The Great Reformer â Volume 1: Biography of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian

By Dr. Basharat Ahmad and Dr. Hamid Rahman

The Great Reformer is the English translation of Mujaddid-e-Azam, a comprehensive biography of the Mujjadid (Reformer in Islam) and Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad by a close associate and compatriot, Dr. Basharat Ahmad.
This monumental research work published in Urdu in three volumes was translated into English in 2008 by Hamid Rahman, PhD. It is widely considered to be the most authentic and complete portrayal of the great and tireless service rendered to Islam by the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement. The first two volumes, published in 1939 and 1940 respectively, consist of the Founder's life history, and also contain synopsis of each of his major Urdu, Arabic and Persian works. The third volume deals with his Islamic philosophy, thoughts, exposition of Islamic concepts, defense of Islam in reply to non-Muslim critics, and his mission of carrying the message of Islam to the West.

• Language: English
• Publisher: eBookIt.com
• Release date: May 8, 2019
• ISBN: 9781945227189

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MUSLIMS

PUBLISHER’S FOREWORD

It is with a sense of profound gratitude to Almighty Allah that the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam, (Lahore) USA is publishing the English translation of the first volume of Dr. Basharat Ahmad’s three volume Urdu biography of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. This monumental work has been translated by Dr. Hamid Rahman, Professor of Finance at Alliant University and grandson of Dr. Basharat Ahmad. Dr. Rahman has performed this work ever so diligently and has produced a final product worthy of bearing the title of the original. May Almighty Allah, the most Merciful and most Gracious, bless Dr. Rahman and his family for their sacrifices in this cause.

This book will, insha Allah, go a long way in removing the many misconceptions Muslims harbor about Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. It should provide a source from which people will be able to judge the claims, work and teachings of this great figure in a fair and objective light. Today, we see the general Muslim populations adopting positions on jihad, apostasy, freedom of religion, etc. exactly in accordance with what Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad advocated. This work before you provides detailed insight into the extraordinary personality that started this reformation of thought over a century ago.

We end with the heartfelt supplication:

O Allah, help those who help the religion of Muhammad and make us of them…

The Publishers,

Ahamdiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam, (Lahore) USA

P.O. Box 3370, Dublin, Ohio 43016

Tel: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

Web: www.muslim.org

TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is perhaps one of the most controversial religious personalities of recent times. To his followers, he is the Mujaddid (Spiritual Reformer) of the fourteenth century Hijrah, the Promised Messiah and the Mahdi (The Rightly Guided One), whose advent had been predicted by the Holy Prophet Muhammad. To his detractors, he is an impostor who fraudulently claimed to be a prophet, and the recipient of revelations. His followers are convinced that he removed the dross from the preaching and practice of Islam that had accumulated through the centuries, and restored the religion of Allah to its pristine purity. His detractors are equally adamant that he introduced dangerous innovations in Islam — innovations so unorthodox that he and his followers deserve to be excommunicated from Islam. A million or more Muslims who revere him as a spiritual guide are to be found in every corner of the world, actively proselytizing and winning new adherents to their Islamic faith. But millions of other Muslims abhor him, and fill the airwaves and electronic space with their messages of hate. Frequently this hateful propaganda results in acts of violence against the properties and persons of Hazrat Mirza’s disciples. Almost a hundred years after his death, the controversy about his personality and the Movement he started has not died down, and it evokes the same kind of passion, perhaps even more, as it did during his lifetime. It is obvious, that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is not the kind of person who will be confined to and forgotten in the pages of history.

Although his severest critics have been the Muslims themselves, his mission was not to disunite the Muslims by chalking out a turf for himself, but to rally and unite the Muslims against the onslaught of Christianity, which threatened the very existence of Islam in the nineteenth-century world — a world in which ‘Britannia ruled the waves’ and the ‘sun never set on the British Empire.’ Over six hundred years of Muslim rule in India from Delhi came to an end when the British successfully quelled the Mutiny of 1857. Under the protection and active encouragement of the British government, thousands of missionaries landed in India and other colonies with the express purpose of turning the natives into believers in salvation through Christ. However, since the Trinity of Christianity did not have much appeal against the strict monotheism of Islam, the Christian missionaries adopted a two-pronged strategy. The first prong of this strategy was the character assassination of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, and the second prong was the exploitation of a widely held belief among the Muslims regarding the second coming of Jesus and the eventual success of Islam under his leadership. Most Muslims believed that the Israelite Jesus did not die on the Cross, but was bodily elevated into heaven. From there, he would descend in a later time and in the company of the then ruling Caliph, termed the Mahdi (the Rightly Guided One), would wage a bloody war, kill the infidels and ensure a lasting victory for Islam. The Muslims were strengthened in this belief by some references in the Books of Hadith about the second coming of the Messiah. The Christian missionaries were quick to jump on this belief and argue, If the final success of Islam has to be at the hands of Jesus, why wait for that time, and why not believe in him now? This argument proved effective against many simple minded Muslims, who were won over to Christianity. The Muslim clerics, who for the most part had abandoned reasonableness, rationality, and application of their mind to matters of religion, were unable to face the onslaught of the Christian missionaries.

For the Muslims of India, this was a double tragedy. The loss of temporal power was followed in short order by relentless attacks on their faith, and they felt powerless to defend themselves. Encouraged by the general malaise that gripped the Muslim nation, the Hindus too picked up the courage to launch their own attacks under various movements such as the Arya Samaj, Brahmo Samaj, Dev Samaj etc. Muslim intellectuals bemoaned the helplessness of the Muslim nation and cried out for a savior. The situation of the Muslim world outside of India was no different. The following verses by the poet Hali, who lived in that era, are representative of the state of the Muslims at the time:¹

If you want to see how the nations fall,

See the falling of a tree that stood tall.

Witness Islam in its declining days,

It is unable to see the distant rays.

It is convinced there will be no rise,

After the sun has set from the skies.

It was at this critical juncture, when the Muslim existence in India and elsewhere had hit a nadir, that Allah raised Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to defend His faith, not with the sword but with the pen, and to carry the battle into Christian territory. His powerful writings rallied the Muslims, restored their faith, and put the Christian missionaries on the defensive. Muslim clerics on the whole applauded and appreciated his efforts. In 1885, he announced that he was the Mujaddid of the fourteenth century Hijrah, and this did not cause any stir among the Muslim community. In accordance with a well-known tradition of the Holy Prophet, Mujaddids had been coming in previous centuries to revive the Muslim faith, and most agreed that the time was ripe for another Mujaddid.

