Intro
The 1941 Jalsa at Qadian was held during WW-2 and after the Japanese had bombed Hawaii.
Per the ROR of June-1942 (and the Al-Fazl of June 1941, Friday Sermon), the 2nd Khalifa was asking Ahmadi’s at this Jalsa to send men from the Punjab to come to Qadian and prepare to defend Qadian against an invasion, or friendly fire from a new government.
The 2nd Khalifa alleged that there were 30,000 Ahmadis in the district of Gurdaspur, he alleged that about 5000 would be adult males. Thus, he wanted about 1500 men. The 2nd Khalifa said that the Sialkot district should give 1000 and 500 each from Hoshiarpur and Jullundhur. Interestingly, there was an Ahmady company working on the Burmese border, in fact, my maternal grandfather served in this war. The 2nd Khalifa goes onto to also mention 4 additional districts, Lahore, Gujranwala, Shaikhupura and Amritsar and asks them to supply a similar amount of men.
The 2nd Khalifa then states that Ahmadi’s who don’t fight to their death to defend Qadian are not Momins. The 2nd Khalifa mentions a speech of his from April-17-1942 wherein he mentioned how an ahmadi gave his life for the cause. The 2nd Khalifa wanted old men and little children to die in the defense of Qadian. The 2nd Khalifa said that defended Qadian was every Ahmadi’s duty. The 2nd Khalifa discusses the idea that the British Government might be finished and a new government (Japanese) will be worse than the Brits. The 2nd Khalifa insists that he had a vision about the fate of the British and how they were saved from destruction per this vision (Roya). The 2nd Khalifa said that anyone who thinks that the Brits will lose this war are wrong. The 2nd Khalifa said that Allah is protecting the British Government and they will not lose.
Reporting on the Jalsa Salana 1941, the same newspaper reported under the heading “Enemy Knocking at India’s Door”:
“Qadian, Dec. 27.
“A call to the Ahmediyya community to offer their wholehearted cooperation in the prosecution of the war was made by Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad[ra], the Head of the Ahmadiyya community, addressing the Ahmadiyya Annual Conference today.
“‘These are very critical times,’ said Mirza Bashir-ud-Din; ‘war is knocking at India’s door. Events have taken a very serious turn. The enemy is powerful and India is almost unarmed. The impact of war may unhinge the whole life of the country. Dangerous days are ahead and our duty is clear. [Indian people’s] destinies seem to be inseparably linked with the British Government. We should give our wholehearted cooperation in the war effort.’
“He deplored the lack of spirit in the people to face the impending menace, which, he said, was due to the benevolent indifference of the Government to the genuine needs of India’s defence.
“‘Speaking on ‘Our duties in the Present World Crisis,’ Sir Muhammad Zafrulla Khan said that, long before the present conflagration, the like of which man had not witnessed before, overtook the world, political thinkers and those gifted with spiritual insight to foresee and foretell coming events, had perceived that the West was heading towards a catastrophe. Western political, social and economic systems, having outlived their usefulness, were destined to die.
“The old order, he added, had gone never to return and on its ashes and out of humanity’s pains and affliction would emerge a new order very different and vastly superior to the present one.
“God in his all-pervading wisdom, continued Sir Muhammad, had decreed that, being eminently fitted on account of its vast area and being the homeland of many faiths and cultures and peoples, India should play a leading role in building the new order.
“Sir Muhammad exhorted the audience to be watchful and ready to contribute their share to the building of that order lest when the appointed hour came, they should be found wanting.
“Young men of courage, vision and conscience were needed. They help create a new and better state of things by selfless service, suffering, and sacrifice and by living up to those noble principles and ideals on which, as envisaged by Islam and the Ahmadiyya movement, future order would be broadbased.—A.P.” (The Civil and Military Gazette, 30 December 1941, p. 6)
Jalsa Salana 1944
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