Masih I ra passed away. After leading the Jum‘ah (Friday) Prayer, I was on my way in the car of Nawab Muhammad Ali Khan when I received the news of his demise. In this way, another dream of mine was fulfilled, in which I had seen that I was travelling in a