The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Blog

Archive for the ‘100th anniversary of death’ Category

Please click on this link to view an extensive photographic archive of the recent Convention in Lahore to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. (The link will open in a new window.)

(Courtesy: www.aaiil.org)

During the recent Convention in Lahore, at the Centre of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, when the clock reached 10.15 a.m. on 26th May, the exact day and time when Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad died one hundred years ago, the Head of the Movement Dr A.K. Saeed went to the stage and said tearful prayers for the Movement.

Click here to listen to his brief statement and prayers (mp3 format). The language is Urdu.

(Courtesy: www.aaiil.org)

An audio archive of the speeches at the Centenary Convention in Lahore, held from 24th to 26th May 2008, is being placed online. Many speeches are already available there, and others are yet to be added.

Click here to access the speeches and talks. (The link will open in a new window.)

Although I am now back from the great Convention in Lahore, held to commemorate the 100th aniversary of the death of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, my computer has irretrievably broken down. So my access is limited for the next few days while a replacement computer reaches me.

The Convention was held from Saturday 24th to Monday 26th May. On the 26th, it so happened that a speech finished at exactly 10.15 a.m. Thereupon, the Head of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, Hazrat Ameer Dr A.K. Saeed, took the stage to inform us that that was the exact moment of the passing away of the Promised Messiah, one hundred years ago. Many moving and tearful prayers were then said, led by the Hazrat Ameer. Allah’s blessings were called for the soul of this Great Reformer who sought to breathe new life into a dead Muslim Umma.

When the next scheduled speaker, a young man, opened his speech at 10.25 or so, he began by saying that his was the first speech of the new century. It then struck me that we had entered a new era, in which others will come after us to continue our work. People like me will see less of this new century than we have done of the past one.

On this visit I also met a venerable man, Malik Saeed, who was born in 1906, still quite mobile and mentally sharp and active. He attended all the speeches. He even made a speech himself from his chair. Later I asked him about his earliest memory and he told me: “I don’t recall seeing Hazrat Mirza sahib, but Hazrat Mirza sahib saw me when I was a baby and he picked me up.” He talked to me for an hour without tiring. He can recall being present at the death of Hazrat Maulana Nur-ud-Din in Qadian in 1914.

We also visited the recently renovated Promised Messiah Memorial Room at Ahmadiyya Buildings which is in approximately the position of the room where the Promised Messiah expired.

All photos below open in a new browser window. These were taken by me on 23rd May.

Photo of the Memorial Room.

Photo of front of Ahmadiyya Buildings Mosque in centre of Lahore (which was our Centre from 1914 to mid-1970s)

Lahore Ahmadiyya plot in the Miani Sahib cemetery in Lahore, used from 1921. Lahore Ahmadiyya leaders such as Maulana Muhammad Ali and Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din are buried here.

Headstone of grave of Maulana Muhammad Ali

Our friend Bashir has posted the following conclusions he has reached after study.

HMGA was a contradicting author. Hence his followers were left to explain his(HMGA) teachings and prophecies. That’s why the split happened. HMBMA interpreted HMGA’s writings in his own way. M. Ali did the same. So whats the true interpretation. One thing is for sure, HMBMA accused m. Ali of believing that HMGA was a perfect prophet(ummati and nabi) from 1901 to 1911. That is totally incorrect. M. ali wrote this in 1904:

“If the doors of Prophethood had not been closed, then a Muhaddath has elements and potentials of becoming a Prophet and with reference to these elements and potentiality application of word Prophet on a Muhaddath is permissible, i.e., we can say that ‘A Muhaddath is a Prophet’. (Review of Religions, Urdu edition, Vol. 3, 1904, p. 117)

HMBMA had his followers (500k) believe an un-true allegation. It is ironic how HMBMA never commented on this reference. He knew it existed, but he turned a cold shoulder to it. Also, the letter by Syed Maulvi Muhammad Ahsan(written after EGKI) should seal the case. But once again HMBMA never commented on this article. Fact is 95% of 400k people were illiterate. They followed the son of HMGA, irregardless of the issues. HMBMA was able to use the donations from this large body and multiply his jamaat, while M. Ali started from scratch. My estimations show 4 out 5% of literate people joined M. ali. They read about the issues between the two groups. M. ali won the argument. HMBMA won their hearts. When the vietnamese beat the USA in the vietnam war, the vietnamese commented that they didnt win the war in vietnam, they won the political war in the USA. Get the picture?????

At this link, you can access the special issue of The Light (U.K. Edition), commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. (Link opens a PDF file in a new window.)

It is reported in Badr, 30th April 1908 (p. 6) that an Eid Milad-un-Nabi function was held at Ahmadiyya Buildings, Lahore. This was, of course, long before the split in the Ahmadiyya Movement, and near the end of the life of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.

