Truth About the Split — Page 333
333 Hanifah or work of any of his disciples where this belief was described as a part of the great Imam’s creed, Maulawi Muhammad Ali did not give any reply except that Hadrat Khalifatul Masih I ra had dictated so to him. But as Hadrat Khalifatul Masih I ra did not live in the time of Hadrat Imam Abu Hanifah, whatever he might have said about the Imam must have been derived from the writings of the Hanafites. But of all the works which record the words of Hadrat Imam Abu Hanifah, not one can be found which contains anything warranting the statement made by Maulawi Muhammad Ali. Under the circumstances, it cannot be held that Hadrat Khalifatul Masih I ra attributed any such statement to Hadrat Imam Abu Hanifah. It is certain that the statement was either an invention of Maulawi Muhammad Ali’s mind or a result of misunderstanding something which Hadrat Khalifatul Masih ra might have said. Whichever view is taken, it becomes clear that the tract cannot have been approved by Hadrat Khalifatul Masih I ra , or published with his consent. These three items of internal evidence show then that the tract could not have been approved by Hadrat Khalifatul Masih ra. But, in addition to these we may take note of the circumstance that, in spite of the fact that the tract was read over to Hadrat Khalifatul