Anecdotes from the Life of the Promised Messiah

A Short Biography of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian

Compiled by Mumtaz Ahmad Faruqui

Chapter 8: The Passing Away of the Promised Messiah [Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian]

The Promised Messiah [Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian] was in the 74^th year of his age. He had some bodily ailments which troubled him off and on. On 26^th April 1908, he received an ilham [revelation] saying:

“Do not feel secure from the tricks of time”.

On 27^th April 1908, he along with his wife left for Lahore. On reaching Lahore he received another ilham saying:

“Do not put faith in the transitory life”.

He had other ilhams saying:

“Will we die in Mecca (signifying Qadian) or in Medina (signifying Lahore) and ‘The Shock of Separation’.”

He stayed in the house of his dear friend — Dr. Syed Muhammad Hussain Shah in Ahmadiyya Buildings about whom and his other companions in Lahore, had come a Divine tiding:

“In Lahore live our holy members (of the Movement)”.

Many prominent people of Lahore came to see him and to interview him as well. Noted among those were some gentlewomen belonging to the Sanatan Dharam Sect of the Hindus. They had heard that Hazrat Mirza Sahib had also claimed to be ‘Krishna’ — a successor to Lord Krishna, a great Prophet of the Hindus in ancient times. These ladies wanted to have a ‘darshan’ of Mirza Sahib and make obeisance to him. He gave them an audience, and impressed upon them the unity of God and to pray to Him only and showed them how to do it. They fanned him (with a handworked fan) to show their respect for him.

On 25^th May 1908 Mirza Sahib suffered a severe attack of diarrhoea which weakened him greatly. The best of treatment was made available, but no relief was visible. In the early hours of the morning of 26^th May 1908, he had another attack of the disease which made his pulse very weak and erratic. At 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday the 26^th May 1908, the great Soldier of Islam left for his heavenly abode.

The necessary funeral arrangements were made and a huge congregation of his followers as well as his admirers among Muslims attended the funeral prayers (namaz-i-janaza). A special railway carriage was arranged in which the wooden coffin along with a huge quantity of ice was placed. The train left for Batala in the evening where it reached at 10 p.m. Here the body was taken out of the wooden coffin and placed on a charpai [a traditional bed with a wood frame and woven with natural-fibre ropes] and carried on the shoulders of hundreds of his followers. On 27^th May 1908, at 8 a.m. the body was placed in the garden of Hazrat Mirza Sahib where the Bahishti Maqbara (the cemetery of the blessed ones of God) is located. There again the funeral prayer was offered by thousands of the followers present, and was led by the venerable Maulana Noor-ud-Din, who had already been unanimously elected to be the first Successor of the Promised Messiah and Head of Ahmadiyya Movement,

On his grave, later on, a headstone was fixed with the epitaph:

“Janab [Honourable] Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib Qadiani, Raees [Chief] of Qadian, the Promised Messiah and Mujaddid [Reformer] of 14^th Century (A.H.), died on 26^th May 1908”, (May his soul rest in peace!)

What Happened Afterwards:

As mentioned earlier Maulana Noor-ud-Din was elected as the first successor to the Promised Messiah. Maulana Sahib was a very able and learned man not only in his profession of a hakim (a physician who uses eastern method of treatment of human ailments and prescribes indigenous medicines) but also in the religious lore. He faithfully followed all that he had learnt from Hazrat Mirza Sahib in the management of the affairs of the Ahmadiyya Movement. He let the Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya (the Central Executive Committee) at Qadian, of which he was the President, run the day-to-day working of the organization. He himself was busy not only in his professional work but also in holding regular discourses in the teaching of the Holy Quran and Hadith and jurisprudence.

In his time, the Ahmadiyya Community earned a good name and reputation. The well-ordered religious and secular way of life in the institutions of the Anjuman at Qadian, and its beliefs and activities as proclaimed all over the country by gifted speakers like Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din and others, earned a well-deserved goodwill of the Muslim public. So much so, that in a lecture delivered at Aligarh in 1911 C.E., the late Dr. Muhammad Iqbal, the national poet of the Muslims of Indo-Pak, remarked:

“In modern times, if any of you wants to see an orthodox Islamic way of life, then he should go to Qadian”.

Dr. Iqbal’s own son, Aftab Iqbal, was sent to the school at Qadian. The efforts of the Ahmadiyya Community to carry the banner of Islam to the Western countries, like the Muslim Mission at Woking (U. K.), established by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, was attracting attention and interest of the English people, and so was appreciated by the Muslims all over the world. Well-intentioned people and the intelligentsia were attracted to the Ahmadiyya way of thinking; especially as their preachers managed to route non-Muslim detractors of Islam in all religious debates.