Also to be noted is that the function is not called Eid Milad-un-Nabi. In those days the term used by Muslims in India was Bara Wafat, meaning “death on the 12th”. Below I translate the report, which is entitled Life of the Holy Prophet:

“A respected friend reports from Lahore that, on the previous day, a Tuesday, on the occasion of Bara Wafat, and for the benefit of the residents of Lahore, a grandly organised lecture was held at Ahmadiyya Buildings, where houses of our Khwaja [Kamal-ud-Din] sahib are located. The ground was very large and was decked with a marque and other necessities. It had been widely advertised in the city.

The poem in praise of the Holy Prophet written by Huzoor [presumably meaning the Promised Messiah] was read out by brothers Abdul Aziz, son of Mian Chiragh Din, and Ghulam Muhammad. Maulvi Sadr-ud-Din gave an explanation of the Surah Fatiha with great zeal and pure sincerity, and went over the events of the life of the Messenger of God, may peace and the blessing of Allah be upon him. Then brother Dr. Mirza Yaqub Baig spoke on the life of the Holy Prophet in a fine speech. The audience included Hindus, Muslims and members of the Brahmo Samaj. All the leading men of Lahore who could come were in attendance. The whole gathering listened patiently and attentively to the highly effective speeches of these young men, who were preaching using this new technique and method, and they went away expressing much praise.

This meeting was also reported in other newspapers and was generally much liked. Hence the newspaper Watan wrote:

“Just as there was great regret that there were no arrangements in Lahore for holding this great occasion of remembrance, there was equal pleasure that on 14th April, corresponding to 12th Rabi-ul-awwal 1326 A.H., on behalf of the Anjuman-i Ahmadiyya Lahore a magnificent meeting was organised by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, lawyer, High Court. Capable speakers delighted the audience by telling them about the life of the Holy Prophet and his excellent and praise-worthy qualities. It is hoped that in future many people in Lahore will organise events for such a sacred remembrance.”

The newspaper Sada-i-Hind expressed a similar opinion.

Comment by Editor Badr: It is indeed essential that the general public should be fully informed about the life of the Holy Prophet. We cannot complain about non-Muslims when most Muslims themselves are utterly unaware of the life of their beloved master. When such ignorant people realise how much we owe to the Holy Prophet, they will want to shed tears uncontrollably.  But I do not consider it right to fix one particular day forever, like Bara Wafat, for this purpose.”

This idea was then taken up by other Muslims and led to the development of the Eid Milad-un-Nabi function. 

In a report in Badr, 26th March 1908, the Editor (I presume) gives an account of his visit to Bhera, where Dr Basharat Ahmad was stationed in his medical employment. He records here an event showing Dr Basharat Ahmad’s integrity, truthfulness, fairness and service of humanity in the course of his work.

Click here to read that extract.

In Badr, 26th December 1907 on page 5, there is a report about the arrival of members in Qadian for the annual gathering and the preparations for this gathering.

At this link you can view, in pdf format, the scanned image of the page from Badr where this report is printed.

Many of us knew a person who attended this Jalsa! This was Hazrat Dr Saeed Ahmad Khan, late Head of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, who was either 7 or 8 years old at the time. He came to Qadian with his father, Maulvi Muhammad Yaqub, and they stayed in Qadian till March 1908.

On page 9 of the same issue it outlines the purposes of the Jalsa and the general form that it usually takes.

At this link you can view that part of page 9 in pdf format. (In this scanned image the first two paragraphs are rather light but still legible.)

In Badr, 31st October 1907, pages 5-6, there is an article by an Ahmadi answering the question “Why did you accept Hazrat Mirza sahib?”.

The scanned image of this article is at this link as a pdf file.

The author repeatedly refers to Hazrat Mirza’s claim as mujaddid in accordance with the Hadith report about mujaddids and seeks to prove the truth of this claim.

For example, he writes:

“If someone … argues that the first fifty years of a century constitute the head of the century, so it is not necessary to accept Mirza sahib as mujaddid  at the very beginning of the century, the answer is as follows. Since the teaching of Mirza sahib is consistent with the Quran and authentic Hadith, and thousands of signs have appeared in its support, it would be foolish to wait for fifty years for a mujaddid. However, if his teaching had been against the Quran and Hadith, then this objection would have been worthy of acceptance. …

No opponent can raise a valid objection against the teaching of Mirza sahib. The objection is only on his claim to be Messiah and Mahdi. The opponents say: if Mirza sahib had not made this claim to being Messiah and Mahdi, the Muslims would generally have accepted him as the mujaddid of the time, but these claims have prevented us from accepting him as mujaddid. In reply, we say respectfully that if you accept Mirza sahib as mujaddid of the time, this will not harm your faith in Islam. Considering that all other prophets died, what is the wonder in the death of Jesus? And since all those sent by God have been appointed in this way, and none descended from heaven, what is the wonder in Mirza sahib being appointed as such a time of need?”

It is plain from this that the claim of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is being presented in this article, just seven months before his death, as that of mujaddid of the century. Other Muslims are said to take exception to his claim of being Messiah and Mahdi, and this is why they do not accept him as mujaddid. However, the author argues that the claim of being Messiah and Mahdi should not prevent his acceptance as mujaddid. Therefore it is clear that mujaddid is his real claim.