Fazle Umar
Efforts to support and strengthen the institution of Khilafat The greatest single event of the period of the Khilafat of Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih I [ra] was his courageous and valiant defence of the institution of Khilafat, and the upholding of its dignity and authority. In the circumstances in which he was confronted this was without a doubt a unique achievement. Let us consider the part Hadhrat Sahibzada Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad played in offering his unconditional and unwavering support to Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih [ra] and to the institution of Khilafat. Hadhrat Hakeem Maulvi Nooruddin [ra] was by the united will of the whole Community elected to succeed the Promised Messiah [as] as his Khalifa. The total membership of the Movement speedily and eagerly took the pledge of allegiance to Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih [ra] and within a very short period the whole Community was once more gathered under one standard. However, rumblings and creakings became audible almost immediately after the election when some of those very gentlemen who had unconditionally supported Hadhrat Maulvi Nooruddin’s appointment as Khalifatul Masih to become the Head of the Movement and had announced that in such an event his orders would be as binding upon the members as had been the orders of the Promised Messiah [as] himself, began to have second thoughts about the wisdom of the step they had taken. The most prominent of those who felt uneasy in the situation they had helped to create, were Khawaja Kamal Uddin and Maulvi Muhammad Ali. At this time in the Community there were many persons gifted with vision, discernment and insight, who in the young Mian Mahmud saw the great man that it was his destiny to become, but Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih I [ra] saw the seeds of
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