Fazle Umar
Consolidation of the Movement The part played by Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih II [ra] in affairs that were not primarily of a religious character should not leave anyone under the impression that his main interest at any time centred on those matters. It was characteristic of him that whatever he undertook he carried through with full attention in a serious spirit, mobilising all the resources that were needed for the purpose. Besides, the matters in which he took a lead, though not at the centre of religion, were not outside its scope. As has already been mentioned his definition of religion comprehended everything that bore immediately or ultimately on the welfare of any section of mankind. This was not a definition invented by him, but was the definition of Islam derived from the Holy Qur’an and the example of the Holy Prophet [saw]. In giving practical effect to his definition, however, he did not in the least overlook the gradations and priorities that have been established by Islam for the coordination of all values affecting human welfare. For him the moral and the spiritual always had top priority. He never neglected the practical upholding of this priority in the least particular. In choosing the immediate objective, in settling a policy, in adopting a procedure, he took the utmost care that the true and ultimate objective, namely winning the pleasure of God, should not be subordinated to, or laid aside even temporarily for the sake of anything else, however tempting it might appear at the moment. At no time did he neglect in the least degree the guidance needed by the Community and the constant supervision of the conduct and behaviour of every member of it, in order to ensure that the Community should continue to march steadily forward on the path that led to God and should not be deflected a hair’s breadth in one direction or the other. For instance, whenever he noticed a tendency on the part of anyone to exalt the Founder of the Movement in a manner that might be misconstrued as placing him in juxtaposition to the Holy
226
