Khwaja Kamaluddin Inclines towards non- Ahmadis

Truth About the Split

It is a well established truth that when a person takes one false step, circumstances oblige him to take another. With the scope of his lectures widened, Khwaja Sahib had more and more occasion to come into contact with non-Ahmadis. He was unfamiliar with the inwardness of the Ahmadiyya Movement, and now a new difficulty confronted him. It often happened that a lecture of his was preceded or followed one of the five daily prayers. Ahmadis and non-Ahmadis had to offer prayers in separate congregations, and people naturally asked the reason for this separation. The situation was rather awkward for Khwaja Sahib. On the one hand he was not willing to forfeit his newly acquired popularity with non- Ahmadis, and, on the other hand, he was afraid of the displeasure of Ahmadis. In this strait he took recourse to various devices. On some occasions, he would say that the prohibition to pray behind non-Ahmadis was meant only for the common class of Ahmadis, in order to protect them from the influence of outsiders, that it was not intended for advanced Ahmadis like himself, and that he was prepared to offer his prayers behind non-Ahmadi Imams. On other occasions, he would say that he had to work under the orders of an Imam (Leader) and that the question should therefore he addressed to the Imam. Sometimes, he would say that if non-Ahmadis would revoke their fatwa of Kufr against the Promised Messiah (as), he was ready to offer his prayers behind them. Such and similar were the pleas he offered to excuse his failure to say his prayers behind non-Ahmadis. In fact Khwaja Sahib’s ideas had become poisoned already at the time of Dr. Abdul Hakim’s apostasy, and the poison began now to show its effects. Khwaja Sahib was a seeker of fame and popularity, and these restrictions were impediments in his way. He, therefore, resolved to do away with the restrictions at all cost. For this purpose, the first thing he did was to induce Dr. Mirza Ya‘qub Baig to write two articles in the Paisa Akhbar and the Watan to the effect that the prohibition against praying behind non-Ahmadis was only a temporary one. He thus tried tentatively to lay the foundation of a future movement in favour of a rescinding of the prohibition. But he had made a miscalculation. The articles brought home to some Ahmadis also were encouraged by this sign of weakness on the part of Ahmadis to charge them with narrow-mindedness and intolerance.

At this time, the question was put to Hadrat Khalifatul Masih I (ra) whether differences between Ahmadis and non-Ahmadis related to essential matters of faith or to non-essentials. He replied that these differences related to essential matters. The reply created a great commotion. The non-Ahmadi papers made virulent attacks on Hadrat Khalifatul Masih (ra) saying that he had magnified minor differences and had thus caused a split among Muslims.

Side by side with this controversy which raged between Ahmadis and non-Ahmadis there now came up another question which formed the subject of a warm discussion among Ahmadis themselves. This question concerned the propagation of Ahmadiyyat. From the moment he started his public lectures—with the exception of the very first—Khwaja Sahib had abstained carefully from making any reference in his lectures to the Promised Messiah (as), forgetting that God had ordained obedience to the Promised Messiah (as) as the sole remedy for all spiritual ills. Khwaja Sahib would studiously avoid all mention of the Promised Messiah (as), even when reference to him was called for by the subject of his address. He fully realised that without following such a course he could acquire no popularity among non-Ahmadis. And, as the objection of non-Ahmadis was to the personal claims of the Holy Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement, the policy adopted by Khwaja Sahib brought him large audiences. Often these swelled into thousands, all eager listeners to what he had to say. Also, as has already been pointed out, Khwaja Sahib took special steps in order to make his lectures popular. The result was that his lectures achieved immense popularity and began to be applauded highly even by non-Ahmadis. Invitations for his lectures, began to pour in from all sides. When Ahmadis saw this eagerness and interest on the part of non- Ahmadis, many of them failed to realise its proper significance. What was only Khwaja Sahib’s personal popularity began to be mistaken by them for the popularity of the Movement. Ahmadiyya Associations at various centres—either of their own accord or at the instance of Khwaja Sahib—began to arrange for special lectures by him. They did so under the impression that by these lectures non-Ahmadis would be brought nearer to the Movement, and would ultimately enter its fold. The epidemic became so prevalent that other lecturers of the Movement also began to adopt the same policy. It seemed imminent that the trumpet which God had sounded through His Messenger was to cease to resound for ever. The time was one of extreme danger for the Movement. Some Ahmadi lecturers began to feel reluctant about making any reference to the Promised Messiah (as) in their lectures, and even when questioned on the subject, they tried to put it off by vague replies. This was not due to fear or hypocrisy, but the lecturers, following the example of Khwaja Sahib, had come to the honest conclusion that the adoption of his plan would prepare the way for the propagation of the Movement. There were of course some who used to mention the

