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{{Short description|Indian religious leader and founder of the Ahmadiyya community (1835–1908)}} | |||
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{{Infobox clergy|honorific prefix=|name=Mīrzā Ghulām Aḥmad <br/>{{nq|{{nobold|مرزا غلام احمد}}}}|title=Founder of the ]|image=Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (c. 1897).jpg|caption=Ahmad, {{circa|1897}}|religion=] Islam<ref name="Upal 2021">{{cite book |author-last=Upal |author-first=M. Afzal |author-link=Afzal Upal |year=2021 |chapter=The Cultural Genetics of the Aḥmadiyya Muslim Jamāʿat |editor1-last=Cusack |editor1-first=Carole M. |editor1-link=Carole M. Cusack |editor2-last=Upal |editor2-first=M. Afzal |title=Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements |location=] and ] |publisher=] |series=Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion |volume=21 |doi=10.1163/9789004435544_034 |doi-access=free |isbn=978-90-04-43554-4 |issn=1874-6691 |pages=637–657}}</ref><ref name="Korbel-Preckel 2016">{{cite book |last1=Korbel |first1=Jonathan |last2=Preckel |first2=Claudia |year=2016 |chapter=Ghulām Aḥmad al-Qādiyānī: The Messiah of the Christians—Peace upon Him—in India (India, 1908) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZtY6DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA426 |editor1-last=Bentlage |editor1-first=Björn |editor2-last=Eggert |editor2-first=Marion |editor3-last=Krämer |editor3-first=Hans-Martin |editor4-last=Reichmuth |editor4-first=Stefan |editor4-link=Stefan Reichmuth (academic) |title=Religious Dynamics under the Impact of Imperialism and Colonialism |series=Numen Book Series |volume=154 |location=] |publisher=] |pages=426–442 |doi=10.1163/9789004329003_034 |isbn=978-90-04-32511-1}}</ref>|spouse={{unbulleted list|{{marriage|Hurmat Bibi|1852}}|{{marriage|]|1884}}}}|children={{Collapsible list|titlestyle=font-weight:normal; background:transparent; text-align:left;|title=|Mirza Sultan Ahmad|Mirza Fazal Ahmad|]|]|Mirza Sharif Ahmad|Mirza Mubarak Ahmad||Mubarika Begum|Amatul Naseer Begum |Amatul Hafeez Begum}}|birth_date={{birth date|df=yes|1835|2|13}}|birth_place=], ], ] <br /> {{small|(present-day ], ])}}|death_date={{death date and age|df=yes|1908|5|26|1835|2|13}}|death_place=], ], ] <br /> {{small|(present-day ], ])}}}} | |||
'''Mirza Ghulam Ahmad''' ('''مرزا غلام احمد''') (], ]–], ]) is the founder of the ] religious movement. The Ahmadiyya Movement claims that it stands in the same relation to Islam, as Christianity stood to Judaism at the time of Jesus. | |||
'''Mirza Ghulam Ahmad'''{{Efn|{{langx|ur|{{nq|مرزا غلام احمد}}|Mirzā Ghulām Aḥmad}}}} (13 February 1835 – 26 May 1908) was an Indian religious leader and the founder of the ]. He claimed to have been divinely appointed as the promised ] and '']'', in fulfillment of the ], as well as the '']'' (centennial reviver) of the 14th ].{{Ahmadiyya|amj}} | |||
Born to a family with aristocratic roots in ], rural ], Ahmad emerged as a writer and debater for ]. When he was just over forty years of age, his father died and around that time he claimed that ] began to communicate with him. In 1889, he took a ] from forty of his supporters at ] and formed a community of followers upon what he claimed was divine instruction, stipulating ], an event that marks the establishment of the Ahmadiyya movement. The mission of the movement, according to him, was the reinstatement of the ] of God, the revival of Islam through the moral reformation of society along Islamic ideals, and the global propagation of Islam in its pristine form. As opposed to the Christian and mainstream Islamic view of Jesus (or Isa), being alive in heaven to return towards the end of time, Ahmad asserted that he had in fact survived crucifixion and ]. He traveled extensively across the Punjab preaching his religious ideas and rallied support by combining a reformist programme with his personal revelations which he claimed to receive from God, attracting thereby substantial following within his lifetime as well as considerable hostility particularly from the Muslim '']''. He is known to have engaged in numerous public debates and dialogues with Christian missionaries, Muslim scholars and Hindu revivalists. | |||
Ahmad remains a controversial figure to this day because of his claims to be the promised ] and ], and because of the movement he established. All of his followers consider him to be a prophet, a claim disputed by the mainstream Muslims. | |||
Ahmad was a prolific author and wrote ] on various religious, theological and moral subjects between the publication of the first volume of '']'' (The Proofs of Ahmadiyya, his first major work) in 1880 and his death in May 1908. Many of his writings bear a ] and ] tone in favour of Islam, seeking to establish its superiority as a religion through rational argumentation, often by articulating his own interpretations of Islamic teachings. He advocated a peaceful propagation of Islam and emphatically argued against the permissibility of ] under circumstances prevailing in the present age. By the time of his death, he had gathered an estimated 400,000 followers, especially within the ], the Punjab and ] and had built a dynamic religious organisation with an executive body and its own printing press. After his death he was succeeded by his close companion ] who assumed the title of ] (successor of the Messiah). | |||
==Chronology of Events== | |||
*1835 born ]. | |||
*] Punjab incorporated into ]. | |||
*] marriage to Hurmat Bibi (later separated). | |||
*] Indian Mutiny. | |||
*] Reader in a Court in Siakot (4 years). | |||
*] First Revelation. | |||
*1865 Evidence that the founder of ] was a Muslim. | |||
*] Fasted 8 or 9 months. | |||
*] Death of father. | |||
*] Postal dispute over letter rate. | |||
*1878 Challenge of ]. | |||
*] Publication of Brahin-e Ahmadiyya started. | |||
*] Appointed Reformer of Islam. | |||
*] He built Mobarak Mosque in Qadian. | |||
*] Spots of Blood revelation. | |||
*1884 publication of Brahin-e Ahmadiyya Vol.IV. | |||
*1884 married Nusrat Jehan Begum. | |||
*] spent time in retreat at Hoshiapur,had revelation of Promised Son. | |||
*1886 Challenged Arya Samaj. | |||
*1886 Mobahala (prayer) challenge. | |||
*] Debates with Christians. | |||
*1888 Revelation to take Bai'at (Oath of Allegiance). | |||
*] Set out the conditions of Bai'at. | |||
*1889 Founded ] Movement. | |||
*1889 Birth of Promised Son Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad. | |||
*] Claimed to be Messiah of Muslims and Christians. | |||
*] First Annual Gathering in Quadian. | |||
*1891 Announced that Jesus is dead not alive in heaven. | |||
*] Sign of Eclipses fortelling Imam Mahdi appear. | |||
*] ''Sat Bachan'' published re: discoveries about Sikhism in 1865. | |||
*] Interfaith Conference in ]. ] | |||
*] Pandit Lekh Ram died. | |||
*1897 Charges brought for murder of Dr.Martin Clark. | |||
*1897 Al-Badar newspaper first published. | |||
*] John Alexander Dowie challenged. | |||
*] Dowie in USA responds to challenge. | |||
*] The Will published. | |||
*1905 Last volume of Brahin-e Ahmadiyya published. | |||
*] Dowie dies. | |||
*] Died in Lahore. | |||
Although Ahmad is revered by Ahmadi Muslims as the promised Messiah and Imām Mahdi, ] nevertheless remains the central figure in Ahmadiyya Islam. Ahmad's claim to be a subordinate (''ummati'') ] has remained a central point of controversy between his followers and mainstream Muslims, who believe Muhammad to be the last prophet. | |||
== Biography == | |||
==Lineage and family== | |||
Ahmad was born in ] ] in ] on February 13, 1835 (or 14 Shawwal 1250), the surviving child of twins born to an affluent family. It is reported that he was always interested in the people around him, often thinking of them instead of himself. He spent a lot of time in the mosque and with the study of the ] and his religion, ]. This did not lead him to fulfill his father's wishes of his son becoming a lawyer or civil servant. Still, Ahmad would be pulled into his father's preferred career path at times, but he would remain devoted to religious learning, and teaching. In his course of studying religious topics, he would often interact with many Muslims, non-Muslims, and with ] missionaries with whom he would have great debates. | |||
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was a descendant of ], a member of the ].{{sfn|Khan|2015|p=21}} In 1530, Mirza Hadi Beg migrated from ]<ref> Vol. '''37'''. The Victoria Institute, Great Britain. Original from the ], p. 242.</ref> (present-day ]) along with an entourage of two hundred people consisting of his family, servants and followers.<ref> by Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad.</ref><ref name="apnaorg.com">{{Cite web|url=https://apnaorg.com/books/punjab-chiefs/index.html|title=Complete Book: Chiefs of Punjab by Lepel Griffin|website=apnaorg.com}}</ref>{{sfn|Khan|2015|p=22}} Travelling through ], they finally settled in the Punjab, India, where Mirza Hadi founded the town known today as ] during the reign of ] ]{{sfn|Khan|2015|p=22}} his distant relative. The family were all known as Mughals within the British governmental records of India probably due to the high positions it occupied within the ] and their courts. Mirza Hadi Beg was granted a ] of several hundred villages and was appointed the ] (judge) of Qadian and the surrounding district. The descendants of Mirza Hadi are said to have held important positions within the Mughal Empire and had consecutively been the chieftains of Qadian.<ref name="apnaorg.com"/> | |||
==Life== | |||
When Ahmad was forty years old his father died. At this time Ahmad claimed that God had begun communicating with him, often through direct revelation (the prophet of ], ], also received his first revelation at forty years of age). Initially, Ahmad's writings from this time were intended to counter what he perceived to be anti-Islamic writings originating from various Christian missionary groups. He also focused on countering the effects of various groups such as the ]. | |||
===Early life and education=== | |||
As time progressed, his writings began to exhibit his claims of being the ] or reformer of his era. These writings were compiled in one of his most well-known works: '']'', a work consisting of a number of volumes. In later volumes, he would essentially claim to be the ] of Islam. This proved and continues to be very controversial, as traditional Islamic thought holds that ] is the Messiah, who himself will return in the flesh at the end of times. Ahmad countered this by claiming in his book ''Jesus in India'' that Jesus was dead, and had in fact escaped crucifixion and died in India. According to Ahmad, the promised ] was a spiritual, not military leader as is believed by most Muslims. With this proclamation, he also began to step away from the traditional idea of militant ], and redefined it as a “spiritual” battle rather than a physical one. In addition to these controversial claims, he would later claim that ], the first ], was in fact a Muslim. | |||
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was born on 13 February 1835 in ], Punjab, then part of the ] under ] ({{Reign|1801|1839}}). The surviving child of twins born to an affluent Mughal family.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ahmad |first=Basharat |title=The Great Reformer: Biography of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian (Volume 1) |publisher=AAIIL Inc USA |year=2008 |isbn=978-0913321980 |pages=24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Dard |first=Abdur Rahim |title=Life of Ahmad |publisher=Islam International Publications Ltd |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-85372-977-5 |location=United Kingdom |pages=33}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Evans |first=Nicholas H. A. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1107057359 |title=Far from the Caliph's Gaze: Being Ahmadi Muslim in the Holy City of Qadian |date=2020 |isbn=978-1-5017-1571-6 |location=Ithaca |pages=1 |oclc=1107057359}}</ref> He learned to read the Arabic text of the ] and studied basic Arabic grammar and the Persian language from a teacher named Fazil-e-Illahi. At the age of 10, he learned from a teacher named Fazl Ahmad. Again at the age of 17 or 18, he learnt from a teacher named Gul Ali Shah.<ref>{{cite book |title=Hadhrat Ahmad|year=1998|publisher=Islam International Publications|location=Athens, Ohio|oclc=45764230|page=15|url=http://www.alislam.org/library/books/Hadhrat-Ahmad-20080514MN.pdf}}</ref> In addition, he also studied some works on medicine from his father, Mirza Ghulam Murtaza, who was a physician. Ahmad's father, ], was a local chieftain ({{Transliteration|ar|]}}) who served in the Sikh Army.{{sfn|Khan|2015|p=23}} | |||
