Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad

Mirza Mahmood Ahmad in 1924 , before leaving India for a tour of various countries.

Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad (12 January 1889 in Qadian - 7 November 1965 in Rabwah), was the second caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and the eldest son of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad from his second wife. He was given the title of Khalifatul Masih II. He was elected to this office on 14 March 1914, the day after the death of his predecessor, Hakeem Noor-ud-Din at the young age of 25. Among his achievements are the establishment of the organizational structure of the community, improvement of the administration of the community, a ten volume commentary on the Quran and extensive missionary activity outside the subcontinent of India. He was a renowned orator and was also an active political figure especially in pre-partition India.

Early life

Mirza Mahmood Ahmad is sometimes referred to as the Promised Son (Pisr-e-Maoud). During his youth he engaged himself in the service of his father's movement by founding an organization called “Anjuman Tashheezul Azhaan”, he also started a magazine by the same name for the purpose of proselytizing. On 26 May 1908. He had no formal education. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad died at Lahore when Basheer-ud-Din Ahmad was 19 years old. On 27 May 1908, he was the first to take the oath of allegiance to the first Khalifa.

He visited Egypt and Saudi Arabia in September 1912 during the course of which he performed Hajj. In June 1913, he started a newspaper which became the central organ of the Community. On March 14 1914, in Qadian, the will of Khalifatul Masih I was read out, which requested the people to elect someone as his successor.

Caliphate

When Mirza Mahmood Ahmad was elected the second successor to Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in 1914 a faction, led by Maulana Muhammad Ali, Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din and some others strongly opposed his succession and refused to accept him as the new Caliph. They eventually left Qadian, settled in Lahore and later came to be known as the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat-i-Islam.

Under the leadership of Mirza Mahmood Ahmad, there was further development of the scope of missionary activities, and the establishment of a Madrasa Ahmadiyya [Seminary] up to university level. As part of this, he established 46 foreign missions. He started afresh the translation of the Qur'an into English with explanatory notes for the benefit of European nations.

Central consultative body

In 1922 he established the central consultative body (Majlis-e-Shoora) of the community. This Majlis consists of elected representatives from various parts of the community who gather once a year and offer counsel and opinion on matters presented to them. The final decision is however left to the Caliph.[1]

Foreign Visits

In 1924, accompanied by twelve eminent Ahmadis, he visited Egypt, Damascus, Jerusalem, Palestine, France, London etc. His speech on Ahmadiyyat, the true Islam was read out in the conference of religions held in Wembly. In London he laid the foundation stone of the Fazl Mosque, an occasion which was well publicised. The construction of the Mosque was completed in 1926 and the cost thereof was borne entirely by the women of the community.[2]

Pre-partition India and foreign missions

Mirza Mahmood Ahmad was one of leading political figures in pre-partition India, and had close links with the leadership of All-India Muslim League. In 1931 the All India Kashmir Committee was formed under the leadership of Mirza Mahmood Ahmad, a committee set up for the deliverance of the opressed Muslims of Kashmir and the establishment of their civil rights. He resigned from presidency in 1932 due to the agitations of the Ahrar party which sought to wipe out the Ahmadies. In 1934 he founded the Tehrik-e-Jadid (the new initiative) for the establishment of foreign missions. This initiative called upon members to volunteer themselves for missionary work, and to donate money towards a special fund for propagation in foreign countries during the course of which 46 foreign missions were established.

Auxiliary Organizations

As the community grew rapidly it was divided into different age groups:

Lajna Amaa’ illah for ladies above the age of fifteen, Nasiratul Ahmadiyya for girls aged seven to fifteen years, Ansarullah for men above the age of forty, Khuddam-ul Ahmadiyya for the youth aged fifteen to forty and Atfalul Ahmadiyya for boys aged seven to fifteen.

The Hijri/Shamsi calendar

The Gregorian Calendar is based on the solar movements and starts with the birth of Jesus, while the Hijri (Islamic) calendar is based on lunar movements and starts with the migration of Muhammad form Mecca to Medina, which occurred in 622.

