On March 14, 1914, in Qadian, the will of Khalifatul Masih I was read out, which requested the people to elect someone as his successor. When the Khalifa died, Mahmood Ahmad was elected the second successor to Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Having been elected, a faction, led by Maulana Muhammad Ali, Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din and some others strongly opposed his succession and refused to accept him as the new Khalifa. This was due to certain doctrinal differences they held with him such as the nature of Ghulam Ahmad's prophethood as well as the suitability of Mahmood Ahmad to lead the community as Khalifa. They eventually left Qadian, settled in Lahore and later came to be known as the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat-i-Islam. In his book Prophecy Continuous. Aspects of Ahmadi Religious Thought and Its Medieval Background, Professor Yohanan Friedmann describes the episode thus:
Though the dissension in the movement is always described in terms of doctrinal differences, a clash of personalities probably also played a role. It is reasonable to assume that Muhammad 'Alī - who had an MA Degree in English, taught at various colleges at Lahore, and had been associated with the Ahmadiyya since 1892 – could not easily bring himself to accept the leadership of Mahmūd Ahmad, who was fifteen years his junior and whose poor academic record resulted in his inability to acquire even a secondary education. A similar explanation can be provided also for the attitude adopted by Khwāja Kamāl al-Dīn. Born in 1870, he was almost twenty years older than Mahmūd Ahmad. He joined the movement in 1893. In the same year he received a degree from the Forman Christian college and taught at the Islamiyya college in Lahore. In 1898 he completed his legal studies and started practicing law.
– Yohanan Friedmann[8]