The Devil, however, could not wait on the sideline any longer, and started getting busy by putting evil and selfish thoughts into the minds of certain people within the Ahmadiyya Community. The eldest son (from the second wife) of Hazrat Mirza Sahib, Mirza Mahmud Ahmad by name, who was also a member of the Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya, started thinking as to why he could not manoeuvre to become the next ‘head’ of the community. He organised a party of his own, ‘Ansar-ullah’ by name, and started a propaganda to gain supporters for his claim. That in itself would not have been so bad, but being ambitious and scheming he wanted to be a caliph [khalifa] with absolute powers. Hazrat Mirza Sahib considered himself a caliph (in the sense of a successor) of the great Prophet Muhammad (on whom be peace). Since there could not be a caliph to a caliph, so Mirza Mahmud Ahmad thought of a stratagem and that was to promote Hazrat Mirza Sahib to be a real prophet whose successors could be caliphs (Khalifas) holding immense prestige and power. But there was a snag in this scheme. As the deniers of a ‘real prophet’ are considered Kafirs (unbelievers), so any Muslim who does not accept Mirza Sahib as such, would go outside the pale of Islam. But the ambitious Mirza Mahmud Ahmad Sahib could not be deterred by such snags. In the first half of the year 1911 C.E., he came out with an article under his pen in his monthly magazine — Tashhiz-ul-Azhan that if any Muslim does not believe in the claims of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, even if he is a good Muslim otherwise, becomes Kafir. In other words, Hazrat Mirza Sahib was given out to be a real prophet.

The fat was now in the fire and there were serious differences of opinion, and bad blood was created between friends. Maulana Muhammad Ali, who was then the Secretary of the Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya and had also started on the English translation of the Holy Quran with commentary, as well as Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din and their several friends and members of the community, were deadly against the new move. They regarded all those who recited the Muslim Kalima

لَآاِلٰہَ اِلَّااللّٰھُ مُحَمَّدٌرَّسُوْلُ اللّٰھِ

La ilaha illa Allah Muhammadur Rasul Allah, (there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger)

to be a Muslim. As to Hazrat Mirza Sahib, they considered him to be a Mujaddid, the Promised Messiah and Mahdi of the Age, and not a claimant of real prophethood. Hazrat Maulana Noor-ud-Din, the head of the community, also favoured this view; but he was of so forbearing a nature that he did not take up severely with Mirza Mahmud Ahmad Sahib, but only indicated that he was in the wrong. The venerable old man wanted to avoid an open split in the ranks of the Ahmadiyya Community.

Hazrat Mirza Sahib had laid down certain characteristics of a real prophet according to the Quran:

1. He is a mortal,
2. He is sinless,
3. Brings guidance (hidayah) to mankind,
4. He is sent with arguments, scripture and book,
5. Prophets among themselves are like brothers,
6. Gabriel must descend on him with prophetic revelation,
7. A prophet must follow his own revelation,
8. His revelation verifies the previous revelation,
9. His revelation is specially protected,
10. He is a Master (Mutā‘, who is a leader and not a follower),
11. All his revelation must be communicated to men,
12. His revelation can alter the previous law (shariah),
13. His revelation is recited in prayers,
14. Belief in him is part of the faith.

A person who does not possess these characteristics collectively cannot be called a prophet in the terminology of Islam. (The Ahmadiyya Movement, Annexe II-E, pp. 159–163).

It is obvious that Hazrat Mirza Sahib cannot by any stretch of imagination be considered a real prophet; but his own son — Mirza Mahmud Ahmad Sahib and others promoted him as such.

The similarity between the missions of Jesus Christ and the Promised Messiah may be noted. Jesus Christ was a human prophet of God, preaching the Unity of God and respect for his commandments. However, when he was gone, there was only the Church of Jerusalem under the guidance of his brother James, which stuck to the teachings of the master. But elsewhere Paul, who wasn’t even a disciple of Jesus Christ nor had he seen him, played havoc with the true teachings of Jesus Christ, and soon had promoted him to be a son of God, belief in whose sonship and death on the Cross to atone for the sins of others, was essential for the salvation of the human soul. Soon Jesus Christ was one of the members of the triune Godhead. While in the case of Hazrat Mirza Sahib, his real claim was only that of the Mujaddid (of the 14^th century A.H.) in Islam, with the honoured titles of the Promised Messiah and Mahdi conferred on him by God, yet he was promoted by some misguided followers of his to be a real prophet.

Mirza Mahmud Ahmad Sahib trotted out an absurd statement that Hazrat Mirza Sahib after 1901 C.E. suddenly realised that he was a real prophet, though he considered himself otherwise before that time. We have already quoted from his books, published subsequent to 1901 C.E. in which he has clearly denied any such new claim. In fact, later on (after the Split), some seventy of his close followers who had entered his baiat [pledge] before 1901 C.E., stated in writing on oath, that they did not consider Hazrat Mirza Sahib a real prophet, neither before 1901 C.E. nor afterwards up to his death in 1908 C.E. Mirza Mahmud Ahmad Sahib failed to produce any such solemn statement from his side.