From 1864 to 1868, upon his father's wishes, Ahmad worked as a clerk in ], where he would come into contact with Christian missionaries with whom he frequently engaged in debate. After 1868, he returned to Qadian, as per his father's wishes, where he was entrusted to look after some estate affairs. During all this time, Ahmad was known as a social recluse because he would spend most of his time in seclusion studying religious books and praying in the local mosque. As time passed, he began to engage more with the Christian missionaries, particularly in defending Islam against their criticism.<ref name="Upal 2021" /><ref name="Korbel-Preckel 2016" /> He would often confront them in public debates, especially the ones based in the town of ].<ref>http://www.alislam.org/library/books/Life-of-Ahmad-20080411MN.pdf<nowiki/>.{{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> | |||
These writings began to turn the general Muslims ulema (religious clerics) against him, and he was often branded as a ]. To add to this controversy some of his followers would later claim him to be a prophet, while others maintained that he was a prophet in a metaphorical sense only. | |||
In 1886, certain leaders of the ] held discussion and debate with Ahmad about the truthfulness of Islam and asked for a sign to prove that Islam was a living religion. In order to dedicate special prayers for this purpose and so as to seek further divine guidance, Ahmad travelled to ] upon what he claimed was divine instruction. Here, he spent forty days in seclusion, a practice known as '']''. He travelled accompanied by three companions to the small two-storied house of one of his followers and was left alone in a room where his companions would bring him food and leave without speaking to him as he prayed and contemplated. He only left the house on Fridays and used an abandoned mosque for ] (Friday prayers). It is during this period that he declared God had given him the glad tidings of an illustrious son.<ref>, p. 91.</ref><ref>, The Ahmadiyya Gazette, February 1997.</ref> | |||
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's claim is based on his Revelation, personal interpretation of various verses of the ] based on divine guidance, ], prophecies of past Saints and astronomical signs of eclipses. Islam, he said, was a living faith, by following which man could establish contact with his Creator and enter into communion with Him. The teachings contained in the Qur'an and the Law promulgated by Islam were designed to raise man to moral, intellectual and spiritual perfection. He announced that God had appointed him the Messiah as mentioned the prophecies of the ] and ]. In 1889 he began to accept initation into his Community which is now established in one hundred and eighty one countries. His eighty books were written mostly in Urdu, but some were in Arabic and Persian. | |||
===Taking of the ''Bay'ah''=== | |||
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad’s doctrine regarding Divine attributes is based on God’s Love and Mercy he said "God wrongs no one, but people wrong themselves As the stars appear stage by stage, God’s attributes also appear stage by stage. Man is sometimes under the shadow of the divine attributes of and Self-Sufficiency and sometimes he is under the shadow of His attributes of Beauty. That is indicated in His saying: Everyday He (God) appears in a new state’ (Q. 55:30). It is a foolish notion that after sinful people have been condemned to hell the divine attributes of Mercy and Compassion will cease to operate and will not be manifested, inasmuch as the permanent cessation of the operation of divine attributes is not permissib1e The basic attribute of God Almighty is Love and Mercy and that is the mother of all attributes. It is the same attribute which sometimes comes into operation in the shape of the attributes of Glory and Wrath for the purpose of human reform, and when the reform has been affected then Love appears in its true form and remains in operation for ever as a bounty. God is not like a short-tempered person who loves to torment. He wrongs no one, but people wrong themselves. All salvation lies in His Love and all torment is to draw away from Him" (Translated from Chashma Maseehee, pp. 51-52 by the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement) | |||
{{See also|Bay'ah (Ahmadiyya)|Ten Conditions of Bai'at}} | |||
] {{Circa|1899}}.]] | |||
Ahmad claimed divine appointment as a reformer as early as 1882 but did not take any pledge of allegiance or initiation. In December 1888, Ahmad announced that God had ordained that his followers should enter into a {{Transliteration|ar|]}} with him and pledge their allegiance to him.<ref>Yohanan Friedmann. ''Prophecy Continuous: Aspects of Ahmadi Religious Thought and its Medieval Background'' Oxford University Press, 2003, p. 140. "Like Muḥammad, he was then forty years of age; he was privileged in the beginning with a "good dream" (''ru'yā ṣāliḥa''), shown to him as "the break of dawn" (''mithl falaq al-ṣubḥ''). And when Ghulām Aḥmad's father died, Allāh revealed to him the ''Sūrat al-Ḍuḥā'', which speaks of Allāh's help to Muḥammad when he was a destitute orphan."</ref><ref>Simon Ross Valentine. '''' Columbia University Press, 2008, p. 42. "Following the death of his father in 1876 Ahmad claimed to receive visions and revelations. 'In short', he declared, 'about forty years of my life were spent under the care of my revered father. Just as he was taken from the world, I started receiving Divine revelations with great intensity'. Having commenced receiving revelations at roughly the same age as the prophet Muhammad himself, Ahmad described his experiences in similar terms to the revelations received by the Prophet."</ref><ref>Louis J. Hammann. Ahmadiyya Muslim Community , 1985 "It was not, however, until his 41st year (1876) that Hazrat Ahmad began to receive the revelations that would lead him eventually to the conviction that in his person the advent of the Mahdi was fulfilled."</ref> In January 1889, he published a pamphlet in which he laid out ten conditions or issues to which the initiate would abide by for the rest of his life.<ref name="alislam.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.alislam.org/library/history/ahmadiyya/10.html |title=Ten Conditions of Baiat |publisher=Alislam.org |access-date=20 May 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Ten Conditions of Bai'at |url=http://www.alislam.org/apps/cob/webapp/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110127184453/http://www.alislam.org/apps/cob/webapp/ |archive-date=27 January 2011}}</ref><ref>], ''The ] Movement: A Historical Survey'', {{ISBN|965-264-014-X}}, p. 5.</ref>{{Sfn|Khan|2015|p=38–39}} On 23 March 1889, he founded the Ahmadiyya community by taking a pledge from forty followers.<ref name="alislam.org"/> The formal method of joining the Ahmadiyya movement included joining hands and reciting a pledge, although physical contact was not always necessary. This method of allegiance continued for the rest of his life and after his death by his ].<ref name="history_10">{{cite web |url=http://www.alislam.org/library/history/ahmadiyya/10.html |title=A Brief History of Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam – Founding of Ahmadiyya Jamaat |publisher=Alislam.org |access-date=20 May 2013}}</ref> | |||
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad prophesied thousands of prophesies and claimed that God will spread his community of His to all countries of the world as this prophecy has in his book "The Narrative of Two Martyrdoms" The exact wording of his prophecy for understanding his inspiration and believe: "Listen O ye people! This is the prophecy of Him Who has created the Heavens and the earth! He will spread this community of His to all countries of the world, and will grant it victory with powerful arguments and signs. The days are coming, nay, they are near, that there will be only one faith which will be regarded with respect in the world. God will bestow extraordinary and unprecedented blessings upon this community. This dominion will stay for ever until the Judgment Day. If someone mocks at me, their mockery can do me no harm. There is no prophet that has not been mocked at. It was, therefore, necessary that the Promised Messiah also face the mockery.. The third century from today would not have been completed when all who await the physical descent of the son of Mary, whether they are Muslims or Christians, will utterly despair of that belief and will discard it. Then there will only be one faith and one Spiritual Leader. I have come only to sow the seed. So I have sown the seed. It will now grow and prosper. No one can stop it." | |||
===His claim=== | |||
== Why the name Ahmadiyya was given == | |||
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad proclaimed that he was the ] and Mahdi. He claimed to be the fulfilment of various prophecies found in world religions regarding the second coming of their founders. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's followers say that he never claimed to be the same physical Jesus who lived nineteen centuries earlier. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claimed that Jesus died a natural death,<ref name="ShaeferCohen">{{cite book |last1=Schäfer |first1=Peter |title=Toward the Millennium: Messianic Expectations from the Bible to Waco |last2=Cohen |first2=Mark R. |publisher=Brill/Princeton UP |year=1998 |isbn=90-04-11037-2 |location=Leiden/Princeton |pages=306–7}}</ref> in contradiction to the traditional Muslim view of Jesus' physical ascension to heaven and the traditional Christian belief of Jesus' crucifixion.<ref name="tadhkirah">{{cite web |url=http://www.alislam.org/library/books/Tadhkirah.pdf |title=Tadhkirah |access-date=20 May 2013}}</ref> He claimed in his books that there was a general decay of Islamic life and a dire need of a messiah.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alislam.org/books/victoryofislam/VICTORY%20OF%20ISLAM.pdf |title=Fatah-Islam (1890) |access-date=20 May 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102194813/http://www.alislam.org/books/victoryofislam/VICTORY%20OF%20ISLAM.pdf |archive-date=2 November 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9UNvF3JcnK0C&q=elucidation+of+objectives |title=Tawdhi-i-Marām (1891) |access-date=20 May 2013|isbn=9781853727429 |last1=Ahmad |first1=Hazrat Mirza Ghulam |year=2004 |publisher=Islam International }}</ref><ref>Izāla-i-Auhām (1891).</ref> He argued that, just as Jesus had appeared in the 14th century after ], the promised messiah, i.e. the Mahdi, must also appear in the 14th century after Muhammad. | |||
In ''Tazkiratush-Shahadatain'', he wrote about the fulfillment of various prophecies. In it, he enumerated a variety of prophecies and descriptions from both the ] and ] relating to the advent of the Mahdi and the descriptions of his age, which he ascribed to himself and his age. These include assertions that he was physically described in the Hadith and manifested various other signs; some of them being wider in scope, such as focusing on world events coming to certain points, certain conditions within the Muslim community, and varied social, political, economic, and physical conditions.<ref>, p. 38–39.</ref> | |||
The Ahmadiyya movement was founded based in 1889, but the name Ahmadiyya was not adopted until about a decade later. In a manifesto dated ], 1900, the founder explained that the name referred to Ahmad, the alternative name of the prophet Mohammed. ‘Mohammed’, which means ‘the praised one’, refers to the glorious destiny of the prophet who adopted the name from about the time of the Hegira; but ‘Ahmad’ stands for the beauty of his sermons, and for the peace that he was destined to establish in the world through his teachings. These names thus refer to two aspects of Islam, and Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad says that in later times it was the latter aspect that commanded greater attention. In keeping with this, his object was to establish peace in the world through the spiritual teachings of Islam, which, he believed, offered the only means of restoring peace to the mind of man, and, thus, of helping him to live at peace with others and with God. | |||
===Post-claim=== | |||
The message of the Ahmadiyya Movement is thus indicated by its name. It is a message for Muslims, telling them that they can conquer the world through the two great spiritual forces given to them: the Quran and the prophet Muhammed. At the same time, it is a message for the none ], and especially for the ], which, according to Ahmad, has descended into ] due to the growth of ]. For Westerners the message is that it is only through the spiritual strength of Islam that man can reach peace. | |||