In 1940 under the directives and supervision of Mirza Mahmood Ahmad, after much research and calculations, a new calendar was worked out, the Hijri/Shamsi (solar/Hegira) calendar. Although this calendar is based on solar calculations, however it starts form the migration of Muhammad instead of the birth of Jesus. According to this method 2008 CE corresponds to 1387 Hijri/Shamsi, i.e. 1,387 years have passed since the migration of Muhammmad from Mecca to Medina. The number and time frame of each month of this calendar is the same as the Christian calendar (the lunar month being shorter by some days than the solar one).[3] Each month of the Solar/Hegira calendar is based on an important event of early Islamic History:

• 1. Sulh (peace): January
• 2. Tabligh (preaching): February
• 3. Aman (protection): March
• 4. Shahadat (martyrdom): April
• 5. Hijrat (Migration): May
• 6. Ehsan (benevolence): June
• 7. Wafa (loyalty): July
• 8. Zahoor (appearance): August
• 9. Ikha (brotherhood): September
• 10. Tabook (battle of Tabouk): October
• 11. Nabuwat (prophethood) November
• 12. Fatah (victory): December

The Promised Reformer

In a public gathering in Delhi in 1944, he made the claimed that he was the ‘Promised Son’ whom his father Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had foretold about. He explained in a number of meetings held in various places in India that this claim was based on various revelations and dreams.

He also managed the translation and publication of the Qur´an into various languages. His ten-volume “Tafseer-e-Kabeer” is one of the most detailed commentaries done on the Qur´an in modern times. His scholarship of religious and secular subjects was well known among the literary circles. He delivered a series of famous lectures on a variety of topics in educational institutions which were attended by the intellectuals and leaders of that time.

Mirza Mahmood Ahmad in 1954

Migration to Pakistan

In 1947 following the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan, He carefully oversaw the emigration of members of the community from Qadian to Pakistan. He kept 313 men known as Dervishes in Qadian to guard the sites holy to Ahmadis, including two of his sons. In 1948 under the leadership of the second Caliph, the Community found a tract of arid land and built the town of Rabwah, which became the new headquarters.

Persecution

In 1953 there were severe agitations against the Ahmadis in which street protests were held, political rallies were carried out and inflammatory articles were published. These agitations led to 2,000 Ahmadiyya deaths. Consequently, martial law was established and the federal cabinet was dismissed by the Governor General. [4]

Mirza Mahmood Ahmad announced:

“God Almighty has established the Ahmdadiyya Jamaat. If these people win then we admit we were on the wrong path, but if we are on the right path, then they will assuredly fail”. (Al-Fazl, February 15th, 1953).

Assassination attempt

In 1954 there was an assassination attempt on Mirza Mahmood Ahmad. Immediately after having led the Asr prayer, a man attacked him stabbing him twice with a dagger. He sustained fatal injury but survived. He traveled to London for medical treatment where he held a conference of all missionaries stationed in Europe and visited various other European countries such as Italy, Holland, France, Switzerland,Germany,etc. After having partially recovered he returned to Pakistan.

In 1957 he started the new dedication scheme (Waqf-e-Jadid) which sought to take care of the spiritual upbringing of the members in rural areas and the preaching of Islam to the Hindu population of the country. A network of teachers dispatched to various rural areas of the country. This project was intended mainly for rural communities of India and Pakistan until 1986 when it was internationalized.

During the latter part of the 1950s he became seriously ill. He died in Rabwa in 1965 after 52 years as Calpih.

Works and speeches

The following is a list of some of the major works of Mirza Mahmood Ahmad.

• Tafseer-e-Kabeer (The Extensive Commentary)
• Introduction to the study of the Holy Qur'an
• Dawatul Ameer Invitation to Ahmadiyyat
• Tohfat al-Malook (Gift to the Kings)
• Nizam-e-Nau The New World Order of Islam
• Islam ka Iqdisadi Nizam ( The Economic System of Islam)
• Haqeeqat al-Nabuwwat (The Truth about Prophethood)
• Ser-e-Roohani (The spiritual Journey)
• Ahmadiyyat Yani Haqeeqi Islam Ahmadiyyat, the True Islam
• Inqalab-e-Haqeeqi (the True Revolution)
• Fazael-e-Qur'an (Excellences of the Qur'an)
• Hindustan ke Siyasi Masael ka hal (Solution to the political problems of India)
• Hasti-ye Bari Ta'ala (The Existence of God)
• Malaykatullah (The Angels of God)
• A'ina-e-Sadaqat The Mirror of Truth, The Truth about the Split
• Minhaj-ut-Talibeen Way of the Seekers
• Zikr-e-Elahi Rememberance of God
• Kalam-e-Mahmood (collection of Poetry of Mahmood)

External links

• Fazl-e-Umar foundation website
• Life Sketch of Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad