Moving onto another dimension of tareekh e ahmadiyyat, Many a people inquire about the death of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and details of his family. Well, his first marriage took place in 1852/53 with one of his relatives.1 This wife gave birth to two sons: Mirza Sultan Ahmad and Mirza Fazal Ahmad. In 1891, he divorced the lady. In 1884, he took another wife, the daughter of Nawab Mir Nasir of Delhi.2 The rest of the offspring of the Mirza were all from this wife. Three sons were born from her: Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmood, Mirza Bashir Ahmad (author of Sirat al-Mahdi) and Mirza Sharif Ahmad.
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad’s Death
How Mirza Qadiani Died? When in 1891 the Mirza declared that he was the Promised Messiah,3 and later on in 1910, that he was a prophet of God,4 the Muslim Ulama began to refute and oppose him. Among those prominent in opposing him was Maulana Sanaullah Amritsari. On April 5, 1907, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad issued an announcement in which, while addressing the said Maulana, he wrote:
“If I am such a big liar and impostor as you portray me in each issue of your magazine, then I will die in your lifetime. For I know that the life-period of a mischief-maker and liar is not very long. Ultimately, he dies an unsuccessful man, during the life of his greatest enemies and in a state of humiliation and grief. And if I am not a liar and impostor and have been honored by God’s communication and address to me, and if I am the Promised Messiah, then I hope that with the grace of God and in accordance with God’s practice you will not escape the punishment of the rejecters (of Truth). Thus, if that punishment which is not in man’s but in God’s hand, that is, fatal diseases like plague and cholera, do not afflict you during my lifetime,5 then I am not from God.”6
Coming to the death of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, one year after the publication of this announcement, on May 25, 1908 the Mirza fell ill, being afflicted with diarrhea at Lahore. He was put under treatment at once, but weakness increased, and his condition became critical. The next day, on May 26, he breathed his last in the forenoon.
Statements of his Father-in-law Mir Nasir Nawab
“The night, on which Hazrat Mirza Sahib fell ill, I was asleep at my place. When he felt very uncomfortable, I was awakened. When I went to Hazrat Sahib, he addressed me and said, “Mir Sahib I am ill with cholera”. After this, in my opinion, he did not speak a clear word till he died the next day after ten o’clock.7
Burial of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
The dead body was carried to Qadian. On May 27, 1908, the burial took place and Hakim Nuruddin became his successor, the first Khalifah of the Qadiani movement.
References
[1] Sirat al-Mehdi. vol. II, p. 150., Riwayat 467 n.
[2] Sirat al-Mahdi, vol. II, p. 151, Riwayat 267 n.
[3]Refer Part 2, Chapter 2.
[4] Refer Part 2, Chapter 3
[5] . It would be interesting to note that Maulana Sanaullah Amritsari died at the age of eighty on March 18, 1948 some forty years after the death of the Mirza.
[6]Tabligh.i-Risalat, vol. X, p. 120. Majmua Ishteharat Vol. 3, p 578 n.
[7] Hayat-i-Nasir, ed. Shaykh Yaqub Ali Irfani Qadiani
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