The Split:

After the death of Maulana Noor-ud-Din in 1914 C.E., matters came to a head. Mirza Mahmud Ahmad Sahib at the head of his party, Ansar-ullah, who were powerfully entrenched in Qadian, in a rowdy meeting held in the Noor Mosque, in which they did not allow Maulana Muhammad Ali to speak and give his viewpoint, elected Mirza Mahmud Ahmad Sahib, as the next successor (the second Khalifa-tul-Masih as they called him) to the Promised Messiah. There were jubilations galore and telegrams were sent to all and sundry about the election and its result.

The supporters of Mirza Mahmud Ahmad Sahib soon made it hard for Maulana Muhammad Ali and his comrades to stay and work in Qadian; so, they migrated to Lahore. There they continued their efforts to conciliate and come to an understanding with Mirza Mahmud Ahmad Sahib without sacrificing any principle. But on being rebuffed, Maulana Muhammad Ali and his comrades were forced to leave Qadian, and all right-thinking members of the Ahmadiyya Community, assembled in Lahore and in May 1914 laid the foundation of the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat-i-Islam, Lahore, which replaced Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya at Qadian to which they had no access. It may be noted that after the death of Maulana Noor-ud-Din out of the remaining thirteen members of the Sadr Anjuman at Qadian, seven came to be the members of the new Anjuman at Lahore. It was this very new Anjuman that in due course published the English translation of the Holy Quran with commentary by Maulana Muhammad Ali, and numerous other authentic books on Islam and its Holy Prophet. Several Islamic Missions in foreign countries were also opened and managed.

After the partition of the sub-continent of India, Qadian having fallen in the Bharat [Indian] territory, the Qadian section of the Ahmadiyya Community emigrated to Rabwah in Punjab (Pakistan).

The Aftermath:

Mirza Mahmud Ahmad Sahib, the head of the Rabwah Section of the Ahmadiyya Community, also dabbled in politics. In 1935–36 he dabbled in the politics of the then Jammu and Kashmir State, where the majority of the population was Muslim. This brought him into conflict with Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal, the famous poet, who himself was a Kashmiri; and who thus became his inveterate enemy. Mirza Mahmud Ahmad’s uncompromising beliefs regarding other Muslims also earned him violent opposition from other Muslim sects and groups. So much so that in 1952–53 C.E., there were anti-Ahmadiyya riots, mainly in Punjab [Pakistan], which caused a Martial Law to be imposed on the capital city of Lahore. When peace prevailed, an Enquiry Commission headed by Mr. Justice Muhammad Munir was appointed by the Government to investigate into the causes of the riots. Strangely enough, in a summoned statement before the Commission, Mirza Mahmud Ahmad Sahib recanted from his beliefs, and gave out, as recorded, that he did not consider the denier of the Promised Messiah as a kafir; and that one who recites the Kalima is a Muslim. He also denied that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib was a real prophet.

Due to some disturbances occurring at Rabwah railway station in May 1974, a country-wide agitation engineered by the fanatic maulvis [clerics] who were sworn enemies of the Ahmadiyya Community, spread against the Ahmadiyya Community as such, with no distinction between the Lahori Ahmadis and Rabwah Ahmadis. Many Ahmadis lost by arson their property (houses and shops) and some were murdered. Even their mosques and libraries were not spared. The general demand was to declare all Ahmadis as non-Muslims and treat them legally as such. A resolution was presented in the National Assembly of Pakistan at Islamabad in September 1974, and perhaps to placate the feelings of the rioting mobs in some cases led by fanatic maulvis, the members of the Assembly voted to consider all those who did not believe in the finality of the prophethood of the Holy Prophet, as non-Muslims. Both the sections of Ahmadis, the Lahore Ahmadis and Rabwah Ahmadis were bracketed as such. The protests of the Lahore Ahmadis were of no avail, although they still consider themselves as Muslims and do not conform to the Rabwah views.

The Founder’s Predictions:

With such a calamity befalling his followers, one would think the Promised Messiah must have had some indications of the coming events. Yes, he did.

On 19^th January 1903, he related a vivid dream of his:

On 5^th April 1905, he said:

In a poster issued on 25^th April 1905 the Promised Messiah states that

“God Almighty will save the right-minded followers of mine; and that God will come with His host (of angels) to help them, while their opponents would be ridiculing them and would be unaware of God’s action which will make the world tremble. Lucky are those who repent in time.” (Tazkirah, p. 954)

Again, he writes:

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