Tehrike Jadeed (the New Scheme

Out of evil came a great deal of good. In his three Friday addresses on 23 and 30 November and 7 December 1934, Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih II [ra] set forth a scheme before the Community with regard to which he had already alerted it, which made nineteen demands from the members of the Movement. Initially the operation of the scheme was limited to three years, but before the expiry of the period it was made permanent. He named the scheme Tehrike Jadeed (The New Scheme). To finance the scheme he appealed to the Community to provide Rs 27,500 for the expenses of the first year. The Community made a splendid response to his appeal and in addition to all other contributions provided Rs 107,000 for Tehrike Jadeed which was nearly four times the amount for which he had appealed.

His nineteen demands, which were subsequently raised to twenty-four, were aimed mainly at rousing the spirit of sacrifice in the Community, stimulating their moral and spiritual qualities and broadening the base of the Movement by carrying its message far and wide. For instance, he urged the adoption of a simple, and in some respects even an austere, mode of life in the matter of food, dress, housing, furnishings, etc. He forbade attendance at cinemas, theatres, circuses and places of amusement generally. He urged the cultivation of the habit of manual labour. He made an appeal for a certain number of dedicated workers. He urged the unemployed to occupy themselves in some kind of work or to work without the usual requirements, or in return for a meagre salary, for the Movement. He invited pensioners and people who had retired from service to volunteer for work for the Movement. He urged everyone to occupy themselves most of the time with earnest supplications to God seeking His help and guidance and the bounty of steadfastness in His cause. He explained the purpose of each of these demands. He predicted:

“Even if you should all abandon me God will provide me with resources from a hidden source. But it cannot be that what God Almighty told the Promised Messiah, the scheme for which he has disclosed to me, should not happen. It is bound to happen even if I am abandoned by everyone. In such a contingency God will descend from heaven and will complete the construction of this mansion.” On another occasion he said:

“We shall not coerce anyone, nor shall we embark on a campaign of civil disobedience, we shall respect the law, and despite all this we shall discharge all those responsibilities with which we have been charged by Ahmadiyyat. We shall carry out all the obligations which God and the Holy Prophet [saw] have imposed on us, and yet the purpose of our scheme will be achieved. The

Captain of the Ark of Ahmadiyyat will steer this Holy Ark between fearful rocks and will bring it safe to port. This is my faith and I am firmly established in it.

The reason of those to whom the leadership of Divine movements is committed is placed under Divine guidance; they are bestowed light by God Almighty, and his angels guard them. They are supported by the gracious attributes of God.

When they pass on from the world and present themselves before their Maker, the projects they embark upon continue to make progress and God Almighty makes them successful and prosperous.”

The Community made an eager response to every one of the demands made by the Khalifatul Masih and from the very start the Tehrike Jadeed began to produce very encouraging results. In the beginning the Khalifatul Masih had made participation in Tehrike Jadeed voluntary, but before the expiry of its initial period of three years he made it compulsory upon the whole Community and made it permanent. Large numbers of volunteers were trained to work in various capacities in the different branches of the scheme. Literature needed for the exposition of the purposes, teach-

ings and beliefs of the Movement was prepared and printed. In short everything in the Movement was charged with new life and a new spirit under the impact of the scheme.

The most striking activity of the scheme was the network of foreign missions that was progressively spread into many countries of the world, so that there is scarcely a region in which missions have not been established by now, or at least into which the literature of the Movement has not penetrated. Some idea of the progress made so far in the achievement of the purposes of the Tehrik may be formed from the fact that the budget of the Tehrik has risen from the original Rs. 27, 500 to more than Rs. 3.5 billion in 2006. The total participants in the scheme were in excess of 482,000 members. 111

This does not take into account extraordinary expenditure that is incurred in respect of special projects in different parts of the world. As time has passed the Tehrik has added to its original objectives diverse types of beneficent projects; schools, dispensaries and hospitals have been opened in widely separated regions of the earth. Mosques have been built in all the continents. For all these projects finance had to be provided through special funds running into thousands, and on occasions into millions of pounds sterling. There are flourishing branches of the Movement in more than 200 countries, while individual members and small groups are scattered all round the globe.

All this activity is instrumental in the effort of achieving the ultimate purpose of the Movement, namely, the cultivation of the highest moral and spiritual qualities, seeking all the time to establish communion with God for the purpose of winning His pleasure and rendering beneficent service to His creatures without any discrimination.