The Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement: A Short Study (Classic Reprint)

A hmadiyya movement, was born at Qadian, a village in the Gurdaspur District, Punjab, in 1836.1 His fathers name wasM irza Ghulam Murtadza, and the family is descended from theB arlas tribe2 of theM oghul family. His ancestors had long resided inK hurasan, a province of Persia, and were the dignitaries of the land. In the tenth century of the Hijra, when Babar ruled I ndia, one of his ancestors, Mirza Hadi Beg, emigrated 1. In the first edition of this book, 1839 was given as the date, and this is also the date given by the founder himself in the short autobiography which he wrote in 1897 and which appeared in his book A l-K itab al-B ariyya. This was, however, a guess as there is no written record of the exact date of his birth. Further on in this same autobiography, he states that he passed nearly forty years of his life with his father whose death took place in 1876. On this basis, 1837 or 1836 would appear to be a more probable date. His son, Mirza Bashir A hmad, has produced strong arguments in favour of 1836 as the year of his fathers birth. 2. This tribe was descended from Haji Barlas. He lived at Kush, to the south of Samarqand, but was expelled from there by Taimur when he conquered that land. Haji Barlas took shelter inK hurasan, and the family lived there till they came over to I ndia, in the time of Babar. On account of their long residence in Persia, theB arlas tribe may be included among the Persians. Some authorities, however, say that Barlas is not aM oghul but a Persian tribe, as both Barlas and Mirza (the sur-title) are words of Persian and not ofT urkish origin. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad himself says that his ancestors were Persians. Presented bfi AHMADIYYA ANJUMAN lSHA AT-l-ISLAH A hm..
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

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