In time, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's claim of being the {{Transliteration|ar|]}} (reformer) of his era became more explicit.<ref name="founder_ch4">, by Maulana Muhammad Ali, Chapter 4: Mahdi and Messiah.</ref>{{Sfn|Khan|2015|p=42}}<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web |date=24 June 1904 |title=Chapter Two – Claims of Hadhrat Ahmad |url=http://www.alislam.org/books/3in1/chap2/index.html |access-date=20 May 2013 |publisher=Alislam.org}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">"The Fourteenth-Century's Reformer / Mujaddid", from the "Call of Islam", by ].</ref> In one of his most well-known and praised<ref name="critical_study"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141227230808/http://www.irshad.org/brochures/criticalstudy.php|date=27 December 2014}}, by ].</ref> works, '']'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=Introducing the Books of the Promised Messiah (as) |url=https://www.alislam.org/articles/introducing-books-promised-messiah/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=An Introduction to the Hidden Treasures of Islam |url=http://www.alislam.org/library/books/Hidden-Treasures-of-Islam.pdf}}</ref> a voluminous work, he claimed to be the Messiah of Islam.<ref name="Upal 2021" /><ref name="Korbel-Preckel 2016" /><ref name="founder_ch4"/> Muslims have maintained that Jesus will return in the flesh during the last age.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923170110/http://www.islamicperspectives.com/ReturnOfJesus.htm|date=23 September 2015}}, by Dr. Ahmad Shafaat, 2003, Islamic Perspectives.</ref> Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, by contrast, asserted that Jesus had in fact survived crucifixion and died of old age much later in ], where he had migrated. According to Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the promised Mahdi was a symbolic reference to a spiritual leader and not a military leader in the person of Jesus Christ as is believed by many Muslims.<ref name="Upal 2021" /><ref name="Korbel-Preckel 2016" /><ref>Yohanan Friedmann. Oxford University Press, 2003, p. 121. "The affinity between the two can also be shown in the framework of Ghulām Aḥmad's prophetology. Muḥammad and Moses were similar to each other because they initiated the two prophetic chains; Jesus and Ghulām Aḥmad complete the divine scheme of things by terminating them. They must therefore also be similar. They resemble each other both in the circumstances of their appearance and in the nature of their prophetic mission. Both appeared when their respective communities were subject to foreign rule: the Jews under the Romans, and the Indian Muslims under the British. The religious conditions prevailing in their communities were also similar. The Jews were described in the ] (1:7) as "those who earned wrath" (''al-maghḍūb 'alayhim'') by their lack of religiosity and by rejecting the message of Jesus. Most Muslims of Ghulām Aḥmad's time can be described in similar terms: their spirituality is lost, and only rituals remain of their religion. Furthermore, they rejected Ghulām Aḥmad in the same way that the Jews had rejected Jesus. In addition to these similar circumstances, Ghulām Aḥmad's message resembles that of Jesus in two important characteristics: he does not advocate ''jihād'', and does not bring a new law, but strives rather to implement the ''sharī'a'' promulgated by his predecessor in the prophetic office. And to make the affinity between the two chains total, Ghulām Aḥmad is spiritually greater than Jesus in the same way that Muḥammad was greater than Moses."</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Essence of Islam, Vol. IV, p. 33<!-- Bot generated title --> |url=http://www.alislam.org/library/books/Essence-4.pdf}}</ref> With this proclamation, he also rejected the idea of armed ] and argued that the conditions for such Jihad are not present in this age, which requires defending Islam by the pen and tongue but not with the sword.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alislam.org/library/articles/Jihad-Brochure.pdf |title=Jihad Brochure |access-date=20 May 2013}}</ref>{{Sfn|Friedmann|2003|pp=174–175}}<ref name="overview">{{cite web |title=Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, An Overview |url=http://www.alislam.org/introduction/ |access-date=20 May 2013 |publisher=Alislam.org}}</ref> Mirza Ghulam Ahmad wrote two books named ''Tuhfa-e-Qaiseriya'' and ''Sitara-e-Qaiseriya'' in which he invited Queen Victoria to embrace Islam and forsake Christianity. | |||
===Reaction of religious scholars=== | |||
== Controversy == | |||
Some ] turned against him, and he was often branded as a heretic, but many ] praised him like ], ] among many others who praised him for his defense of ]. After his death, opponents accused him of working for the British government due to the termination of armed ], since his claims of being the Mahdi were made around the same time as the Mahdi of Sudan (]). | |||
Following his claim to be the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, one of his adversaries prepared a ] (decree) of disbelief against Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, declaring him a ] (disbeliever), a deceiver, and a liar. The decree permitted killing him and his followers. It was taken all around India and was signed by some two hundred religious scholars.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alislam.org/books/invitation/arg7.html |title=Argument 7: Defeat of Enemies |publisher=Alislam.org |access-date=20 May 2013 |archive-date=8 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208195442/http://www.alislam.org/books/invitation/arg7.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> | |||
The teachings of Ahmad and the beliefs of his followers are a great source of controversy among Muslims, especially in ] where most Ahmadis live. In 1974, the Pakistani parliament amended the Pakistani constitution to declare Ahmadis as non-Muslims for purposes of the constitution of the Islamic Republic. In 1984, a series of changes in the Pakistan Penal Code sections relating to blasphemy that, in essence, made that made it illegal for Ahmadis to preach their religion openly as Islam, leading to arrests and prosecutions. However, no one has been executed, which is allowed under the law. | |||
Some years later, a prominent Muslim leader and scholar, ], was to travel to the ] to collect the opinions of the religious scholars of Mecca and Madina. He compiled these opinions in his work '']'' (The Sword of the Two Holy Mosques)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.alahazratnetwork.org/english/Hussam_ul_Harmain.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071127221039/http://www.alahazratnetwork.org/english/Hussam_ul_Harmain.pdf|url-status=dead|title=Hussam ul Harmain|archivedate=27 November 2007}}</ref> in it, Ahmad was again labelled an apostate. The unanimous consensus of about thirty-four religious scholars was that Ahmad's beliefs were blasphemous and tantamount to apostasy and that he must be punished by imprisonment and, if necessary, by execution. | |||
Ahmad generated controversy during his life, and the movement continues to do so: | |||
* The issue of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's ], whether allegorical or real. This is because Muslims believe that Muhammad was the final prophet, and as thus, any prophet afterwards is a false one. | |||
* His claim that he was the ] rather than a returning Jesus. In his life, he did not accomplish any of the things the promised Messiah would do; such as establishing global peace and harmony. | |||
* The claim that he was the ]. In Islamic teachings, the Mahdi and the Messiah were two separate entities. The death of one (the Mahdi) would lead to the arrival of the other (the Messiah). | |||
* Ahmad's reluctance towards a militant interpretation of ]. | |||
* The characterization of the Ahmadis as the "real Islam" while believing other Muslims to be outside this sphere. | |||
===Journey to Delhi=== | |||
=== Ahmad's claim of Prophethood === | |||
].]] | |||
Ahmad went to ], which was at the time considered a centre of religious learning and home to many prominent religious leaders, in 1891, with the intention of distinguishing what he believed to be the truth from falsehood. He published an advertisement in which he invited the scholars to accept his claim and to engage in a public debate with him regarding the life and death of ] (Jesus), particularly Maulana ] (1805–1901), who was a leading religious scholar. He also proposed three conditions that were essential for such a debate: that there should be a police presence to maintain peace, the debate should be in written form (for the purpose of recording what was said), and that the debate should be on the subject of the death of Jesus. | |||
Muslims in general hold the belief that no new prophet can come after ]. | |||
Eventually, it was settled, and Ahmad travelled to the ] (main mosque) of Delhi accompanied by twelve of his followers, where some 5,000 people were gathered. Before the debate started, there was a discussion on the conditions, which led to the conclusion that the debate should not be upon the death of Jesus, but upon the claims of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. He explained that his claim could only be discussed after the death of Jesus was proven, for Jesus was considered by many to be living and the one who will descend to Earth himself. Only when this belief was refuted could his claim to be the Messiah be discussed. | |||
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad referred to himself as a “prophet” in his writings and claimed to be the second coming of Jesus. Hence this claim is abhorrent to most Muslims. Followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad are divided into two camps as far a belief in his claim to prophethood is concerned. (For details see ]). Ahmadis belonging to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community distinguish between law- bearing and non law-bearing prophets. They believe that Muhammad was the final law-bearing prophet, and non law-bearing prophets can emerge under the complete subordination to the law of Muhammad. | |||
Upon this, there was a clamour among the crowds, and Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was informed that the other party alleged that he was at odds with Islamic beliefs and was a disbeliever; therefore, it was not proper to debate with him unless he clarified his beliefs. Ahmad wrote his beliefs on a piece of paper and had it read aloud, but due to the clamour among the people, it could not be heard. Seeing that the crowd was drifting out of control and that violence was imminent, the police superintendent gave orders to disperse the audience, and the debate did not take place. A few days later, however, a written debate did take place between Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and Maulwi Muhammad Bashir of ], which was later published. | |||
Ahmad is known to have travelled extensively across Northern India during this period of his life and to have held various debates with influential religious leaders.<ref name="life_of_ahmad">{{cite web |url=http://www.alislam.org/library/books/Life-of-Ahmad-20080411MN.pdf |title=Life of Ahmad, Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement |access-date=20 May 2013}}</ref> | |||
=== Allegations of being a British agent === | |||
===Challenge to opponents=== | |||
Some accused Ahmad of working for the British who were trying to use him to remove the concept of Jihad from Indian Muslims, in order to quell any desires that they may have had for fighting against the ]. Ahmad's father had a close relationship with the British and was awarded land and wealth by them due to his support of the colonial regime during the Indian Mutiny. However, defenders of Ahmad justify this by claiming that Ahmad's father saw the British as protectors of Muslims from the ] regime that had previously ruled Punjab. Defenders of Ahmad also state that his declared mission against Christianity, the religion of the British empire, was inconsistent with allegations of him being a British agent. Another point made was that when the British came to the Punjab, they took most of the family's power, and left them with a very small pension. | |||
Ahmad published a book called ''The Heavenly Decree'', in which he challenged his opponents to a "spiritual duel" in which the question of whether someone was a Muslim or not would be settled by God based on the four criteria laid out in the Qur'an, namely, that a perfect believer will frequently receive glad tidings from God, that he will be given awareness about hidden matters and events of the future from God, that most of his prayers will be fulfilled and that he will exceed others in understanding novel finer points, subtleties and deeper meanings of the Qur'an.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alislam.org/library/books/TheHeavenlyDecree.pdf |title=The Heavenly Decree |access-date=20 May 2013}}</ref> | |||
=== |
===The Sun and Moon eclipse=== | ||
