Truth About the Split — Page 188
188 Raushan Ali Sahib who, although young in years, may be reckoned among the aged in learning. Thus, neither on ground of years, nor on the ground of learning, does Maulawi Sayyid Muhammad Ahsan enjoy any such pre-eminence over the rest of the Community as might entitle his pronouncements to any special authority. It is true that by reason of his learning and his age he enjoyed the general regard of both the educated and the ordinary members of the Movement; and, as for myself, I do even now hold him in esteem for the sake of the respect he enjoyed in the past. I am of opinion that the said Sayyid Sahib is labouring under a sad delusion, and that God willing, when he recovers his normal self, he will turn again to the Centre. May God fulfil the hope that it is only a passing trial which he is undergoing, and that he will come out victorious in the end, and that God will save him from the fate of the old woman, spoken of in the Holy Quran, who span her yarn during the day and undid it during the night. Amen! I now proceed to deal with the charges upon the grounds of which Maulawi Sayyid Muhammad Ahsan claims to depose me from the Khilafat. I would, however, note in passing that the appointment of a Khalifa is the work of God, and that it lies with God alone to depose him. It is in no man’s power either to