journal entitled Tash'heezul Az'haan and accompanied his father on many of his journeys. On 26 May 1908, Ghulam Ahmad died in Lahore when Mahmood Ahmad was 19 years old. The next day on 27 May 1908, he gave the pledged allegiance to Hakeem Noor-ud-Din, who had been chosen to succeed Ghulam Ahmad. After the passing of his father, Mahmood Ahmad continued to study the Quran, Sahih Bukhari, the Masnavi and some medicine under the tutelage of Noor-ud-Din, with whom he developed a close friendship. Noor-ud-Din would eventually become one of the leading influences in Mahmood's life. He also began writing articles for various periodicals for the Community and would often engage himself in theological debates with various scholars of the Community. Mahmood Ahmad visited Egypt and Arabia in September 1912 during the course of which he performed the Hajj pilgrimage. Upon his return to Qadian in June 1913, he started a newspaper, titled Al-Fazl. Within the Community, the newspaper serves as a vehicle for the moral upbringing of its members, Islamic education and preservation of the Community's history. Caliphate On 13 March 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. 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 14 March 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