After announcing his claim to be the Messiah and Mahdi, his opponents demanded that he should produce the "heavenly sign" detailed in the tradition attributed to the 7th-century Imam ],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alislam.org/library/history/ahmadiyya/15.html |title=A Brief History of Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam – Sign of the Eclipses |publisher=Alislam.org |access-date=20 May 2013}}</ref> also known as Muhammad bin Ali, in which a certain sign is stated about the appearance of the ]: | |||
{{Blockquote|For our Mahdi, there are two signs which have never happened since the earth and the heavens were created, i.e., the moon will be eclipsed on the first of the possible nights in the month of Ramadhan and the sun will be eclipsed in the middle of the possible days of the month of Ramadhan.|Dar Qutni Vol. 1, page 188<ref>{{cite web |title=Hadith on Imam Mahdi|url=https://www.alislam.org/library/links/00000202.html|website=alislam.org|access-date=20 March 2015|quote=In Dar Qutni, the sign of the appearance of the Imam Mahdi is given in the following Hadith: 'For our Mahdi, there are two signs which have never happened since the earth and the heavens were created, i.e., the moon will be eclipsed on the first of the possible nights in the month of Ramadhan and the sun will be eclipsed in the middle of the possible days of the month of Ramadhan.'}}</ref>}} | |||
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, through his various claims and writings, declared that Muslims who do not accept all his claims were not true Muslims. This view has been strengthened by the Qadiani Ahmadis while it is diminished by the Lahori Ahmadis. | |||
Ahmadis maintain that this prophecy was fulfilled in 1894 and again in 1895, about three years after Ahmad proclaimed himself to be the Promised Mahdi and Messiah, with the lunar and solar eclipse during the month of Ramadhan, according to the Ahmadiyya interpretation of the prophecy. Ahmad declared that this was a sign of his truth and was in fulfillment of the tradition or prophecy.<ref name="eclipses">{{cite web |url=https://www.alislam.org/library/articles/new/TruthAboutEclipses.html |title=The Truth About Eclipses|date=1999|access-date=22 March 2015}}</ref> The eclipses being a sign of the Mahdi are also mentioned specifically in the Letters of Rabbani by ].{{Citation needed|date=October 2019}} | |||
== Journey to Lahore and death == | |||
Scientific historical records indicate these eclipses occurred at the following dates: | |||
In ] 1908, he traveled to Lahore accompanied by his family. During his stay there he made numerous speeches, met with a succession of visitors and wrote his last book entitled Paighame Suleh or Message of Reconciliation. This book was addressed to Hindus and Muslims to patch up their quarrels and sign a formal pact to tolerate one another and enjoy the benefits of unity and peace. He told the two groups that unwarranted attacks on the scriptures and prophets of other people cause only trouble and that more understanding should be used in religious matters. Even in the presence of differing viewpoints, he said, mutual respect could bring the people closer. | |||
On May 20, 1908, Mirza Ghulam Ahmed claimed that he received his last revelation in Arabic: | |||
"It is the time of departure; yes, it is the time of departure and death is near" | |||
Six days later, on May 26, 1908, he passed away. He was a little over 73 years old at the time (equivalent to 75 years by lunar reckoning). His coffin was brought from Lahore to Batala by train and from there his companions carried it on their shoulders to Qadian, a distance of eleven miles. Next day he was buried in the Bahishtee Maqbarah at 6pm on May 27th, 1908. | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
==Works== | |||
|- | |||
*] | |||
! Eclipse | |||
! Date | |||
|- | |||
| Partial lunar eclipse | |||
| 1894 March 21 2pm UT (7pm)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/5MCLEmap/1801-1900/LE1894-03-21P.gif|title=NASA - eclipse 1894 March 21}}</ref> | |||
|- | |||
==See also== | |||
| Hybrid solar eclipse | |||
*] | |||
| 1894 April 6 4am-7am UT (9am-11am)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsearch/SEsearchmap.php?Ecl=18940406|title=NASA - Hybrid Solar Eclipse of 1894 April 06|website=eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref> | |||
|- | |||
| Total lunar eclipse | |||
| 1895 March 11 03:39 UT<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://moonblink.info/Eclipse/eclipse/1895_03_11|title=Total Lunar Eclipse of 11 Mar, 1895 AD|website=moonblink.info}}</ref> | |||
|- | |||
| Partial solar eclipse | |||
| 1895 March 23, 10:10 UT<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://moonblink.info/Eclipse/eclipse/1895_03_26|title=Partial Solar Eclipse of 26 Mar, 1895 AD|website=moonblink.info}}</ref> | |||
|} | |||
===Lawsuit=== | |||
In 1897, a Christian missionary, ], filed a lawsuit of attempted murder against Ahmad at the court of District Magistrate Captain ] in the city of ]. The charge laid against him was that he hired a man by the name of Abdul Hameed to assassinate Clark. However, he was not detained by the police and was declared innocent by the then-magistrate Captain Douglas.<ref name="murder">{{cite book |title=Ahmad the Guided One |author=Ian Adamson |year=1999 |publisher=Islam International Publications Ltd |url=http://www.alislam.org/library/books/guidedone/index.htm?page=177#top |pages=177–193 |isbn=1-85372-597-8}}</ref><ref name="lawsuit">{{cite web |url=http://www.alislam.org/library/history/ahmadiyya/18.html |title=Lawsuit by Dr.Clark |access-date=25 January 2011 |publisher=Al Islam}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=March 2018}} | |||
===The Revealed Sermon=== | |||
{{Main|The Revealed Sermon}} | |||
In 1900, on the occasion of the festival of ], he is said to have delivered an hour-long sermon extempore in Arabic expounding the meaning and philosophy of sacrifice. This episode is celebrated as one of the important events of the history of Ahmadiyya. The sermon was simultaneously written down by two of his companions and came to be known as the ''Khutba Ilhamiyya'', the revealed or inspired sermon. Ahmadiyya literature states that during this sermon, there was a change in his voice, he appeared as if in a ], in the grip of an unseen hand, and as if a voice from the unknown had made him its mouthpiece. After the sermon ended, Ahmad fell into ], followed by the rest of the congregation, as a sign of gratitude towards God.<ref>, The Review of Religions, July 1993.</ref> | |||
Ahmad wrote later: | |||
{{Blockquote|It was like a hidden fountain gushing forth and I did not know whether it was I who was speaking or an angel was speaking through my tongue. The sentences were just being uttered and every sentence was a sign of God for me.|Mirza Ghulam Ahmad|Haqeeqatul-Wahi<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alislam.org/library/links/80-books.html |title=Introducing the Books of the Promised Messiah |publisher=Alislam.org |access-date=2013-05-20}}</ref>}} | |||
===Challenge to John Alexander Dowie=== | |||
] in his robes as "Elijah the Restorer."]] | |||
In 1899, Scottish-born American clergyman ] laid claim to be the forerunner of the second coming of Christ. Ahmad exchanged a series of letters with him between 1903 and 1907. Ahmad challenged him to a prayer duel, where both would call upon God to expose the other as a false prophet. Ahmad stated: | |||
{{Blockquote|The best way to determine whether Dowie's God is true or ours, is that Mr. Dowie should stop making prophecies about the destruction of all Muslims. Instead he should keep me alone in his mind and pray that if one of us is fabricating a lie, he should die before the other.|Ghulam Ahmad<ref name="history_30">{{cite web |url=http://www.alislam.org/library/history/ahmadiyya/30.html |title=A Brief History of Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam: Death of Dr. Dowie |publisher=Alislam.org |access-date=2013-05-20}}</ref>||source=}} | |||
Dowie declined the challenge,<ref>S.R. Valentine, Islam and Ahmadiyya Jama'at, Foundation Books, 2008, p. 50.</ref> calling Mirza Ghulam Ahmad the "silly Mohammedan Messiah".{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} Ahmad prophesied: | |||
{{Blockquote|Though he may try hard as he can to fly from death which awaits him, yet his flight from such a contest will be nothing less than death to him; and calamity will certainly overtake his Zion, for he must bear the consequences either of the acceptance of the challenge or its refusal. He will depart this life with great sorrow and torment during my lifetime.{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}}}} | |||
The challenge of "prayer duel" was made by Mirza in September 1902. The ''Dictionary of American Biography'' states that after having been deposed during a revolt in which his own family was involved, Dowie endeavoured to recover his authority via the law courts without success and that he may have been a victim of some form of mania, as he suffered from hallucinations during his last illness.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks15/1500721h/0-dict-biogD.html#dowie1 |title=Dictionary of Australian Biography: John Alexander Dowie |publisher=Gutenberg.net.au |access-date=20 May 2013}}</ref> Dowie died before Mirza, in March 1907. | |||
===Encounter with the Agapemonites=== | |||
In September 1902 the Rev. ] (1852-1927) proclaimed himself the Messiah and also claimed to be God while preaching in the Church known as "The Ark of the Covenant" in ] in London. This church was originally built by the ], a religious movement founded by the Anglican priest ].<ref name="claptonpond">{{Cite web|url=http://claptonpond.ground-level.org/messiah|title=Clapton Pond Neighbourhood Action Group: The Clapton Messiah|date=22 July 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030722112805/http://claptonpond.ground-level.org/messiah |archive-date=22 July 2003 }}</ref> Mirza Ghulam Ahmad wrote to Smyth-Pigott, informing him that such a blasphemous proposition did not behove man, and that in the future he should abstain from making such claims, or he would be destroyed. This message was sent in November 1902. Newspapers in America and Europe published Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's notification.{{cn|date=May 2022}} Despite this prophecy, Smyth-Piggot continued to claim divinity both before and after Mirza Ghulam's death in 1908, as reported by various contemporary newspapers at the time.<ref>{{cite web | title=Auckland Star, 1905 | url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19050826.2.88}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=The Cambrian, Friday, August 18 1905 | url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3347828/3347836}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Wairarapa Age, 1909 | newspaper=Wairarapa Age| date=9 March 1909| page=5| url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAG19090309.2.17.28}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Nottingham Evening Post, March 1927 | url = http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000321/19270321/027/0007?_=1497108726400}}</ref> | |||
===Last journey=== | |||
Towards the end of 1907 and early 1908, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claimed to have received numerous revelations informing him of his imminent death. In April 1908, he travelled to Lahore with his family and companions. Here, he gave many lectures. A banquet was arranged for dignitaries where Ahmad, upon request, spoke for some two hours explaining his claims, teachings and speaking in refutation of objections raised against his person; here, he preached reconciliation between Hindus and Muslims. He completed writing his last work, entitled ''Message of Peace'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alislam.org/library/books/Message-of-Peace.pdf |title=A Message of Reconciliation |access-date=20 May 2013}}</ref> a day before his death.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alislam.org/library/history/ahmadiyya/31.html |title=A Brief History of Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam – His Last Journey |publisher=Alislam.org |date=27 April 1908 |access-date=20 May 2013}}</ref> | |||
===Death=== | |||
