Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad - Caliphate

Caliphate

On March 13, 1914, Khalifatul Masih I Hakeem Noor-ud-Din died shortly after 2 p.m. in Qadian, India. The following day, Noor-ud-Din's will which had been entrusted to Muhammad Ali Khan, a prominent member of the Community, was read aloud in Noor Mosque after Asr prayer:

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Ever Merciful. We praise Him and call down blessings on His noble Messenger. This humble one writes in the full possession of his senses. There is no one worthy of worship save Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. My children are young and there is no money in our house. Allah is their Guardian. No provision should be made for them out of any fund for orphans and the needy. A loan might be provided for them which should be repaid by those of my sons who grow up into a position to do so. My books and property should be put in trust for my children. My successor should be righteous, popular, learned and of good conduct. He would exercise forbearance towards the old and new friends of the Promised Messiah. I have been the well-wisher of all of them and so should he be. The public teaching of the Quran and Hadith should be continued. Greetings of peace.

— Hakeem Noor-ud-Din, Last Will and Testament, March, 4 1914

Having hardly finished the reading of Noor-ud-Din's will, members of the community felt Mahmood Ahmad best met the criteria of a successor the will had described and began calling for Mahmood Ahmad to accept their Bai'at (oath of allegiance). Being unprepared, he turned to Maulvi Syed Sarwar Shah and said "Maulvi Sahib, this burden has fallen upon me suddenly and unexpectedly and I cannot even recall the formula of Bai'at. Will you kindly instruct me in it?". He took the Bai'at of those present, repeating the words after Sawar Shah. After the oath was taken, he offered a silent prayer and made a brief speech. Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad was elected as Khalifatul Masih II on March 14, 1914.

Under his leadership, there was further development of the scope of missionary activities and the establishment of a Madrasa Ahmadiyya up to the university level. During his tenure, he established 46 foreign missions and founded the Anjuman Tehrik-e-Jadīd, which collected the funds from the members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community for the training of missionaries and had them posted to various countries. These foreign missions included Mauritius (1915), USA (1920), Ghana (1921), Egypt (1922), Bokhara (1923), Iran (1924), Palestine and Syria (1925), Java and Colombo (1931) Burma and Japan (1935), Argentina and Albania (1936), Yugoslavia and Sierra Leone (1937), Spain (1946) and Lebanon (1949). Mahmood Ahmad also had mosques built in most places where missions had been established. The publication of magazines and periodicals was also initiated in various languages. He also started the translation of the Qur'an into English with a detailed commentary for the benefit of European nations.