The Essence of Islam – Volume III — Page 166
166 Essence of Islam-III righteously, that He will surely make them successors in the earth, as He made successors among those who were before them. ' 'Those who disbelieve will continue to be afflicted with a calamity, physical or spiritual, or would descend close to their dwellings till the Divine promise is fulfilled. Surely Allah doeth not contrary to His promise. ' 'And We send not a punishment till after We have raised a Messenger. ' If a person reflects upon these verses he will realize that God Almighty has clearly promised the Muslims a per- manent Khilafat. If this Khilafat were not permanent there would have been no sense in describing it as re- sembling the Khilafat of the Mosaic dispensation. . . . A Khalifa is a reflection of a Prophet. As man is mortal, God Almighty designed that Prophets, who are more ex- alted and honoured than all other beings, should be re- flectively preserved forever. For this purpose, God instituted Khilafat so that the world should at no time be deprived of the blessings of Prophethood. He who limits it to thirty years, foolishly overlooks the true purpose of Khilafat, and does not realize that God did not design that the blessings of Khilafat be limited to thirty years af- ter the death of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and that, thereafter, the world may go to ruin. . . . There are many other verses in the Holy Qur'an, which give tidings of a permanent Khilafat among the Muslims, and there are also several Ahādīth to the same effect. But what I have said already should suffice for those who ac- cept established verities as great wealth. There is no worse concept concerning Islām than to say