Ahmad was in Lahore at the home of Dr. Syed Muhammad Hussain (who was also his physician), when, on 26 May 1908, he died from dysentery.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alislam.org/library/links/00000082.html |title=Re-Institution of Khilafat |publisher=Alislam.org |access-date=20 May 2013}}</ref> His body was subsequently taken to Qadian and buried there;<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Spiritual Challenge – Mubahala with Maulvi Sanaullah Amritsari |url=https://www.alislam.org/ahmadiyya-history/spiritual-challenge-mubahala-maulvi-sanaullah-amritsari/ |access-date=2023-12-19 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alislam.org/library/history/ahmadiyya/27.html |title=His Last Testament |access-date=25 January 2011 |publisher=Al Islam}}</ref> he had previously claimed that an ] had told him that he would be buried there.<ref>{{cite book |author=Valentine |first=Simon Ross |title=Islam and the Ahmadiyya Jamaʻat: History, Belief, Practice |pages=41}}</ref> By the time of his death, he had gathered an estimated 400,000 followers, especially within the ], the Punjab and ].<ref>{{cite book |last=Valentine |first=Simon Ross |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q78O1mjX2tMC&q=islamic+reform |title=Islam and the Ahmadiyya Jamaʻat: History, Belief, Practice |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-231-70094-8 |page=53}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=H.H. Risley and E.A. Gait, (1903), Report of the Census of India, 1901, Calcutta, Superintendent of Government Printing, p. 373. |url=http://www.chaf.lib.latrobe.edu.au/dcd/page.php?title=&record=1512 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205180023/http://www.chaf.lib.latrobe.edu.au/dcd/page.php?title=&record=1512 |archive-date=5 February 2012 |publisher=Chinese Heritage of the Australian Federation Project}}</ref> | |||
==Marriages and children== | |||
] | |||
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad married twice. His first wife was his maternal cousin Hurmat Bibi.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dard |first1=A. R. |title=Life of Ahmad |url=https://www.alislam.org/library/books/Life-of-Ahmad.pdf |access-date=2 October 2022 |website=Al-Islam |publisher=Islam International Publications Ltd. |page=38}}</ref> Later, they separated and lived separately for a long time. | |||
===Children=== | |||
With his first wife, Hurmat Bibi, he had two sons: | |||
#Mirza Sultan Ahmad (1853 – 2 July 1931) | |||
#Mirza Fazal Ahmad (1855 – 1904) | |||
With his second wife, ], he had ten children, five of whom died in infancy: | |||
#Ismat (15 April 1886 – July 1891) | |||
#Bashir (7 August 1887 – 4 November 1888) | |||
#] (12 January 1889 – 8 November 1965) | |||
#Shaukat (1891 – 1892) | |||
#] (20 April 1893 – 2 September 1963) | |||
#Mirza Sharif Ahmad (24 May 1895 – 26 December 1961) | |||
#(Nawab) Mubarika Begum (2 March 1897 – 23 May 1977) | |||
#Mubarik (14 June 1899 – 16 September 1907) | |||
#Amtul Naseer (28 January 1903 – 3 December 1903) | |||
#(Nawab) Amtul Hafeez Begum (25 June 1904 – 6 May 1987) | |||
==Legacy== | |||
{{Main|Ahmadiyya}} | |||
{{See also|Ahmadiyya Caliphate|Persecution of Ahmadis}} | |||
Although Mirza Ghulam Ahmad aroused much opposition particularly from Muslim leaders owing to his messianic claims, opinion of him was not entirely negative.{{Sfn|Khan|2015|p=6}}<ref>Brannon Ingram, 'Ahmadi Muslim Americans' in E. E. Curtis. Infobase Publishing, 2010, p. 32.</ref> Many leading Muslim scholars, theologians and prominent journalists who were his contemporaries or had come into contact with him, had, despite differing with him in matters of belief, praised his personal character and acclaimed his works in the cause of Islam and the manner of his argumentation against proclaimants of other religions.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tributes to Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad|url=http://www.muslim.org/sa-case/evidence/s20.htm|access-date=2 April 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Majestic Writings of the Promised Messiah in View of Some Renowned Muslim Scholars |url=https://www.alislam.org/library/books/Majestic-Writings-of-Promised-Messiah.pdf |access-date=2 April 2016 |publisher=Al-Islam}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Immaculate Character of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad |url=http://kashifmd.com/2015/01/13/the-immaculate-character-of-mirza-ghulam-ahmad-as/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514063234/http://kashifmd.com/2015/01/13/the-immaculate-character-of-mirza-ghulam-ahmad-as/ |archive-date=14 May 2016 |access-date=1 May 2016}}</ref> The teachings that Jesus survived crucifixion, migrating towards the east in search of the Israelite tribes that had settled there and that he ] upon earth, as propounded by Ahmad, have been a source of ongoing friction with the Christian church since they challenge the core beliefs of Christianity and would nullify the doctrines of ] and ], the two principal tenets of Christianity. Western scholars and historians have acknowledged this fact as one of the features of Ahmad's legacy.<ref>Francis Robinson. Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 411. "At their most extreme religious strategies for dealing with the Christian presence might involve attacking Christian revelation at its heart, as did the Punjabi Muslim, Ghulam Ahmad (d. 1908), who founded the Ahmadiyya missionary sect. He claimed that he was the messiah of the Jewish and Muslim tradition; the figure known as Jesus of Nazareth had not died on the cross but survived to die in Kashmir."</ref><ref>Yohanan Friedmann. Oxford University Press, 2003, p. 114. "He realized the centrality of the crucifixion and of the doctrine of vicarious atonement in the Christian dogma, and understood that his attack on these two was an attack on the innermost core of Christianity."</ref><ref>]. Cambridge University Press, 2010, p. 208. "Ghulam Ahmad denied the historicity of Jesus' crucifixion and claimed that Jesus had fled to India where he died a natural death in Kashmir. In this way, he sought to neutralize Christian soteriologies of Christ and to demonstrate the superior rationality of Islam."</ref> | |||
Ahmad was the first to propose a ''post-crucifixion'' journey to India for Jesus and the first—other than the local people{{Sfn|Khan|2015|p=47}}—to identify the ] shrine in Kashmir as the tomb of Jesus. These ideas have been further expanded upon since his death in light of subsequent findings, both by Ahmadis and individuals independent of the Ahmadiyya movement.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.alislam.org/jesus/|title=Jesus – A Humble Prophet of God}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.reviewofreligions.org/date/2015/05/|title=May 2015|website=The Review of Religions}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.alislam.org/sunrise/sunrise2003-4.pdf |title=Jesus in India: A Review of the World Literature (1899-1999) |journal=The Muslim Sunrise |author1=Tahir Ijaz |author2=Qamar Ijaz |name-list-style=amp |year=2003 |issue=4}}</ref> However, the views remain controversial having been dismissed by some while being supported by others. ] research tends to corroborate a link between the tribes of Israel and the peoples of south/central Asia, specifically the ] of ] and the ] – as suggested by Ahmad in his book ] (and by others) – while findings from genetic evidence seem to remain equivocal.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jan/17/israel-lost-tribes-pashtun|title=Pashtun clue to lost tribes of Israel|first1=Rory|last1=McCarthy|last2=Jerusalem|newspaper=The Observer |date=16 January 2010|via=The Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://css.ethz.ch/en/services.html|title=Resources|website=css.ethz.ch|date=20 June 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.reviewofreligions.org/6107/the-lost-tribes-of-israel-in-india-a-genetic-perspective/|title=The Lost Tribes of Israel in India – A Genetic Perspective |publisher=] (CAL)|date=March 2012|access-date=1 December 2014}}</ref> Jesus' survival of crucifixion and his natural death have become an important element of Ahmadi belief and Ahmadis have published extensively on this topic. | |||
A number of modern Muslim scholars and Muslim intellectuals seem to conform to the idea of Jihad as fundamentally a peaceful religious endeavour rather than ''chiefly'' (or unconditionally) a militaristic struggle, in accordance with Ahmad's standpoint on the issue. Furthermore, some Islamic scholars have opined that Jesus has died (Ahmad's assertion) or have expressed their own confusion on this matter,<ref>{{cite book|last=Leirvik|first=Oddbjørn|title=Images of Jesus Christ in Islam: 2nd Edition|year=2010|publisher=Continuum|isbn=978-1-4411-7739-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gzd_I2AFswwC|pages=146–8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Zahniser|first=A. H. Mathias|title=The Mission and Death of Jesus in Islam and Christianity|year=2008|publisher= Orbis Books|isbn=978-1-57075-807-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PvzXAAAAMAAJ|pages=61–2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Ayoub|first1=Mahmoud|last2=Omar|first2=Irfan A.|title=Muslim View Of Christianity: Essays on Dialogue by Mahmoud Ayoub|year=2010|publisher= Logos Press|isbn=978-81-7268-197-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UmRvZOOc5hEC|pages=172–3}}</ref><ref>, Joseph L. Cumming Yale University. May 2001, pp. 26–30.</ref><ref>" {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930165205/http://www.renaissance.com.pk/septitl2y4.html |date=30 September 2007 }}", ], 14(9), September 2004.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Islahi |first=Amin |title=Tadabbur-i-Qur'an |title-link=Tadabbur-i-Qur'an |publisher=Faran Foundation |edition=1st |location=] |oclc=60341215 |author-link=Amin Ahsan Islahi}} Vol. 2, p. 243.</ref> though the majority orthodox position of most Muslims with regard to this issue has not changed. | |||
One of the main sources of dispute during his lifetime and continuing since then is Ahmad's use of the terms '']'' ("prophet") and ''rasul'' ("messenger") when referring to himself.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Holy Prophet: The Messenger of Allah and the Seal of Prophets |url=http://www.alislam.org/holyprophet/ |access-date=20 September 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Ahmadiyya Muslim Understanding of Finality of Prophethood |url=http://www.alislam.org/library/books/With-Love-to-Muhammad.pdf |access-date=20 September 2015}}</ref>{{Sfn|Friedmann|2003|p=132}}<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 May 2010 |title=Who are the Ahmadi? |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8711026.stm |via=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> Most non-Ahmadi Muslims consider ] to be the last of the prophets<ref>{{Cite web |title=Five Pillars of Islam |url=http://www.islam101.com/dawah/pillars.html |access-date=2023-12-19 |website=www.islam101.com}}</ref> and believe that Ahmad's use of these terms is a violation of the concept of the ].<ref>"", Exploring World Religions, 2001, Oxford University Press Canada.</ref> His followers fall into two factions in this regard. The ], which comprises by far the majority of Ahmadis, believes that Ahmad's prophetic status does not in any way infringe the finality of Muhammad's prophethood – to which it is wholly subservient and from which it is inseparable – and is in accordance with scriptural prophecies concerning the advent of the Messiah in Islam.<ref name="Ahmadiyya Muslim Community">{{cite web |url=http://www.alislam.org/books/truth/finality.html|title=Finality of Prophethood - Hadhrat Muhammad (PUBH) the Last Prophet|publisher=]}}</ref><ref>, The Promised Messiah and Mahdi, by Dr. Aziz Ahmad Chaudhry, Islam International Publications Limited.</ref> This group is currently headed by Ahmad's fifth caliph, or successor, carrying the title of ], an institution believed to have been established soon after his death. The ], which comprises a small fraction of all Ahmadis and believes in an allegorical understanding of these terms with reference to Ahmad, formed in 1914 when a number of prominent Ahmadis seceded from the main body soon after the election of ] as the second caliph. This group is administered by a body of people called the ''Anjuman Ishaat-e-Islam'' ("Movement for the Propagation of Islam"), headed by an ].{{Sfn|Friedmann|2003|pp=147–153}}<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MdRth02Q6nAC&q=split&pg=PA250 | title=Islam and the Ahmadiyya Jama'at: History, Belief, Practice | author=Simon Ross Valentine | publisher=Columbia University Press | pages=56–7 | access-date=25 August 2014| isbn=9781850659167 | year=2008 }}</ref> | |||
The movement initiated by Ahmad,<ref name="Upal 2021" /><ref name="Korbel-Preckel 2016" /> which is often seen to have emerged as an Islamic religious response to the Christian and ] missionary activity widespread in 19th-century India, and is viewed by its adherents as embodying the promised latter day revival of Islam, has since grown in organisational strength and in its own missionary programme under the leadership of its caliphate. Although it has expanded to over 200 countries and territories of the world, numbering an estimated 10 to 20 million,<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url = http://www.adherents.com/adh_branches.html|title = Major Branches of Religions|date = 28 October 2005|access-date = 19 April 2015|publisher = Adherents.com|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150315022054/http://www.adherents.com/adh_branches.html|archive-date = 15 March 2015|url-status = usurped}}</ref><ref name="ahmadi">See: | |||