In 1890 Hazrat Mirza claimed that Allah had directed his attention to verses of the Holy Quran that proved beyond doubt that the Israelite Jesus was dead. He claimed also that the reference in the Books of Hadith to the second coming of the Messiah was an allegorical reference to a person who would have a spiritual likeness to Jesus, and that he, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was that Promised Messiah. The Muslim nation, which was waiting for the descent of the Israelite Jesus, was generally unwilling to accept such a claim, and launched a campaign to excommunicate Hazrat Mirza on the grounds that he had claimed prophethood. Throughout his life, Hazrat Mirza expressed his belief that prophethood had ended with the Holy Prophet Muhammad, and no prophet could come after him. He argued forcefully that the concept of the finality of prophethood, so dear to him and the Muslims generally, obviated not only the ordination of new prophets but also revisits by prophets who had sojourned on the earth before the Holy Prophet Muhammad.

Hazrat Mirza died in 1908 and was succeeded by his trusted friend and companion, Maulana Nur-ud-Din who led the Movement his mentor had started for the next six years. After the latter’s demise, serious doctrinal differences arose among the followers of Hazrat Mirza regarding the exact status of Hazrat Mirza and the consequences of rejecting him. One section, led by Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud, the eldest surviving son of Hazrat Mirza from his second wife, believed that Hazrat Mirza was a prophet whose rejection rendered a Muslim outside the pale of Islam. A second section composed of many of the old faithful companions of Hazrat Mirza, who had spent a lifetime under his spiritual tutelage and knew well the beliefs of their mentor, opposed this creed. They brokeaway from the organization in Qadian, moved to Lahore and set up the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam, Lahore (Ahmadiyya Organization for the Propagation of Islam) to carry on the work of their mentor. Since then, the two schisms of the Ahmadiyya Movement have been known as the Qadiani section and the Lahore section.

In a sense, there is a parallel between this doctrinal split among the Promised Messiah’s followers and that which took place among the followers of the Israelite Messiah. Just like the Pauline creed bestowed Divinity on Jesus, a claim he had never made, and only a small section, the Unitarians, adhered to the original teachings of their master, the creed of the section in Qadian bestowed prophethood on Hazrat Mirza, a claim he had never made, and a small section, the disciples at Lahore, adhered to the original teachings of their mentor. Not surprisingly, the general Muslim populace pounced on the heretical beliefs of the Qadiani Section, and started citing them as the beliefs of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Thus, in a strange irony of fate, the son substantiated the charges that had been leveled against his father and that his father had strongly refuted throughout his life. The beliefs of the Qadiani section strongly tarnished the image of the pious saint of Qadian, Hazrat Mirza.

In 1936, Dr. Basharat Ahmad, a close companion of Hazrat Mirza, took upon himself to present the correct picture of the life, works and claims of his mentor to remove the dirt that had been heaped upon the pious life of this saint by foes and misguided friends. He embarked on this project at an advanced age while suffering from cancer. In a colossal undertaking spread over three volumes containing over 1700 pages, he wrote a detailed biography of his mentor in Urdu. He named the book, Mujaddid Azam (Great Reformer). It appears that God kept him alive to finish the book. Hardly had the ink dried on the completed manuscript of Volume 3 when the call came from on High, and he left this earthly abode for his heavenly home. Volume 3 was published after his death.

During the last hundred years, the Ahmadiyya Movement has become a truly international movement with adherents all over the world. In addition, the still ongoing controversy about the claims and life of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad has evoked a strong interest in his life and works by impartial observers. Clearly, a great need existed for a detailed biography of this pious saint of Qadian in the English language. In 1991, I started work on translating the first volume of Mujaddid Azam and finally completed it in 2004. My brother-in-law, Akram Ahmad, has translated the second volume. Work on translating the third volume is still afoot. God willing, the entire English translation of Mujaddid Azam will become available to the interested reader soon.

The work of a translator is difficult. It requires delicate judgment to capture the essence of the text without straying too far from the literal meaning. In addition, the style of writing in Urdu differs greatly from English and a literal translation often makes the text difficult to understand in English. For this reason, I prefer to call this book, The Great Reformer, not a direct translation of Mujaddid Azam but rather a book based on it. The author, however, remains Dr. Basharat Ahmad, and all first-person references in the text refer to him. For the most part, I have followed the text faithfully, but on occasion have edited the text to make it readable without changing the meaning.

In most instances, I have used the English equivalent of the Arabic names of the prophets. It is common in the Urdu literary style and culture that appropriate epithets invoking Allah’s blessings on the religious personalities are said or written after their names. I have dispensed with such invocations in most places in the interest of readability, but I assure the reader that no disrespect is intended by this omission. Instead, I ask the reader to recite the same on their own where the names of prophets and companions of the Holy Prophet Muhammad are mentioned.

In the case of Arabic religious terminologies, too, I have mostly used the English equivalent except where a good alternative did not exist. However, I have provided the terminology in the other language, Arabic or English, in parenthesis in one or more places to help with understanding the text.

Dr. Zahid Aziz was my constant mentor and advisor to whom I turned for help for understanding difficult passages. Dr. Zahid Aziz has translated the Urdu works of many authors of the Ahmadiyya Movement into English. I have used some of his translated passages in places where the Urdu works of these authors was quoted in Mujaddid Azam. Qazi Ahad was a valuable resource in locating Hadith references. Sister Safia Saeed translated the Persian verses of Mujaddid Azam into Urdu so that I could translate them into English. Ali Abu Rahma helped me with the translation of Arabic passages and gifted me an Arabic-English dictionary that proved very helpful. My son, Dr. Ersalan Rahman, did the final editing of the translation. I must also thank Dr. Noman Malik and Sister Samina Malik for their encouragement and assistance in this endeavor. Many noble souls made financial contributions for the printing of this book. They prefer to remain anonymous. May Allah reward all these individuals abundantly.

In the end, I pray to Allah to accept my humble effort and to grant my written words the power to move the hearts of the readers to the service of Islam.

Hamid Rahman

San Diego

October 15, 2004

ABOUT THE AUTHOR — DR. BASHARAT AHMAD

Dr. Basharat Ahmad (1876-1943), of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, was a leading Islamic intellectual, scholar and author, noted particularly for his fresh and inspiring expositions of the Quran. He was born on October 3, 1876, in the town of Bagsoor in northern India. His grandfather, Shaikh Ahmad Ali Faruqui, was a tutor of Persian and Urdu to British Army officers in Dharamsala Cantonment. Dr. Basharat Ahmad spent his early childhood in Dharamsala. On retirement, his grandfather moved to Sialkot, and it was there that Dr. Basharat Ahmad received his formal education, first in the Scotch Mission High School, and then in Murray College. His grandfather wanted him to pursue a career in medicine. When Dr. Basharat Ahmad obtained admission to the Medical College in Lahore (later known as King Edward Medical College), a prestigious medical institution, his grandfather also moved to Lahore to provide all possible care and attention to his education.

After finishing his medical education, Dr. Basharat Ahmad’s first appointment was in East Africa where he stayed for one and a half years during the late 1890s. He then returned to India and worked first as a medical officer and then as the chief medical officer and administrator of several hospitals in some major cities of Punjab such as Gujrat, Rawalpindi and Mianwali. Dr. Basharat Ahmad was highly regarded in his professional field of medicine for his proficiency, honesty, integrity and above all, his kindness and benevolence towards his patients. When he retired from government service in Ludhiana in 1931, he was offered the high post of Chief Medical Officer by the state of Malerkotla, but on the suggestion of the late Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Ali he decided to settle down in Lahore to serve the cause of Islam with his vast knowledge of the religion, deep understanding of the Quran, and true comprehension of the claims and teachings of the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement.

From an early age, Dr. Basharat Ahmad studied the Quran intensely to develop a full understanding of the last Divine message to humanity. He applied his own analytical thinking and reasoning to aid his understanding of the Holy Quran, Hadith and other Islamic literature. He then turned to teaching, explaining and expounding the Quran to others. During his government service and even after retirement, he regularly gave Dars-i Quran (Quranic lessons) in the afternoons. In his exposition, he brought out deep new truths from the Quran to shed light both on age-old questions as well as new issues that have arisen in the modern age. In his explanations, he made reference to current events, trends, thinking, scientific knowledge and discoveries, and showed how the Holy Quran sheds light on them, so that man may derive benefit from their positive aspects and shun their deleterious impacts. His exposition was eloquent, impressive, convincing and relevant to the present circumstances, and it attracted Muslims of all persuasions and sections and even non-Muslims.

Dr. Basharat Ahmad has narrated in one of his publications the inspiring events of how he came to join the Ahmadiyya Movement. In 1901, his eldest son became critically ill and doctors lost all hope of his survival. By that time, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement, had become well-known for his spiritual eminence. Dr. Basharat Ahmad especially went to Qadian to request him to pray for the child. When he met Hazrat Mirza, he became totally captivated by his humble, hospitable manner and his spiritual aura. Dr. Basharat Ahmad requested Hazrat Mirza to give him some spiritual advice. Hazrat Mirza’s response was so profound and moving that Dr. Basharat Ahmad felt as if Hazrat Mirza’s replies were entering deep into his heart, removing the doubts within, and purifying his soul. He felt a strong compulsion within him to forthwith accept Hazrat Mirza as his spiritual mentor. Accordingly, he took the pledge right there and joined the Ahmadiyya Movement. It was only at the end of their talk that Dr. Basharat Ahmad remembered the original purpose of his visit - to request Hazrat Mirza to pray for his son. He made the request, and Hazrat Mirza prayed for the child. Dr. Basharat Ahmad later learnt, to his astonishment, that the child began to recover from his hopeless situation the same day that Hazrat Mirza prayed for him. By the third day, he was fully recovered. This extraordinary acceptance of prayer further intensified Dr. Basharat Ahmad’s faith in the truth of Hazrat Mirza.

In 1914, after the death of the Founder, a split took place in the Ahmadiyya Movement because Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad, eldest son of Hazrat Mirza from his second wife, invented and started propagating the heretical doctrine that the Founder was a prophet and all those Muslims who did not accept him were disbelievers and outside the fold of Islam. Dr. Basharat Ahmad, from that time onwards, wrote numerous articles and booklets refuting these false doctrines and clarifying the true nature of the claim and status of the holy Founder.

For almost thirty years Dr. Basharat Ahmad wrote extensively in the Urdu periodical of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, the Paigham-i Sulh, on a wide range of issues relating to the Quran, Islam and the Ahmadiyya Movement. He replied to questions posed to him in a most cogent and authoritative manner which not only satisfied the questioner but also showed the rationality and deep Divine wisdom underlying the Last Word of Allah. A large number of such articles relating to Islam were later compiled by his elder son, Mr. Mumtaz Ahmad Faruqui, in book form and published in three volumes under the title Basharat-i Ahmadiyya. Some of his lengthy articles have also been published as separate booklets. These include, Kashaf-uz-Zanoon, a rebuttal of various charges against Hazrat Mirza by his opponents, Ikhtaylaf-e-Silsala-e-Ahmadiyya per aik Nazar, Nabi ka Naam Paanay kee Khusooseeat, and Fazeelat kee Haqeeqat.

Towards the closing years of his life, Dr. Basharat Ahmad wrote an enlightened commentary of the 30th and then the 27th parts of the Holy Quran, entitled Anwarul Quran (The Light of the Quran). The commentary of Part 30 has been rendered into English by Imam Kalamazad Mohammed and published by the Muslim Literary Trust, Trinidad and Tobago. This translation was very much appreciated by members of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Trinidad and Guyana. Due to requests from people in Suriname, Holland and Indonesia, who were also greatly impressed by it, it has now also been translated into Dutch and Indonesian.

With the passage of time, Dr. Basharat Ahmad became convinced that he must write a comprehensive, authentic biography of the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement, covering his life and works, and dealing particularly with the unique services to Islam of this outstanding Islamic revivalist of the age. He compiled and published his monumental research work in three volumes entitled Mujaddid Azam (The Great Reformer). This book is widely considered, by friend and foe, to be the most authentic biography and a true depiction of the great and tireless service done for Islam by the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement. The first two volumes, published in 1939 and 1940 respectively, consist of the Founder’s life history, and also contain synopsis of each of his major Urdu, Arabic and Persian works. The third volume deals with his Islamic philosophy, thought, exposition of Islamic concepts, defense of Islam in reply to non-Muslim critics, and his mission of carrying the message of Islam to the West. This volume was published shortly after the death of the author.

In January 1943, Dr. Basharat Ahmad went to Bombay to stay with the younger of his two sons, Mr. Naseer Ahmad Faruqui, who was the Collector of Bombay (a post in the Indian Civil Service) at that time. He wanted to impart his knowledge of the Quran to his son who was equally a keen student of the Quran. Dr. Basharat Ahmad had been fighting cancer for several years before his visit to Bombay, but he succumbed to the disease there and died peacefully on April 21, 1943. His body was brought to Lahore by train, where janaza (funeral) prayers were offered for him at the Ahmadiyya Buildings Mosque on April 23rd and he was buried at the Miani Sahib Ahmadiyya Cemetery in Lahore.

Compiled by:

Dr. Zahid Aziz

Mr. Nasir Ahmad

AUTHOR’S PREFACE

All thanks are due to Allah for revealing His Books and sending His Messengers for the guidance of mankind; for sending in the end our Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, with the perfect and complete Book — the Quran; and for decreeing a chain of Mujaddids (reformers) in the Ummah (Muslim nation) for the protection, propagation and service of the religion brought by the last Prophet. One of the Mujaddids of particularly great eminence was Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian. We witnessed his period of ministry as a Mujaddid and Messiah, and it was a time of godliness, the like of which are described in the Quran as Ayyam Allah (days of favors of Allah). His company induced such strong faith in the living God that we experienced the truth of the Quranic verse, We are nearer to him than his life-vein (50:16). Unfortunately, the people of this world did not realize his value. He expressed this poignantly in one of his Persian verses:

My people today are unacquainted with my status,

Someday, in tears, they will remember the blessed time that came with me

Reason for the compilation of Mujaddid Azam (Great Reformer)

It is impossible for the pen to portray what the eyes witnessed of the living belief in God, the adoration of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, the love of Quran, and the great passion for the service, protection, and propagation of Islam. However, this holy period is fading into history, and those who witnessed the era are passing away. Enemies, for reasons of prejudice and obstinacy, and misguided friends by transgressing in their devotion, have presented such an incorrect and repulsive picture among the public of this righteous person that an honest person’s heart bleeds from sorrow and sadness, and the eyes shed tears uncontrollably. It is for these reasons that I pick up my pen to present, to the best of my ability, the correct picture of this God-chosen person through this book Mujaddid Azam (Great Reformer). I hope that it will convince some fortunate souls of the facts about this Mujaddid, and motivate them to live a life in the service of Islam, for this was the mission of this Mujaddid, and this was the purpose for which he founded a party.

God alone has given me the power to complete the first two volumes of this biography. In view of my poor health and inadequacy for this job, I did not think that I would be able to accomplish this. Three years ago, I started writing this book, and during the three years, on occasion, I was so ill that for several months at a time I did not have the strength to hold a pen. Allah, the most High, blessed me with life again and brought two volumes to completion. I pray to the same Merciful and Generous Lord to enable me to complete the third volume.

FIRST VOLUME: Starts with the family history and birth of Hazrat Mirza and records the events of his life up to June 1900.

SECOND VOLUME: Starts from June 1900 and extends up to the death of Hazrat Mirza.

THIRD VOLUME: This is still under compilation and Inshallah (God willing), given life, health and power, will contain an exposition of the character and morals of Hazrat Mirza, and commentary on his services to the faith.

Sources of this biography

I consider it necessary to state a few things about the sources from which this biography has been compiled. I have relied in the first instance on Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad’s published documents such as books and announcements. Beside this, I have examined and extracted material from the records of newspapers, Al-Hakam, Al-Badr, Badr, and the magazine Review of Religions. Biographies are books of history, and historical events are not made up at will. It is necessary in the compilation of biographies to study all relevant existing books and documents and to take from them all the facts that appear authentic, true and reasonable, much like one would compile a bouquet after carefully picking flowers out of thorny bushes. Accordingly, I have read books published from Lahore and Qadian, and benefited from the material contained in them. I have taken some description of the early life of Hazrat Mirza — for example, education, lawsuits, employment in Sialkot, and some early debates — from Sheikh Yaqub Ali Torab’s books Sirat-ul-Nabi, Sirat Ahmad, and Sirat Masih Mauoud, which were published in 1915. From Mirza Bashir Ahmad’s book Sirat-ul-Mahdi, Volumes 1 and 2, I have taken Hazrat Mirza’s genealogy and some family facts. The discussion about his date of birth has been adopted from Mirza Bashir Ahmad’s research, as it appears to be accurate. I have taken assistance regarding some early parts of the biography from Pir Siraj ul Haq’s book Tazkirat-ul-Mahdi. I have also benefited from several other books published from Qadian and Lahore. Of special mention are Maulana Muhammad Ali’s books Tehrik Ahmadiyya, Muslih Mauoud and Ayatullah. The latter book contains an excellent account of the dispute with Maulana Sanaullah that prompted Hazrat Mirza to publish the announcement entitled The Last Judgement. Similarly, Maulana Muhammad Ali’s book Muslih Mauoud deals comprehensively with Hazrat Mirza’s prophecy of a magnificent son. In the two matters, which form the subject of the books Muslih Mauoud and Ayatullah, I have borrowed a great deal from them. I have also relied on other books and I consider it my duty to thank the authors of these books.

Thanks to Allah for the compilation of this book

I have no words to thank Allah, the Most High, for His favor and benevolence in granting me strength and enlightenment during the compilation of this biography. My knowledge was inadequate for the task, and my health was poor, but He, merely from his blessing and mercy, strengthened and enlightened me. I wrote for hours and felt little tiredness. On the contrary, the work gave me great pleasure, and it appeared to me as if I was walking through a garden of spirituality, and plucking pearls of knowledge and wisdom as I strolled along. Through writing this biography, I witnessed in my mind once more, as if I were watching a spiritual movie, the Qadian of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad’s time, so alive and vibrant. My heart saw the holy personalities that were once the essence of his Movement, and heard their talk full of wisdom and knowledge. As in a dream, I was engrossed in watching these scenes when the curtain dropped and the holy faces that I was seeing and the words of wisdom I was listening to vanished once again. I had finished the book, and with it the pain of parting returned in the wound that was inflicted on my heart when Hazrat Mirza left this world. An involuntary sigh escaped me, and with it this verse, which I have been frequently repeating of late, came to my lips:

Alas! In the blinking of an eye ended the company of my beloved,

Spring ended before my gaze had had the fill of the flowers.

The era of Hazrat Mirza was spiritually so invigorating and captivating that one wishes it had not come to an end so soon. But to our regret, before we realized it, that beloved of Allah had departed. Although he had announced that he was about to depart, we were mentally not willing to accept such an eventuality. When the biography was finished, my sorrow renewed but my soul prostrated with thanks before the Most High for enabling me to fulfill this obligation and I said a prayer: O Lord, it is with your graciousness that this book has been written; accept this book, and through your bounty alone, let it influence the hearts of men; let it make the truth apparent to them and motivate the hearts of Muslims to the service of their religion. O Allah! Help those who help the religion of Muhammad, peace and the blessings of Allah be upon him, and make us one of them. O Allah! Abandon those who abandon the faith of Muhammad, peace and the blessings of Allah be upon him, and do not make us one of them. O Lord of the Worlds! Be it so.

A humble request to the reader

Amongst the hundreds of arguments that the Quran has given in support of the truthfulness of Prophet Muhammad, peace be on him, is the powerful argument given in Surah Yunus to the effect that: I have lived among you a lifetime before it. Do you not then understand? (10:16). This verse directs the Prophet to say: I have spent a lifetime amongst you; my life before my claim to prophethood is before you, and there is nothing hidden of my conduct and actions. Have you ever seen any failing in my righteousness, honesty and trustworthiness? You know my intentions and sincerity. When I have never been guilty of any falsehood towards men, how can I commit calumny against God, for there is no greater injustice than that? Therefore, reflect with a calm heart and a cool mind on the truth of my claim.

In presenting to the public the life of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, I invoke this same God- given tradition and argument. I request the reader to reflect according to the following dictate of the Quran: Say: I exhort you only to one thing, that you rise up for Allah’s sake by twos and singly, then ponder! There is no madness in your companion. He is only a warner to you before a severe chastisement (34:46). I repeat the same injunction of God. Singly and collectively, with a cool heart, free from any prejudice and stubbornness, reflect whether a person can be a fabricator of lies against Allah when his whole life has been devoted to righteousness, remembrance of the Most High, and the love of Allah’s religion and His Prophet. And how can those revelations be fabrications when they support Islam at every step, and evidence clear signs of Allah’s help? A person, who is so prolific in supporting Islam with knowledge and wisdom, cannot be insane. The truth is, as was revealed to Hazrat Mirza, A warner came to the world but the people did not accept him; but God will accept him and manifest his truth with powerful assaults.

Brothers in Islam! Reflect what a great injustice we are doing not only to ourselves but also to Islam if suspicion and propaganda prevents us from contemplating the message of a man whose life was spent in the love of God, the Holy Prophet, Quran, and Islam. The damage that is taking place from this inattention is, in the ultimate analysis, injuring Islam and all Muslims. Blessed is he who can recognize this truthful man, and blessed is he who joins this Mujaddid of the era to serve God’s religion.

Your intelligence and understanding is like a drop of water,

But the sea of God’s power is limitless and infinite.

If you hear about the life of saints,

Be not like those who shake their heads and jeer.

You think yourself very clever and wise,

But know not the high standing of such men of God.



Basharat Ahmad

Lahore, April 7, 1939.

Chapter 1

NAME, ANCESTRY, FAMILY CIRCUMSTANCES & PLACE OF RESIDENCE

In accordance with a hadith (saying) of Holy Prophet Muhammad,² Most surely Allah will raise for this community at the head of every century one who shall revive for it its faith,³ the person who claimed to be a Mujaddid (revivalist or reformer) at the head of fourteenth century of the Islamic era (running approximately the period 1882-1980 C.E.) was Ghulam Ahmad. His father’s name was Ghulam Murtaza, his grandfather’s name was Ata Muhammad and his great grandfather was Gul Muhammad. By ethnic origin, he was a Mughal Barlas and his place of residence was Qadian, in Gurdaspur district of the Punjab province of India.

Ethnic origin

The Holy Prophet had prophesied the advent of a great spiritual revivalist at a time when Islam would have lost its spirit. According to the prophecy, the revivalist would be a man of Persian origin. It is important, therefore, to establish the ethnicity of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to determine if he is the intended object of this prophecy.⁴ Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad belonged to the Barlas Tribe. It is commonly believed that Barlas is a respected and well-known sub-section of the Mughals, a people of Central Asian origin. However, this is a misclassification because, in reality, the Barlas were a people of Iranian origin who were settled in and around Samarkand. Timur, a famous fourteenth century C.E. conqueror known in the West as Tamerlane, was of this ethnic origin. The Encyclopedia Britannica records under ‘Timur’ that his father was a noble of the tribe of Barlas. In the book Tazk Taimuri it is reported that Timur’s father prayed for a son who would enhance the respect and fame of the Barlas tribe. Thus, all the historical sources indicate unanimously that Timur was a Barlas. This tribe inhabited the area around Kesh and Samarkand, and according to the Tazk Taimuri, it was Karachar, an ancestor of Timur six generations removed, who brought his tribe to the plains of Kesh and settled it there.

Genealogy of the Barlas tribe

The relationship between Timur and the ancestors of Hazrat Mirza is shown below in a genealogical diagram.



Timur was a Barlas

The genealogical diagram shows quite clearly that Haji Barlas, a forefather of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was the paternal uncle of Timur. It also shows that Karachar was the grandson of Erumji Barlas, the patriarch of the tribe of Barlas. Karachar was the first of the line to migrate from Iran to Toran, and this took place around the time of Genghis Khan’s invasion. The large size of Karachar’s progeny, and his personal capabilities and noble lineage ensured a place of respect for him in the Barlas tribe. Out of respect, Genghis Khan used to call Karachar his paternal cousin, and advised his successor, Chagatai Khan, to consider Karachar in his place after his death. Chagatai Khan initially made Karachar his minister, but later also gave his daughter in marriage to him. Upon Chagatai Khan’s death, Karachar succeeded him as a ruler. This took place in 652 hijri (1254 C.E.) when Karachar was eighty years old. Karachar was the first person from his tribe to convert to Islam, and it was he who settled his tribe in and around Kesh about thirty miles south of Samarkand.

Amir Timur Gurigan was born in the sixth generation of Karachar. He was called Gurigan, which in the Mongol language means son-in-law, because he was the son-in-law of Khizer Khwaja Khan, the Emperor of the Mongols. It was a matter of great honor to be the son-in-law of the Mongol strongman at a time when the power of the Mongols was at its zenith. Timur, therefore, adopted the surname ‘Gurigan’ with great pride and, subsequently, this became the surname of his descendants.

Connecting Timur’s ancestry with Genghis Khan is a mistake

It was a matter of great pride to claim Mongol ancestry, and so some historians of the time started connecting Timur’s genealogy with Genghis Khan out of flattery and claimed a Mongol descent for him. In reality, he was from the tribe of Barlas that was of Persian origin. Accordingly, Sir Henry Howorth writes:⁵

After the great exploits of Timur in the fourteenth century, it became the fashion of his flatterers to connect his ancestry very closely with that of the family of Jingis (Genghis) Khan.

Sir John Malcolm⁶ also expresses the same opinion in his historical scholarship and states that Timur’s flatterers had made up these connections. Well-respected historians, such as Vambery,⁷ and Skrine and Ross⁸, have also clearly stated that the purported relationship between Genghis Khan and Timur is mere fiction that was discredited a long time ago.

The only truth to the Mongol ancestry of Timur is that, in the sixth generation, one of his grandmothers was a Mongol princess, the daughter of Chughtai Khan, who became the wife of Karachar. Apart from this, Timur had no blood connection with the Mongols. Well-known historian Erskine⁹ writes that Timur’s tribe had lived among the Turks for two hundred years, and this long association influenced its language and mannerism and made them appear Turkish though in reality they were not.

Barlas was another name for Scythian

Historian Harold Lamb¹⁰ states that the Barlas are the same people who were known as Scythians in ancient times. The article on Scythia in the Encyclopedia Britannica is written by E. H. Minns, a professor of Cambridge University. He states that the generally accepted opinion considers Scythians to be Persians. This, together with Mr. Lamb’s opinion, leads to the conclusion that the Barlas were Persians.

Immigration of Persians into Turkistan

Tabaqat Nasri¹¹ quotes Imam Muhammad Ali Abu Al-Qasam Hamadi from his book, Tarikh Majdul, as follows:

Yazdigird, a Sassanid prince of Persia, was killed in a village of Billadmaro during the period of Caliph Usman, may Allah be pleased with him. His family and followers stayed on in Turkistan and developed relationships with the people there. After two or three generations had passed, they became indistinguishable from the local Turks and came to be considered as one of them. Their palaces can even now be found in that land.

In Muajam al Baldan Yaqut Hamvi¹² it is recorded that Yazdigird, king of Persia, fled his country out of the fear of the Arab conquerors and sought refuge with the Turkish king Khakan who ruled in Transoxania,¹³ the area of Maverannehr (beyond the river). Farishta, a famous historian, also gives the same account. These statements are completely in accord with the findings of Mr. Erskine who writes:¹⁴

The scattered individuals of Taimur’s tribe from long residence in Turki countries had become Turks in manner and language.

The statement from Tarikh Majdul Their palaces can even now be found in that land is very similar to that of Schuler.¹⁵ He writes:¹⁶

The local traditions ascribe its (Samarkand’s) foundations to Afrasiab, a mythical hero (who was Persian), whose conquests and victories are legendary in Persia and Turkey, as well as in Central Asia.

The original name (of Samarkand) is probably of Persian origin. Hiouen-Thsang writes it Sa-mo-kien.

…and all the great edifices in Samarkand - as is evident from inscriptions - were erected by Persian architects, or by their pupils.

Yazdigird was the last king of the Sassanid dynasty of Persia. Regardless of whether Sassanid and Scythian are synonymous or not, it is apparent that Iranian princes and nobles along with their tribes fled Iran for fear of the Arabs and settled in Maverannehr and Turan, the modern-day Samarkand and Bokhara. There they intermarried, developed local relationships, and came to be regarded as Turks. Karachar, of the tribe of Barlas, also migrated from Persia to Turan and settled in Samarkand and Kesh during the life of Genghis Khan.

The inhabitants of Sogdiana or Samarkand were of Iranian origin

All historians agree that Samarkand and the surrounding area were called Sogdiana in ancient times. The Encyclopedia Britannica states categorically that the inhabitants of Sogdiana were of Iranian origin. Schuler, a well-known historian, writes:¹⁷

So far as race is concerned the inhabitants of Turkistan may be broadly divided into those which are of Iranic or Persian origin and those of Turkish descent. To the former belong the Tadjiks, who were the original inhabitants not only of the country between the Syr and the Amu, the ancient Maverannehr, but also of the right bank of the Syr, Khokand and Kashgar. It was Firdusi in the Shahnameh who first made the Amu the boundary between Iran and Turan, but Professor Grigorief has clearly shown that these terms were used in a purely geographical and not in an ethnological sense, and that the contest between Iran and Turan was not a contest between two different races, but a rivalry between two tribes of the same origin.¹⁸ In later times Turan has been confounded with Turk, and it has been used not only as a general term for all races of Turkish descent, but even still more broadly and improperly to express everything which is neither Semetic nor Aryan, and in fact everything of which ethnologists and philologists knew little or nothing.

As stated above, it is true that Firdusi¹⁹ has mentioned River Jehun as the boundary between Iran and Turan but he also writes in the Shahnameh that Emperor Faredoon divided his kingdom Faras into two parts and gave one to his son Iraj, which was called Iran after him, and gave the other to his son Tor, which was called Turan after him. Otherwise, the country was one and the people were one, being of the same Iranian race.

The book Aryana antiqua states:²⁰

But we have already shown that there is good reason to place Persians even in Transoxiana long before the barbarous tribes of the Caspian plain were heard of. After their irruption the same state of things took place probably that exists in the present day, and a political combination of distinct and even of different tribes, constituted, as it still constitutes, the kingdom of Persia. In this loose combination the designation of one member of the aggregate may have been applied to all, and the Daae may have given a name to the Persians on the Oxus, although they became a constituent portion of the Persian State long after it had held a prominent rank amongst the monarchies of Asia.

Professor Gibb writes:²¹

The Oxus (Jehun) is a boundary of tradition rather than of history… It was from the legends of Sasanian times, enshrined in the pages of the historians and the national epic of Firdawsi, that the Oxus came to be regarded as the boundary between Iran and Turan.

Through all the centuries of invasion, however, the peoples of Sogdiana and the Oxus basin remained Iranian at bottom, preserving an Iranian speech and Iranian institutions.

It is written in Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics edited by Hastings under the article on Turk:²²

It must be noted that, while we hear of the Turks under that name in S. Russia even in the 1st cent. A.D., they only established themselves in Turkestan (‘Land of the Turks’), the country named after them, in the 4th cent. A.D. Before that the country was known as Iran or Iranistan (‘Land of the Iranians’), and stretched further west into the present Iran.

Vambery states in the preface of his book:²³

The great majority of the inhabitants of Transoxania were Iranians, and Persian was the ordinary language of Bokhara, Fergana and Khahrezm under the Arab, Samanide, Seldjukide and Khahrezmian Princes…

Again, on Page 5, he writes:

That the lands on the other side of the Oxus were already in the period of grey antiquity the home of a people of pure Iranian descent, is proved to us in the first place by the oldest monument of the Iranian people, i.e. the Vendidad.

Professor Gibb writes:²⁴

For the Arabic records in general are misleading on two important points. By their use of the word ‘Turk’ for all the non-Persian peoples of the East, they give the impression (due perhaps to the circumstances of the time in which the chief histories were composed) that the opponents of the Arabs in Transoxania (Ma-vara’n-nahar) were the historical Turks. The truth is that until 720 the Arab invaders were resisted only by the local princes with armies composed almost entirely of Iranians…

The last and the strongest opposition to the Arab forces was, in fact, offered by the Barlas princes at Kesh but because they received no succor from the Mongols, they were defeated.



Timur’s National Emblem was Iranian

The historian Vambery writes that Timur’s own coat of arms was three rings with the motto Rusti Rasti, i.e. Justice is Strength. [Shown above] He states that they were most likely borrowed from the heraldry of ancient Iran, for the rings as symbols of strength and unity are also to be seen on the tombs of the Sassanides.²⁵ Vambery also writes that the palace built in Kesh was of Iranian design and the principal front bore the emblem of Iran - the sun and a lion.²⁶

The title Mirza is purely Iranian

It is worth noting that the whole tribe of Barlas used the title Mirza. This title is not found among the Tatars²⁷ and neither is this word part of their language. The Tatars always used the surname Khan as, for example, Genghis Khan, Halaku Khan and Manku Khan. They were never known as Mirzas, which is a purely Iranian word and used with Iranian names. The word is derived from Amirza, which means a noble, and it is a title of esteem only amongst the Iranians. The Tartars did not use this title.

The ending ji in Arumji Barlas

The ending ji in the name of Arumji Barlas, who was the patriarch of the tribe and after whom the tribe was named, is also an Iranian ending. Many Iranian names have this ending, for example, Rustomji, Sohrabji and Bahramji. The Tatar names do not have the ji ending.

Summary of discussion

Thus research proves the Iranian origin of the Barlas tribe. The major supportive arguments are summarized below. Researchers accept that:

• Timur was not a descendant of Genghis Khan. Some historians have alleged otherwise but their opinion is not considered creditworthy as it relies on sycophantic sources whose motive was clearly flattery.

• Timur was a Scythian and Scythians were of Iranian origin.

• These Scythians later came to be known as Barlas after the important patriarch Arumji Barlas.

• Iranians inhabited the areas of Turan, Maverannehr, Samarkand and Kesh, and the Barlas were ethnically part of this population. The inhabitants of these areas never forgot their origin and retained their Iranian language and institutions. The whole of southern Turkistan extending up to Russia was considered part of Iran till the 4th century C.E. and it was only after the Tatars began settling in this area that it came to be called Turkistan.

• Timur’s tribe Barlas was mistakenly considered as Turkish because of its association with the Turks for two hundred years. In reality, they were not Turkish but Iranians. The Barlas were settled around Samarkand and Kesh.

• Timur’s national insignia and the architecture of his palaces were Iranian. The title, Mirza, common in his tribe, and the name of the patriarch of the tribe, Arumji, were also typically Iranian.

• Haji Barlas, a forefather of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was the paternal uncle of Timur and thus belonged to the same Barlas tribe that was settled around Samarkand and Kesh.

Haji Barlas was the forefather of Mirza Hadi Baig

Mirza Hadi Baig, a descendent of Haji Barlas and a forefather of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was the first person in Hazrat Mirza’s family to emigrate from Samarkand to India. Sir Lepel H. Griffin also records this fact.²⁸ In his book, Izala Auham, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad writes:²⁹

Papers and documents left behind by my ancestors show conclusively that my respected elders, for reasons unstated, migrated from Samarkand to Delhi with a large party during the reign of Emperor Babar. It is not very clear from those papers whether they entered India with Babar or came a little later. The papers do show categorically, however, that they had a special relationship with the Royal family as a result of which they were included among the nobility. The Emperor granted them a large estate of several villages and this made them the owners of a large tract of agricultural property.

Also, Hazrat Mirza records in his book Kitab-ul-Bariyya:³⁰

Family documents of great antiquity, still preserved with us, show that my ancestors migrated to this country from Samarkand. They were respected nobles and came to this country with their families, employees and servants, an entourage of about two hundred people. They settled in an uninhabited tract of land about a hundred miles north-east of Lahore and founded this small town which they called Islampur. Later, it came to be known as Islampur Qazi Majhi and, over a period of time, the word Islampur was dropped and only Qazi remained. With time, this changed to Qadi and was later distorted to Qadian.

Hazrat Mirza’s claim of Persian descent made on basis of revelation

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was unaware of the literature that ascertained the Persian origin of Barlas, and disproved the commonly accepted notion of their Mughal ancestry. This research did not become available till after his death. However, in his book, Kitab-ul-Bariyya, Hazrat Mirza states in a footnote that his ancestors came from Samarkand, and then in an explanatory note to the footnote writes as follows:³¹

About seventeen or eighteen years ago, I was informed by repeated revelations from God that my forefathers were of Persian descent. I included those revelations in Part 2 of Barahin Ahmadiyya. One such revelation in my respect is, Hold fast to Unity, hold fast to Unity; O sons of Persia. A second states: Even if faith was suspended from the Pleiades this man of Persian descent would have gone there to take it. A third is, Those who disbelieve, their faiths have been refuted by this man of Persian descent. God is thankful for his effort. All these revelations evidence that my ancestry is Persian. This is the truth that Allah has manifested.

And that which Allah revealed turned out to be true. Independent historical research has shown that the tribe of Barlas, from which Hazrat Mirza’s family came, is indeed Persian. In Haqiqat-ul-Wahy, Hazrat Mirza writes:³²

The ancestry of this humble person is Iranian. Because of some unknown error, the family became identified as Mughal.

Further on, in the same book, he states:³³

Sheikh Mohyuddin ibn Arabi has also reported this prophecy in his book Fusus Al-Hikam (The Wisdom of the Prophets). The Sheikh writes that, ‘He will be of mixed blood,’ by which is meant that he will also have Turkish blood in his family.

Hazrat Mirza’s Barlas ancestry was Persian but his forefather Karachar married the daughter of Chagatai Khan, which brought Turkish-Chinese blood into their progeny as well.

The hadith prophecy about the man with Persian ancestry

The revelation of Hazrat Mirza which he has presented, Even if faith were suspended from the Pleiades, this man of Persian descent would have gone there to take it, are words from part of a hadith of the Holy Prophet which were revealed to Hazrat Mirza. Hazrat Mirza’s writings indicate that the purpose of this revelation was in fact to draw his attention to this prophecy. The full hadith, as narrated in the Bukhari, states that the Holy Prophet, while explaining the verse of the Chapter Jumuah which reads, And others from among them who have not yet joined them, placed his hand on the shoulder of Salman the Persian and said, Even if faith were suspended from the Pleiades, a man from among them (namely a Persian) would have gone there and taken it.³⁴ Thus, the revelation of this hadith by Allah to Hazrat Mirza was meant to show that he was the person of Iranian descent and perfect belief who had come in fulfillment of the Holy Prophet’s prophecy. Hazrat Mirza appeared in an era of agnosticism when faith was far removed from the lives of men. By adducing clear proofs, brilliant arguments and heavenly signs, he restored their lost faith and made faith a practical reality in their lives.

Place of residence

To summarize, Mirza Hadi Baig, a forefather of Hazrat Mirza, came to India during the reign of Babar as a respected noble with a group of about two hundred people comprising his family, employees and servants. He went to the court of the Emperor in Delhi and was awarded titles and an estate about one hundred miles north east of Lahore, in the present District of Gurdaspur. He settled this area, which was a veritable jungle at that time, and founded the town of Islampur.

The town later came to be known as Islampur Qazi Majhi. Islampur was a common name and the word Majhi was suffixed to show its location because the entire tract of land extending from Gurdaspur into the districts of Lahore and Amritsar was known as Majhi. The award of an estate also entailed judicial and administrative responsibilities for the area. The word Qazi means a ‘judge’ and the use of this word in the name indicated that the judge for the area resided in this town. As a rule, people tend to abbreviate long names and so over a period of time, Islampur and Majhi were dropped and only Qazi remained. Since the Arabic letter Zowad is frequently pronounced as Doad, especially by the Hanafis, the name Qazi became Qadi and was later distorted to Qadian. This author has, over an extended period, noticed that the carriage drivers at Batala railway station refer to the town as Qadeen and the villagers still call it Qadi. This fact also verifies the hadith that states, "The Mahdi will come from a town whose name is Qaddah…"³⁵. Qaddah is just a distorted form of Qadi.³⁶



View of modern day Qadian.



Another view of Qadian with the Ahmadiyya Colony in the background.

Genealogy

Mirza Hadi Baig was awarded a large estate in the Punjab and his descendants lived and prospered in the area enjoying both respect and authority. Hazrat Mirza lists in his book Kitab-ul- Bariyya the generations of his family that lived and passed away there. He gives his genealogy as follows:

My name is Ghulam Ahmad son of Mirza Ghulam Murtaza, son of Mirza Ata Muhammad, son of Mirza Gul Muhammad, son of Mirza Faiz Muhammad, son of Mirza Muhammad Qaim, son of Mirza Muhammad Aslam, son of Mirza Muhammad Dilawar, son of Mirza Allah Din, son of Mirza Jaffer Baig, son of Mirza Muhammad Baig, son of Mirza Abdul Baqi, son of Mirza Sultan, son of Mirza Hadi Baig, the patriarch.

The detailed genealogical tree of Hazrat Mirza is as follows:

Genealogy of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad

Abbreviations: M. = Muhammad; G. = Ghulam



Persecution of the family by the Sikhs

When the Sikhs rose to power in the Punjab, Hazrat Mirza’s great grandfather, Mirza Gul Muhammad, was a chieftain in the area. Hazrat Mirza portrays vividly in his book Kitab-ul-Barriya the condition of their estate at the time, and the persecution his family suffered at the hands of the Sikhs. He writes:³⁷

When the Sikh rule started, my great grandfather, Mirza Gul Muhammad, was a distinguished noble of the area whose estate extended over fifty villages. As a result of repeated attacks by the Sikhs, many of these villages were wrested from his possession. However, it is a measure of his generosity that despite his own losses, he gifted, out of sheer kindness, several villages and associated lands to Muslim noblemen who had been forcibly dispossessed of their estates in that period of lawlessness. This property is still owned by them to this day. In short, even in that period of anarchy, my great grandfather was an autonomous chief in the area. About five hundred people, sometimes a little more and sometimes a little less, ate at his table each mealtime, and he paid stipends to about a hundred religious scholars, pious people, and Hafiz Quran (those who have memorized the whole Quran). These people were his constant companions and the conversation in their gatherings was mostly on religious issues and what God and His Prophet have commanded. His employees and associates were such that they could not conceive of missing their prayers, and even the maids employed to ground the wheat prayed five times and said the Tahajjud (late night) prayer… In those troubled times, this blessed little town was a refuge for every Muslim. It was common to find injustice, cruelty, and transgression in most places those days, but in Qadian, only Islam, piety, purity and justice prevailed.

I have personally heard from people who lived close to that era about the wonderful atmosphere that prevailed in Qadian during that period. They compared Qadian to a garden whose vegetative flora were men of religion, piety and learning — noble of character and courageous. It is well known locally that the late Mirza Gul Muhammad was one of the most pious people of his time and possessed great spiritual eminence. Many religious, pious and learned people had gathered in Qadian to benefit from his company… In summary, his fame stemmed not only from his temporal wealth and authority, but

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A detailed extended work on the life of Hazrat Mirza Ghula Ahmad the imam of the age.