Promised Messiah (as) in their lectures, but even they made it a point never to mention him in connection with subjects which were likely to give umbrage to non-Ahmadis. This attitude was not, however, universal in the Community. There was a section of the Community which fully realised the significance of the policy adopted by Khwaja Kamaluddin. This section began to ply Khwaja Sahib with questions as to why he never made any reference to the Ahmadiyya Movement in his lectures. The reply of Khwaja Sahib was always disappointing and in this he showed his kinship with the apostate Dr. Abdul Hakim that the major subjects needed their first attention. When these had been settled, the minor subjects would settle themselves. "When people see us" he said, "serving the cause of Islam, can they help admitting to themselves that we are in the right." His was, he said, the work of a pioneer, clearing the forests and levelling the hillocks; when the road was prepared, the forest cleared and the land levelled, then would be the time for laying down the railways, cultivating the fields and planting the gardens. But why, he was asked, had God already put the world on trial by raising the Promised Messiah (as) if this pioneer work had still to be done? He was not expected—he was also told—to confine himself only and always to the subject of the claims of the Promised Messiah (as). Only this subject also should receive at least proportionate attention in his lectures. The only response Khwaja Sahib made to these queries and suggestions was that he did not stand in anybody’s way that while he was engaged in clearing the road others might go and lecture on other matters. At length on March 27, 1910 the situation compelled me to deliver an address and to point out to the Community the error of that policy. The result was that, with the grace of God, a section of the Community came to recognise this mistake and to realise the danger of the situation. Still, my lecture was not able completely to check this tendency which continued to grow. To this in fact was added the vexed question of the Kufr of non-Ahmadis.

It was at the time of this crisis—when, on the one hand, a section of the Community had already started upon a wrong track, and, on the other, non-Ahmadis, taking advantage of the vacillation on the part of some Ahmadis, had started attacking the Movement—that I wrote an elaborate article on the subject of the Kufr of non-Ahmadis. The article after necessary corrections by Hadrat Khalifatul Masih I (ra) was published in the Tashhidhul Adhhan in its issue of April 1911. (See also this book p. 126). Under the circumstances of the time, the article proved very effective and succeeded in completely re-orienting the Community. And God be thanked, for the whole Community, with the exception only of a few individual members, fully recognised the fact that had they continued under the influence of the charm that had been cast upon them, they were sure, sooner or later, to lose the truth which had so recently come to them. Many there were who openly expressed their thanks and gratitude. A new spirit and a new enthusiasm ran over the Community and all Ahmadis with the exception of an insignificant few prepared themselves anew to discharge their duty.

As it happened, Khwaja Sahib and his friends were the party responsible for the policy, which I had set out to guard against. The publication of my article therefore naturally gave them cause for anxiety. Khwaja Sahib accordingly wrote an article in which my article was interpreted in a manner contrary to its real purport and had it endorsed by Hadrat Khalifatul Masih I (ra) on the representation—and this Hadrat Khalifatul Masih himself told me—that he (Khwaja Sahib) was in entire accord with what I had said but still he thought it right to present the subject in a form which should avoid giving offence to people.

So far as I can see, this was the time when Maulawi Muhammad Ali’s attitude underwent a transformation. All his writings previous to this plainly show that he believed the Promised Messiah (as) to be a Nabi. But now the situation had been altered. Now, if Khwaja Sahib had been discomfited in the controversy over the question of the Kufr of non- Ahmadis, it would have proved too severe a blow to the hopes of Maulawi Muhammad Ali. For, by reason of the popularity which his lectures had brought to Khwaja Sahib, Maulawi Muhammad Ali had by this time been relegated to a second place in the estimation of the Community. The first place was now occupied by Khwaja Sahib. He had come to wield a more than ordinary influence in the Community, and people of the Jama‘at were ready to listen to him and to accept his lead. Maulawi Muhammad Ali and his friends now hoped to take advantage of this popularity in order to compass their own ends. This important factor, it would appear, effected a revolution in the attitude of Maulawi Muhammad Ali, and induced him openly to identify himself with the views of Khwaja Sahib. Thus the party became united both in its beliefs and its policy. Before this, Maulawi Muhammad Ali was himself opposed to the policy followed by Khwaja Sahib in his public lectures. This also appears from the fact that on the occasion of the Annual Conference of the Community held in March or December 1910, and in the course of a discussion on the need or otherwise of Ahmadiyya public meetings he opposed and attacked Khwaja Sahib. Thus, it was during the year 1910 or 1911, and under the circumstances which I have described above, that a change came over the outlook of Maulawi Muhammad Ali.