* {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yi8ONIe1fv4C&pg=PA8 |title=Breach of Faith |date=June 2005 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |page=8 |quote=Estimates of around 20 million would be appropriate. |access-date=29 March 2014}} | |||
* {{cite book |author1=Larry DeVries |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dgtgGhMUgIUC&pg=PA72 |title=Asian Religions in British Columbia |author2=Don Baker |author3=Dan Overmyer |date=January 2011 |publisher=University of Columbia Press |isbn=978-0-7748-1662-5 |quote=The community currently numbers around 15 million spread around the world. |access-date=29 March 2014 |name-list-style=amp}} | |||
* {{cite book |author=Juan Eduardo Campo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OZbyz_Hr-eIC&pg=PA23 |title=Encyclopedia of Islam |publisher=Infobase |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8160-5454-1 |page=24 |quote=The total size of the Ahmadiyya community in 2001 was estimated to be more than 10 million. |access-date=29 March 2014}} | |||
* {{cite web |date=20 January 2012 |title=Ahmadiyya Muslims |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2012/01/20/january-20-2012-ahmadiyya-muslims/10124/ |access-date=6 October 2013 |publisher=pbs.org}}</ref> it has received a largely negative (often hostile) response from mainstream Muslims who view Ahmad as a false messiah and his teachings as heretical, particularly the teaching that he was a prophet.{{sfn|Friedmann|2003|p=132}} | |||
] is the only state that specifically requires every Pakistani Muslim to denigrate Ahmad as an impostor and his followers as non-Muslims when applying for a passport or a national ID card.<ref>{{cite book |author=Jocelyne Cesari |title=The Awakening of Muslim Democracy |date=2014 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=thgmAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA41 |location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=41 |isbn=978-1-107-04418-0 |quote=When applying for a passport, every Pakistani Muslim must sign a statement deriding Ahmad and denouncing his followers as non-Muslims.}}</ref><ref name="hanif">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8744092.stm|title= Why Pakistan's Ahmadi community is officially detested |date= 16 June 2010|work=BBC News|first=Mohammed|last=Hanif|author-link=Mohammed Hanif}}</ref> | |||
==See also== | |||
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==Notes== | |||
== External links == | |||
{{Notelist}} | |||
==References== | |||
:'''Biographies''' | |||
{{Reflist}} | |||
* | |||
== Bibliography == | |||
:'''Books''' | |||
* '' - Ahmad The Guided One by Iain Adamson | |||
* - Ahmad's book on ] | |||
* - JIHAD Against A Just Ruler? published on May 22nd, 1900 | |||
* - Extracts from the Writings of Ahmad's book | |||
* - Extracts from the Writings of Ahmad's book | |||
* - Extracts from the Writings of Ahmad's book | |||
* - Ahmad's book | |||
* - Ahmad's book | |||
* Lahore Ahmadiyya translation | |||
* - Ahmad's book | |||
* - Ahmad's book | |||
* - Ahmad's book | |||
* - Ahmad's book | |||
* - Ahmad's book | |||
* - Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's ''Ayk Ghalati Ka Izala'' translated by Lahore Ahmadiyya | |||
* - Ahmad's book | |||
* - in Urdu Language | |||
* | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Friedmann |first=Yohanan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rv8EAAAACAAJ&q=Prophecy+Continuous |title=Prophecy Continuous: Aspects of Ahmadi Religious Thought and Its Medieval Background |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2003 |isbn=0-19-566252-0 |editor-last= |editor-first= |place=Oxford |author-link=}} | |||
:'''Articles''' | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Khan |first=Adil Hussain |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C2DxBwAAQBAJ |title=From Sufism to Ahmadiyya: A Muslim Minority Movement in South Asia |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-253-01529-7 |editor-last= |editor-first= |place=Bloomington |author-link=}} | |||
* | |||
*''The Essence of Islam'', Islam International Publications, Ltd.; 2nd edition (2004), {{ISBN|1-85372-765-2}} | |||
*Iain Adamson: ''Ahmad, The Guided One'', Islam International Publications, 1990, revised 1991. | |||
*''Jesus in India'', Ahmadiyya Muslim Foreign Mission Department, 1978, {{ISBN|978-1-85372-723-8}}; Original ''Masih Hindustan Mein'', Oriental & Religious Publications Ltd., Rabwah () | |||
*{{cite book |last1=Korbel |first1=Jonathan |last2=Preckel |first2=Claudia |year=2016 |chapter=Ghulām Aḥmad al-Qādiyānī: The Messiah of the Christians—Peace upon Him—in India (India, 1908) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZtY6DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA426 |editor1-last=Bentlage |editor1-first=Björn |editor2-last=Eggert |editor2-first=Marion |editor3-last=Krämer |editor3-first=Hans-Martin |editor4-last=Reichmuth |editor4-first=Stefan |editor4-link=Stefan Reichmuth (academic) |title=Religious Dynamics under the Impact of Imperialism and Colonialism |series=Numen Book Series |volume=154 |location=] |publisher=] |pages=426–442 |doi=10.1163/9789004329003_034 |isbn=978-90-04-32511-1 |access-date=10 November 2020}} | |||
*S. R. Valentine, 'Islam & the Ahmadiyya Jama'at', Hurst & Co, London/New York, 2008 | |||
==External links== | |||
:'''Other''' | |||
*{{Commons category-inline}} | |||
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*{{Wikiquote-inline}} | |||
* - ''Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Arabic Website'' | |||
* - ''Arabic Books'' | |||
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* - ''Commemorating the life and workd of Hadrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad'' | |||
* - ''The Largest Mosque in Western Europe'' | |||
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* - '' Founded in 1958, by the Ahmadiyya Jamaat of Pakistan'' | |||
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* - '' Humanity First UK based charitable trust It was set up by the World Wide Ahmadiyya Community'' | |||
* - '' Humanity First UK based charitable trust It was set up by the World Wide Ahmadiyya Community'' | |||
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* - ''Pro-Ahmadiyya webpage'' | |||
{{Ahmadiyya topics|state=collapsed}} | |||
:'''Opposing Viewpoints''' | |||
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Latest revision as of 02:16, 26 December 2024
Indian religious leader and founder of the Ahmadiyya community (1835–1908)
Mīrzā Ghulām Aḥmad مرزا غلام احمد | |
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Ahmad, c. 1897 | |
Born | (1835-02-13)13 February 1835 Qadian, Gurdaspur, Sikh Empire (present-day Punjab, India) |
Died | 26 May 1908(1908-05-26) (aged 73) Lahore, Punjab, British India (present-day Punjab, Pakistan) |
Spouses |
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Children |
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Religion | Ahmadiyya Islam |
Title | Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam |
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (13 February 1835 – 26 May 1908) was an Indian religious leader and the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam. He claimed to have been divinely appointed as the promised Messiah and Mahdī, in fulfillment of the Islamic prophecies regarding the end times, as well as the Mujaddid (centennial reviver) of the 14th Islamic century.
Part of a series on
Ahmadiyya |
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Beliefs and practices |
Distinct views |
Days of remembrance |
Foundational texts and sciences |
Key literature |
Organizational structure |
Key sitesHijaz United Kingdom Qadian Rabwah |
Miscellaneous
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Born to a family with aristocratic roots in Qadian, rural Punjab, Ahmad emerged as a writer and debater for Islam. When he was just over forty years of age, his father died and around that time he claimed that God began to communicate with him. In 1889, he took a pledge of allegiance from forty of his supporters at Ludhiana and formed a community of followers upon what he claimed was divine instruction, stipulating ten conditions of initiation, an event that marks the establishment of the Ahmadiyya movement. The mission of the movement, according to him, was the reinstatement of the absolute oneness of God, the revival of Islam through the moral reformation of society along Islamic ideals, and the global propagation of Islam in its pristine form. As opposed to the Christian and mainstream Islamic view of Jesus (or Isa), being alive in heaven to return towards the end of time, Ahmad asserted that he had in fact survived crucifixion and died a natural death. He traveled extensively across the Punjab preaching his religious ideas and rallied support by combining a reformist programme with his personal revelations which he claimed to receive from God, attracting thereby substantial following within his lifetime as well as considerable hostility particularly from the Muslim Ulama. He is known to have engaged in numerous public debates and dialogues with Christian missionaries, Muslim scholars and Hindu revivalists.
Ahmad was a prolific author and wrote more than ninety books on various religious, theological and moral subjects between the publication of the first volume of Barahin-i-Ahmadiyya (The Proofs of Ahmadiyya, his first major work) in 1880 and his death in May 1908. Many of his writings bear a polemical and apologetic tone in favour of Islam, seeking to establish its superiority as a religion through rational argumentation, often by articulating his own interpretations of Islamic teachings. He advocated a peaceful propagation of Islam and emphatically argued against the permissibility of military Jihad under circumstances prevailing in the present age. By the time of his death, he had gathered an estimated 400,000 followers, especially within the United Provinces, the Punjab and Sindh and had built a dynamic religious organisation with an executive body and its own printing press. After his death he was succeeded by his close companion Hakīm Noor-ud-Dīn who assumed the title of Khalīfatul Masīh (successor of the Messiah).
Although Ahmad is revered by Ahmadi Muslims as the promised Messiah and Imām Mahdi, Muhammad nevertheless remains the central figure in Ahmadiyya Islam. Ahmad's claim to be a subordinate (ummati) prophet within Islam has remained a central point of controversy between his followers and mainstream Muslims, who believe Muhammad to be the last prophet.
Lineage and family
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was a descendant of Mirza Hadi Beg, a member of the Barlas tribe. In 1530, Mirza Hadi Beg migrated from Samarkand (present-day Uzbekistan) along with an entourage of two hundred people consisting of his family, servants and followers. Travelling through Samarkand, they finally settled in the Punjab, India, where Mirza Hadi founded the town known today as Qadian during the reign of Mughal emperor Babur his distant relative. The family were all known as Mughals within the British governmental records of India probably due to the high positions it occupied within the Mughal Empire and their courts. Mirza Hadi Beg was granted a Jagir of several hundred villages and was appointed the Qadi (judge) of Qadian and the surrounding district. The descendants of Mirza Hadi are said to have held important positions within the Mughal Empire and had consecutively been the chieftains of Qadian.
Life
Early life and education
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was born on 13 February 1835 in Qadian, Punjab, then part of the Sikh Empire under Ranjit Singh (r. 1801–1839). The surviving child of twins born to an affluent Mughal family. He learned to read the Arabic text of the Qur'an and studied basic Arabic grammar and the Persian language from a teacher named Fazil-e-Illahi. At the age of 10, he learned from a teacher named Fazl Ahmad. Again at the age of 17 or 18, he learnt from a teacher named Gul Ali Shah. In addition, he also studied some works on medicine from his father, Mirza Ghulam Murtaza, who was a physician. Ahmad's father, Mirza Ghulam Murtaza, was a local chieftain (ra'is) who served in the Sikh Army.
From 1864 to 1868, upon his father's wishes, Ahmad worked as a clerk in Sialkot, where he would come into contact with Christian missionaries with whom he frequently engaged in debate. After 1868, he returned to Qadian, as per his father's wishes, where he was entrusted to look after some estate affairs. During all this time, Ahmad was known as a social recluse because he would spend most of his time in seclusion studying religious books and praying in the local mosque. As time passed, he began to engage more with the Christian missionaries, particularly in defending Islam against their criticism. He would often confront them in public debates, especially the ones based in the town of Batala.
