ABSTRACT
The institutions and campaigns which Khatam-i-Nubuwwat generated provided training grounds for activists who were to later turn their attention from its main target, the Ahmadiya community, to other minority communities. The concept of Khatam-i-Nubuwwat is one of the five fundamentals on which the theological edifice of the Islamic faith rests. The aftermath of the 1857 uprising posed vexed questions to Muslim intellectuals about how to steer away from the 'fatal shroud of complacent self-esteem' engulfing Islam in the new political dispensation. With the advent of Ahrar, the anti-Ahmadiya movement shifted from a theological to a political phase. The Pakistan demand in Punjab and elsewhere changed the terms of political discourse. The roots of the Ahrar movement can be traced to the abortive Khilafat campaign, when some Punjabi members severed their link with the Central Khilafat Committee and constituted a separate organisation.
