Of the Ahmadiyya Movement
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THE FOU NDER OF THE AHMADIYYA MOVEMENT A SHORT ST U DY L NA H MAU A MU AMMAD ALI M . A LL . B . , AU TH OR OF ’ ran la i n H ol ur an i Com m entar an d x A T s t o of the y Q w th y Te t , U rdu m m n a an n li ran la n Wi h s Co e t ry , E g sh T s tio t Note , u am m a the Pro het I lam the l i n M h d p , s Re ig o of um ani li i n I lam arl H ty , The Re g o of s , E y al a Ahm adi a M ove C iph te , The yy m n The B abi li i n e t , Re g o , E t c E t c . TH E ‘ AHMADIYYA ANJU MAN ISHA AT-I- ISLAM LAHORE PRINTED AT THE RIPON PRIN TING PRESS , B U LL ROAD LAHORE , BY M IRZA MU HAMMAD SAD I HS Aé Asaa A HU LA H AD MIRZ G M A M , the founder of Ahm adi a was the yy movement , born at r Qadian , a village in the Gurdaspu ’ D s istrict, Punjab , in His father a and name was Mirza Ghulam Murt dza, the family is descended from the Barlas 2 tribe of the Moghul family . His K ancestors had long resided in hurasan , ; a province of Persia, and were the dignita e ries of the land . In the t nth century B of the Hijra , when abar ruled India, one Be of his ancestors , Mirza Hadi g , emigrated 1. In i di i n hi b k 1839 w as i n as th the f rst e t o of t s oo , g ve e da and i is al da iv n b the un d r im l in te , th s so the te g e y fo e h se f the short autobiography which he wrote in 1897 an d which - - a a d in his b k A l itab al Bari a. hi w as h v ppe re oo K yy T s , owe er, a guess as there is no written record of the exact date of hi s b bir . in is am a t obio ra he s at e s t at th _ th s e u g y t , a h a n arl r ar ofb s at e w se he p ssed e y fo ty y e s i l ife wi f h r- ho ‘ '' e althfiok lac in . O n i ba i 1837 or 1836 ul d e l826 th s s s , wo d a a be a m r r babl d a . H is son za B a h , i ir ppe r to o e p o e te _ M r s Ahm ad, 6 as the of hi s father g m year _ w as n m a l Ba las. 2 . This tribe desce ded fro H j r He lived at u ut am ar an d but w as x ll d r m K sh , to the so h of S q , e pe e f o there by Taim ur when he con quered that land. H aji B arlas took e r in hura an and am il d there ll the shelt K s , the f y live ti y am r In ia in im aba . O n a un c e ove to d , the t e of B r cco t of their l n id n in ia arla ib m a be in l o g res e ce Pers , the B s tr e y c uded am n r ian . m au i i h r sa that o g the Pe s s So e thor t es , oweve , y arla is not a ul but a ian ib as both B s Mogh Pers tr e , Barlas an d M irza (the sur - title) are words of Persian and M a h hm not of Turkish origin. irz G ulam A ad him self says that his ance stors were Persians. FOU NDER OF THE AHM AD IYYA MOVEMENT from Persia, most probably on account of ss some fam ily di ensions , and with his family and about two hundred attendants sought refuge in India . Settling in a vast and - fertile sub Himalayan plain, called the Majjha, he there built a village , about 70 miles from Lahore in a north- easterly direction , and called it Islampur . The ruling monarch granted him a vast tract of land as. a jagir with the right to exercise lit m a istrate the powers of a Qadzi ( , a g ) or h t c hief executive aut ori y. Hence , Islampur M a hi became known as Islampur Qadzi jj , l ultimately shortened to Qadi , and at last became known as Qadian . In the latter days of the Moghul Empire when it was undergoing the a process of dissolution , the j g ir granted to the ancestors of Ahm ad 2 became an ‘ nam ad a whic h is nl another rm 1 . The e K . o y fo of Q adi i is m n i n in a a i ro het or Kad . e t o ed h d th of the Holy P p M uham m ad as the place of the appearance of M ahdi - l A srar . (Jawahir a , p e r n d nam m ad is ad d in 2 . Th sho te e e Ah opte stead of the n am Mi za G ulam m ad ak br vi full e r h Ah for the s e of e ty . ‘ This is the nam e whic h he adopted in taking baz a (oath of thou h in al l his l and ri in u i feal ty) , g etters w t gs he sed h s full his la i n both l n an nam e . In reve t o s , the o g d the shortened form s“occur ; the following re ason for this is from his o wn n : b in m ani a i n l Pr I pe As e g the fest t o of the Ho y ophet, m ad thou h m nam was lam was c alled Ah , g y e Ghu Ahm ad Re i ions Vol . II . (Review of l g , , p 2 FAMILY HISTORY in dependent state . In the early days of t h e w o r e Sikh rul , hen anarchy and pp es sion were the -order of the day and Islam and the Muslims were being persecuted w e very here , Qadian remained for a long time the centre of peace and prosperity . - Mirza Gul Muhammad , the great grand father of Ahmad , was then the head of the m family and , after the anner of the good i s O rient al chiefs , his pur e was open for the learned and his table ministered freely to the poor and to the strangers . He had o nly eighty- five villages in his possession but, on account of his great love for piety and learning , many of the learned men who could not find shelter elsewhere u felt ass red of a warm reception at Qadian . After the death of Mirza Gul Muhammad , ‘ son his , Mirza Ata Muhammad , became the chief but he was soon overpowered by the Sikhs who seized village after xc village , until not a single village , e ept Qadian , was left in his possession . This ‘ place was strongly fortified , but a body o f Ram Garhis Sikhs , called , made an entry into the town under false pretences k and too possession of the village . Mirza ‘ Ata Muhammad and his whole fam ily were made prisoners and deprived of their FOUNDER OF THE AHMADIYYA M OVEMENT possessions. Their houses and the mosques were made desolate , and the library was burned to the ground . After inflicting all u kinds of tort re , the Sikhs ordered the family to leave the village Of Qadian . Thus , expelled from their home , they. ‘ Ata sought shelter in another state , where Muhammad was poisoned by his enemi es . ’ In the latter days of Ranjit Singh s a z ascendancy, Mirz Ghulam Murtad a Obtained five villages from the jagir of his - ancestors and t e settled at Qadian . Below is reproduced the opening paragraph of ’ cc un Sir Lepel Griffin s a o t of the family, pu b“hs t jab Chiefs : 1530 r In , the last year of the Empero ’ Be Babar s reign , Hadi g , a Mughal of Samarqand , emigrated to the Punjab and settled in the Gurdaspur D istrict. He was d a man of some learning , and was appointe Kazi or Magistrate over seventy villages K in the neighbourhood of adian , which it town he is said to have founded , naming K c K Islampur azi , from whi h adian has by a natural change arisen . For several genera tions the family held Offices of respect l ability under the Imperia Government, and it was only when the Sikhs became ‘ powerful that it fell into poverty EDUCATION The Sikh anarchy was, soon after ’ Ahmad s birth , replaced by the peace and B security of the ritish rule , and the Punjab Muslims once more breathed freely .