In 1886, certain leaders of the Arya Samaj held discussion and debate with Ahmad about the truthfulness of Islam and asked for a sign to prove that Islam was a living religion. In order to dedicate special prayers for this purpose and so as to seek further divine guidance, Ahmad travelled to Hoshiarpur upon what he claimed was divine instruction. Here, he spent forty days in seclusion, a practice known as chilla-nashini. He travelled accompanied by three companions to the small two-storied house of one of his followers and was left alone in a room where his companions would bring him food and leave without speaking to him as he prayed and contemplated. He only left the house on Fridays and used an abandoned mosque for Jumu'ah (Friday prayers). It is during this period that he declared God had given him the glad tidings of an illustrious son.
Taking of the Bay'ah
See also: Bay'ah (Ahmadiyya) and Ten Conditions of Bai'atAhmad claimed divine appointment as a reformer as early as 1882 but did not take any pledge of allegiance or initiation. In December 1888, Ahmad announced that God had ordained that his followers should enter into a bay'ah with him and pledge their allegiance to him. In January 1889, he published a pamphlet in which he laid out ten conditions or issues to which the initiate would abide by for the rest of his life. On 23 March 1889, he founded the Ahmadiyya community by taking a pledge from forty followers. The formal method of joining the Ahmadiyya movement included joining hands and reciting a pledge, although physical contact was not always necessary. This method of allegiance continued for the rest of his life and after his death by his successors.
His claim
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad proclaimed that he was the Promised Messiah and Mahdi. He claimed to be the fulfilment of various prophecies found in world religions regarding the second coming of their founders. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's followers say that he never claimed to be the same physical Jesus who lived nineteen centuries earlier. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claimed that Jesus died a natural death, in contradiction to the traditional Muslim view of Jesus' physical ascension to heaven and the traditional Christian belief of Jesus' crucifixion. He claimed in his books that there was a general decay of Islamic life and a dire need of a messiah. He argued that, just as Jesus had appeared in the 14th century after Moses, the promised messiah, i.e. the Mahdi, must also appear in the 14th century after Muhammad.
In Tazkiratush-Shahadatain, he wrote about the fulfillment of various prophecies. In it, he enumerated a variety of prophecies and descriptions from both the Qur'an and Hadith relating to the advent of the Mahdi and the descriptions of his age, which he ascribed to himself and his age. These include assertions that he was physically described in the Hadith and manifested various other signs; some of them being wider in scope, such as focusing on world events coming to certain points, certain conditions within the Muslim community, and varied social, political, economic, and physical conditions.
Post-claim
In time, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's claim of being the mujaddid (reformer) of his era became more explicit. In one of his most well-known and praised works, Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, a voluminous work, he claimed to be the Messiah of Islam. Muslims have maintained that Jesus will return in the flesh during the last age. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, by contrast, asserted that Jesus had in fact survived crucifixion and died of old age much later in Kashmir, where he had migrated. According to Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the promised Mahdi was a symbolic reference to a spiritual leader and not a military leader in the person of Jesus Christ as is believed by many Muslims. With this proclamation, he also rejected the idea of armed Jihad and argued that the conditions for such Jihad are not present in this age, which requires defending Islam by the pen and tongue but not with the sword. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad wrote two books named Tuhfa-e-Qaiseriya and Sitara-e-Qaiseriya in which he invited Queen Victoria to embrace Islam and forsake Christianity.
Reaction of religious scholars
Some religious scholars turned against him, and he was often branded as a heretic, but many religious scholars praised him like Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad among many others who praised him for his defense of Islam. After his death, opponents accused him of working for the British government due to the termination of armed Jihad, since his claims of being the Mahdi were made around the same time as the Mahdi of Sudan (Muhammad Ahmad).
Following his claim to be the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, one of his adversaries prepared a Fatwa (decree) of disbelief against Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, declaring him a Kafir (disbeliever), a deceiver, and a liar. The decree permitted killing him and his followers. It was taken all around India and was signed by some two hundred religious scholars.
Some years later, a prominent Muslim leader and scholar, Ahmed Raza Khan, was to travel to the Hejaz to collect the opinions of the religious scholars of Mecca and Madina. He compiled these opinions in his work Husamul Haramain (The Sword of the Two Holy Mosques) in it, Ahmad was again labelled an apostate. The unanimous consensus of about thirty-four religious scholars was that Ahmad's beliefs were blasphemous and tantamount to apostasy and that he must be punished by imprisonment and, if necessary, by execution.
Journey to Delhi
Ahmad went to Delhi, which was at the time considered a centre of religious learning and home to many prominent religious leaders, in 1891, with the intention of distinguishing what he believed to be the truth from falsehood. He published an advertisement in which he invited the scholars to accept his claim and to engage in a public debate with him regarding the life and death of Isa (Jesus), particularly Maulana Syed Nazeer Husain (1805–1901), who was a leading religious scholar. He also proposed three conditions that were essential for such a debate: that there should be a police presence to maintain peace, the debate should be in written form (for the purpose of recording what was said), and that the debate should be on the subject of the death of Jesus.
Eventually, it was settled, and Ahmad travelled to the Jama Masjid (main mosque) of Delhi accompanied by twelve of his followers, where some 5,000 people were gathered. Before the debate started, there was a discussion on the conditions, which led to the conclusion that the debate should not be upon the death of Jesus, but upon the claims of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. He explained that his claim could only be discussed after the death of Jesus was proven, for Jesus was considered by many to be living and the one who will descend to Earth himself. Only when this belief was refuted could his claim to be the Messiah be discussed.
Upon this, there was a clamour among the crowds, and Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was informed that the other party alleged that he was at odds with Islamic beliefs and was a disbeliever; therefore, it was not proper to debate with him unless he clarified his beliefs. Ahmad wrote his beliefs on a piece of paper and had it read aloud, but due to the clamour among the people, it could not be heard. Seeing that the crowd was drifting out of control and that violence was imminent, the police superintendent gave orders to disperse the audience, and the debate did not take place. A few days later, however, a written debate did take place between Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and Maulwi Muhammad Bashir of Bhopal, which was later published.
Ahmad is known to have travelled extensively across Northern India during this period of his life and to have held various debates with influential religious leaders.
Challenge to opponents
Ahmad published a book called The Heavenly Decree, in which he challenged his opponents to a "spiritual duel" in which the question of whether someone was a Muslim or not would be settled by God based on the four criteria laid out in the Qur'an, namely, that a perfect believer will frequently receive glad tidings from God, that he will be given awareness about hidden matters and events of the future from God, that most of his prayers will be fulfilled and that he will exceed others in understanding novel finer points, subtleties and deeper meanings of the Qur'an.
The Sun and Moon eclipse
After announcing his claim to be the Messiah and Mahdi, his opponents demanded that he should produce the "heavenly sign" detailed in the tradition attributed to the 7th-century Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, also known as Muhammad bin Ali, in which a certain sign is stated about the appearance of the Mahdi:
For our Mahdi, there are two signs which have never happened since the earth and the heavens were created, i.e., the moon will be eclipsed on the first of the possible nights in the month of Ramadhan and the sun will be eclipsed in the middle of the possible days of the month of Ramadhan.
— Dar Qutni Vol. 1, page 188
Ahmadis maintain that this prophecy was fulfilled in 1894 and again in 1895, about three years after Ahmad proclaimed himself to be the Promised Mahdi and Messiah, with the lunar and solar eclipse during the month of Ramadhan, according to the Ahmadiyya interpretation of the prophecy. Ahmad declared that this was a sign of his truth and was in fulfillment of the tradition or prophecy. The eclipses being a sign of the Mahdi are also mentioned specifically in the Letters of Rabbani by Ahmad Sirhindi.
Scientific historical records indicate these eclipses occurred at the following dates:
Eclipse | Date |
---|---|
Partial lunar eclipse | 1894 March 21 2pm UT (7pm) |
Hybrid solar eclipse | 1894 April 6 4am-7am UT (9am-11am) |
Total lunar eclipse | 1895 March 11 03:39 UT |
Partial solar eclipse | 1895 March 23, 10:10 UT |
Lawsuit
In 1897, a Christian missionary, Henry Martyn Clark, filed a lawsuit of attempted murder against Ahmad at the court of District Magistrate Captain Montagu William Douglas in the city of Ludhiana. The charge laid against him was that he hired a man by the name of Abdul Hameed to assassinate Clark. However, he was not detained by the police and was declared innocent by the then-magistrate Captain Douglas.
The Revealed Sermon
Main article: The Revealed SermonIn 1900, on the occasion of the festival of Eid ul-Adha, he is said to have delivered an hour-long sermon extempore in Arabic expounding the meaning and philosophy of sacrifice. This episode is celebrated as one of the important events of the history of Ahmadiyya. The sermon was simultaneously written down by two of his companions and came to be known as the Khutba Ilhamiyya, the revealed or inspired sermon. Ahmadiyya literature states that during this sermon, there was a change in his voice, he appeared as if in a trance, in the grip of an unseen hand, and as if a voice from the unknown had made him its mouthpiece. After the sermon ended, Ahmad fell into prostration, followed by the rest of the congregation, as a sign of gratitude towards God.
Ahmad wrote later:
It was like a hidden fountain gushing forth and I did not know whether it was I who was speaking or an angel was speaking through my tongue. The sentences were just being uttered and every sentence was a sign of God for me.
— Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Haqeeqatul-Wahi
Challenge to John Alexander Dowie
In 1899, Scottish-born American clergyman John Alexander Dowie laid claim to be the forerunner of the second coming of Christ. Ahmad exchanged a series of letters with him between 1903 and 1907. Ahmad challenged him to a prayer duel, where both would call upon God to expose the other as a false prophet. Ahmad stated:
The best way to determine whether Dowie's God is true or ours, is that Mr. Dowie should stop making prophecies about the destruction of all Muslims. Instead he should keep me alone in his mind and pray that if one of us is fabricating a lie, he should die before the other.
— Ghulam Ahmad
Dowie declined the challenge, calling Mirza Ghulam Ahmad the "silly Mohammedan Messiah". Ahmad prophesied:
Though he may try hard as he can to fly from death which awaits him, yet his flight from such a contest will be nothing less than death to him; and calamity will certainly overtake his Zion, for he must bear the consequences either of the acceptance of the challenge or its refusal. He will depart this life with great sorrow and torment during my lifetime.
The challenge of "prayer duel" was made by Mirza in September 1902. The Dictionary of American Biography states that after having been deposed during a revolt in which his own family was involved, Dowie endeavoured to recover his authority via the law courts without success and that he may have been a victim of some form of mania, as he suffered from hallucinations during his last illness. Dowie died before Mirza, in March 1907.
Encounter with the Agapemonites
In September 1902 the Rev. John Hugh Smyth-Pigott (1852-1927) proclaimed himself the Messiah and also claimed to be God while preaching in the Church known as "The Ark of the Covenant" in Clapton in London. This church was originally built by the Agapemonites, a religious movement founded by the Anglican priest Henry James Prince. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad wrote to Smyth-Pigott, informing him that such a blasphemous proposition did not behove man, and that in the future he should abstain from making such claims, or he would be destroyed. This message was sent in November 1902. Newspapers in America and Europe published Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's notification. Despite this prophecy, Smyth-Piggot continued to claim divinity both before and after Mirza Ghulam's death in 1908, as reported by various contemporary newspapers at the time.
Last journey
Towards the end of 1907 and early 1908, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claimed to have received numerous revelations informing him of his imminent death. In April 1908, he travelled to Lahore with his family and companions. Here, he gave many lectures. A banquet was arranged for dignitaries where Ahmad, upon request, spoke for some two hours explaining his claims, teachings and speaking in refutation of objections raised against his person; here, he preached reconciliation between Hindus and Muslims. He completed writing his last work, entitled Message of Peace, a day before his death.
Death
Ahmad was in Lahore at the home of Dr. Syed Muhammad Hussain (who was also his physician), when, on 26 May 1908, he died from dysentery. His body was subsequently taken to Qadian and buried there; he had previously claimed that an angel had told him that he would be buried there. By the time of his death, he had gathered an estimated 400,000 followers, especially within the United Provinces, the Punjab and Sindh.
Marriages and children
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad married twice. His first wife was his maternal cousin Hurmat Bibi. Later, they separated and lived separately for a long time.
Children
With his first wife, Hurmat Bibi, he had two sons:
- Mirza Sultan Ahmad (1853 – 2 July 1931)
- Mirza Fazal Ahmad (1855 – 1904)
With his second wife, Nusrat Jahan Begum, he had ten children, five of whom died in infancy:
- Ismat (15 April 1886 – July 1891)
- Bashir (7 August 1887 – 4 November 1888)
- Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad (12 January 1889 – 8 November 1965)
- Shaukat (1891 – 1892)
- Mirza Bashir Ahmad (20 April 1893 – 2 September 1963)
- Mirza Sharif Ahmad (24 May 1895 – 26 December 1961)
- (Nawab) Mubarika Begum (2 March 1897 – 23 May 1977)
- Mubarik (14 June 1899 – 16 September 1907)
- Amtul Naseer (28 January 1903 – 3 December 1903)
- (Nawab) Amtul Hafeez Begum (25 June 1904 – 6 May 1987)
Legacy
Main article: Ahmadiyya See also: Ahmadiyya Caliphate and Persecution of AhmadisAlthough Mirza Ghulam Ahmad aroused much opposition particularly from Muslim leaders owing to his messianic claims, opinion of him was not entirely negative. Many leading Muslim scholars, theologians and prominent journalists who were his contemporaries or had come into contact with him, had, despite differing with him in matters of belief, praised his personal character and acclaimed his works in the cause of Islam and the manner of his argumentation against proclaimants of other religions. The teachings that Jesus survived crucifixion, migrating towards the east in search of the Israelite tribes that had settled there and that he died a natural death upon earth, as propounded by Ahmad, have been a source of ongoing friction with the Christian church since they challenge the core beliefs of Christianity and would nullify the doctrines of vicarious atonement and resurrection, the two principal tenets of Christianity. Western scholars and historians have acknowledged this fact as one of the features of Ahmad's legacy.
Ahmad was the first to propose a post-crucifixion journey to India for Jesus and the first—other than the local people—to identify the Roza Bal shrine in Kashmir as the tomb of Jesus. These ideas have been further expanded upon since his death in light of subsequent findings, both by Ahmadis and individuals independent of the Ahmadiyya movement. However, the views remain controversial having been dismissed by some while being supported by others. Anthropological research tends to corroborate a link between the tribes of Israel and the peoples of south/central Asia, specifically the Pashtuns of Afghanistan and the people of Kashmir – as suggested by Ahmad in his book Jesus in India (and by others) – while findings from genetic evidence seem to remain equivocal. Jesus' survival of crucifixion and his natural death have become an important element of Ahmadi belief and Ahmadis have published extensively on this topic.
A number of modern Muslim scholars and Muslim intellectuals seem to conform to the idea of Jihad as fundamentally a peaceful religious endeavour rather than chiefly (or unconditionally) a militaristic struggle, in accordance with Ahmad's standpoint on the issue. Furthermore, some Islamic scholars have opined that Jesus has died (Ahmad's assertion) or have expressed their own confusion on this matter, though the majority orthodox position of most Muslims with regard to this issue has not changed.
One of the main sources of dispute during his lifetime and continuing since then is Ahmad's use of the terms nabi ("prophet") and rasul ("messenger") when referring to himself. Most non-Ahmadi Muslims consider Muhammad to be the last of the prophets and believe that Ahmad's use of these terms is a violation of the concept of the Finality of Prophethood. His followers fall into two factions in this regard. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, which comprises by far the majority of Ahmadis, believes that Ahmad's prophetic status does not in any way infringe the finality of Muhammad's prophethood – to which it is wholly subservient and from which it is inseparable – and is in accordance with scriptural prophecies concerning the advent of the Messiah in Islam. This group is currently headed by Ahmad's fifth caliph, or successor, carrying the title of Khalifatul Masih, an institution believed to have been established soon after his death. The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, which comprises a small fraction of all Ahmadis and believes in an allegorical understanding of these terms with reference to Ahmad, formed in 1914 when a number of prominent Ahmadis seceded from the main body soon after the election of Mirza Mahmud Ahmad as the second caliph. This group is administered by a body of people called the Anjuman Ishaat-e-Islam ("Movement for the Propagation of Islam"), headed by an Emir.
The movement initiated by Ahmad, which is often seen to have emerged as an Islamic religious response to the Christian and Arya Samaj missionary activity widespread in 19th-century India, and is viewed by its adherents as embodying the promised latter day revival of Islam, has since grown in organisational strength and in its own missionary programme under the leadership of its caliphate. Although it has expanded to over 200 countries and territories of the world, numbering an estimated 10 to 20 million, it has received a largely negative (often hostile) response from mainstream Muslims who view Ahmad as a false messiah and his teachings as heretical, particularly the teaching that he was a prophet.
Pakistan is the only state that specifically requires every Pakistani Muslim to denigrate Ahmad as an impostor and his followers as non-Muslims when applying for a passport or a national ID card.
See also
- Ahmadiyya Caliphate
- Jesus in Ahmadiyya Islam
- List of founders of religious traditions
- List of Mahdi claimants
- List of people claimed to be Jesus
- Mirza Ghulam Ahmad bibliography
- Mujaddid
- Seal of the Prophets
Notes
References
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{{cite book}}
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- Yohanan Friedmann. Prophecy Continuous: Aspects of Ahmadi Religious Thought and its Medieval Background Oxford University Press, 2003, p. 140. "Like Muḥammad, he was then forty years of age; he was privileged in the beginning with a "good dream" (ru'yā ṣāliḥa), shown to him as "the break of dawn" (mithl falaq al-ṣubḥ). And when Ghulām Aḥmad's father died, Allāh revealed to him the Sūrat al-Ḍuḥā, which speaks of Allāh's help to Muḥammad when he was a destitute orphan."
- Simon Ross Valentine. Islam and the Ahmadiyya Jama'at: History, Belief, Practice Columbia University Press, 2008, p. 42. "Following the death of his father in 1876 Ahmad claimed to receive visions and revelations. 'In short', he declared, 'about forty years of my life were spent under the care of my revered father. Just as he was taken from the world, I started receiving Divine revelations with great intensity'. Having commenced receiving revelations at roughly the same age as the prophet Muhammad himself, Ahmad described his experiences in similar terms to the revelations received by the Prophet."
- Louis J. Hammann."Ahmaddiyyat - An Introduction" Ahmadiyya Muslim Community , 1985 "It was not, however, until his 41st year (1876) that Hazrat Ahmad began to receive the revelations that would lead him eventually to the conviction that in his person the advent of the Mahdi was fulfilled."
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In Dar Qutni, the sign of the appearance of the Imam Mahdi is given in the following Hadith: 'For our Mahdi, there are two signs which have never happened since the earth and the heavens were created, i.e., the moon will be eclipsed on the first of the possible nights in the month of Ramadhan and the sun will be eclipsed in the middle of the possible days of the month of Ramadhan.'
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- Yohanan Friedmann. Prophecy Continuous: Aspects of Ahmadi Religious Thought and its Medieval Background Oxford University Press, 2003, p. 114. "He realized the centrality of the crucifixion and of the doctrine of vicarious atonement in the Christian dogma, and understood that his attack on these two was an attack on the innermost core of Christianity."
- Kambiz GhaneaBassiri. A History of Islam in America: From the New World to the New World Order Cambridge University Press, 2010, p. 208. "Ghulam Ahmad denied the historicity of Jesus' crucifixion and claimed that Jesus had fled to India where he died a natural death in Kashmir. In this way, he sought to neutralize Christian soteriologies of Christ and to demonstrate the superior rationality of Islam."
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- See:
- Breach of Faith. Human Rights Watch. June 2005. p. 8. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
Estimates of around 20 million would be appropriate.
- Larry DeVries; Don Baker & Dan Overmyer (January 2011). Asian Religions in British Columbia. University of Columbia Press. ISBN 978-0-7748-1662-5. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
The community currently numbers around 15 million spread around the world.
- Juan Eduardo Campo (2009). Encyclopedia of Islam. Infobase. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-8160-5454-1. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
The total size of the Ahmadiyya community in 2001 was estimated to be more than 10 million.
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- Breach of Faith. Human Rights Watch. June 2005. p. 8. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
- Jocelyne Cesari (2014). The Awakening of Muslim Democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-107-04418-0.
When applying for a passport, every Pakistani Muslim must sign a statement deriding Ahmad and denouncing his followers as non-Muslims.
- Hanif, Mohammed (16 June 2010). "Why Pakistan's Ahmadi community is officially detested". BBC News.
Bibliography
- Friedmann, Yohanan (2003). Prophecy Continuous: Aspects of Ahmadi Religious Thought and Its Medieval Background. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-566252-0.
- Khan, Adil Hussain (2015). From Sufism to Ahmadiyya: A Muslim Minority Movement in South Asia. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-01529-7.
- The Essence of Islam, Islam International Publications, Ltd.; 2nd edition (2004), ISBN 1-85372-765-2
- Iain Adamson: Ahmad, The Guided One, Islam International Publications, 1990, revised 1991.
- Jesus in India, Ahmadiyya Muslim Foreign Mission Department, 1978, ISBN 978-1-85372-723-8; Original Masih Hindustan Mein, Oriental & Religious Publications Ltd., Rabwah (Online)
- Korbel, Jonathan; Preckel, Claudia (2016). "Ghulām Aḥmad al-Qādiyānī: The Messiah of the Christians—Peace upon Him—in India (India, 1908)". In Bentlage, Björn; Eggert, Marion; Krämer, Hans-Martin; Reichmuth, Stefan (eds.). Religious Dynamics under the Impact of Imperialism and Colonialism. Numen Book Series. Vol. 154. Leiden: Brill Publishers. pp. 426–442. doi:10.1163/9789004329003_034. ISBN 978-90-04-32511-1. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
- S. R. Valentine, 'Islam & the Ahmadiyya Jama'at', Hurst & Co, London/New York, 2008
External links
- Media related to Mirza Ghulam Ahmad at Wikimedia Commons
- Quotations related to Mirza Ghulam Ahmad at Wikiquote
Ahmadiyya topics | |
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Ahmadiyya Muslim Community |
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Miscellaneous | |
- Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
- 1835 births
- 1908 deaths
- Angelic visionaries
- Founders of new religious movements
- Indian Ahmadis
- Indian Islamic religious leaders
- Muslim apologists
- People from Gurdaspur
- Prophecy in Islam
- Prophets in Ahmadiyya
- Self-declared messiahs
- Swoon hypothesis
- Self-declared mahdi
- Islam-related controversies
- Indian nonviolence advocates
- Revivalists
- People from Punjab Province (British India)