Intro
Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg (died on 11 February 1936, see Mujahid e Kabir)(also spelled as Yakub Beg or Yacub Baig) is an important person in the history of Ahmadiyya, he seems to have converted to Ahmadiyya very early on, 1891-era, and was very close to MGA. Interestingly, Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan, the famous apostate from Ahmadiyya is mentioned as being in Lahore in 1891. In fact, he was also at the same college as the Baig brothers, he eventually introduced them to Ahmadiyya. Later on, in 1897, he became a fanatical Ahmadi and Lekh Ram died on his emergency room table at the Mayo Hospital. No one knew this fact until 30-40 years later. In 1910, he found a few sons of Batalvi and forcibly brought them to Qadian, and then converted them to Ahmadiyya, just to fulfill MGA’s prophecies. In May of 1908, he was one of the attending physicians, as MGA was having massive diarrhea attacks and reported that MGA was forced to sit on a toilet during initial treatment. Dard spells his name as Mirza Ya‘qub Baig, his name appears 2 times. In 1923, he admitted to being present at the Mayo Hospital in Lahore the night that Lekh Ram bled to death, in fact, he was the emergency room doctor and gives a detailed account.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1872
He is born in Kalanaur, Gurdaspur, British India, barely 40-50 miles from Qadian. His father was a sunni-muslim.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1892
When he was just twenty years old and a student of the Medical College, Lahore, he took the bai‘at of the Promised Messiah in 1892. He and his younger brother Ayub Baig were the first among young people to take the bai‘at and they were deeply loved by the Promised Messiah because of their devoutness and religious virtues.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1896
He is mentioned among the first 313 Ahmadi’s of 1896. He is listed as Ahmadi #40, his brother is listed as #41. His name is written as Mirza Ya‘qub Baig, Kalanauri (See Dard).
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1897
https://www.muslim.org/intro/pioneers/myb.htm
He is working (March-1897) in the Mayo hospital in Lahore when Lekh Ram was carried in and suffering from a stab wound. Lekh Ram dies in-front of him, he secretly tells MGA all about it.
“”””In July 1897 when my friend Mirza Ya‘qub Baig appeared in the final examination for surgery and I supplicated on his behalf, I received the revelation: [Urdu] You have passed. This meant that he had passed, for in the case of sincere friends who are so close as to reach the point of unification such phrases are sometimes employed…. Eventually he passed his examination very well.””” [Nuzulul-Masih, p. 223, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 18, p. 601](see also the 2009 online english edition of Tadhkirah).
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1905
He was Maulvi Abdul Karim’s final doctor. He was crying uncontrollably and was scolded by MGA.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1906
When the Promised Messiah established the Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya Qadian in 1906 he appointed Dr. Mirza Yaqub Baig as one of its members. From 1897 he was in government service, first in Lahore and then elsewhere.
The ROR of July-1942 tells us that in 1906, Zafrullah Khan visited Qadian with his father for the first time ever. They slept in a small room in the southern corner (facing the offices of the Baitul Mal across the street) of the building which now forms part of the house which belongs to Mirza Bashir Ahmad. Zafrullah Khan alleges that he MGA would sit in a small room of Masjid Mubarak after Zuhr and Asr and people would basically worship MGA. Zafrullah Khan also claims to have went with MGA on his famous walks around Qadian. Zafrullah Khan also remembers Noorudin and his medical clinic. Zafrullah Khan also alleges that he was at the annual Jalsa of 1905, 1906 and 1907. He recalls an incident from either 1906 or 1907, wherein his father, Syed Hamid Shah and Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg were staying in the room on the eastern side of Masjid Mubarak (this was a room that MGA passed through before entering the mosque itself). Zafrullah Khan and his friends would eat food in this room, it was also being used by Maulvi Muhammad Ali as his main office.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1908
He is in Lahore when MGA dies. He reports that MGA was sitting on a wooden toilet just minutes before MGA died. The ROR of Jan-1940 alleges that he gave speech at the 1908 Jalsa at Qadian.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1909
He opposes the Khilafat and joins the Ahmadi’s of Lahore in a famous meeting.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
1912
He was a speaker at the 1912 Jalsa at Qadian (see ROR of Jan-1913).
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
1913
Please see below report from Al-Fazl, 22 October 1913, of a visit by Abdullah Yusuf Ali to Qadian where he met the Head of the Movement Hazrat Maulana Nur-ud-Din. It is reported that he was brought there by Dr Mirza Yaqub Baig, who was later a founder-member of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Jamaat. Yusuf Ali was at the time in the Indian Civil Service of British rule of India, as stated in the report. Later, of course, he translated the Quran into English in the 1930s.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1914
He took care of Maulvi Noorudin in the last few weeks of his life.
In 1914 or 1915 when he was teaching in the Medical College, Lahore, he received orders transferring him away from Lahore to a very prestigious post. He resigned his job to remain in Lahore for the sake of the Anjuman and went into private medical practice. The Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam was created in a state of the utmost lack of means and the Doctor sahib was its first General Secretary. The offices of the Anjuman were in the beginning located in his property. Not only due to his medical skills but also because of his uprightness, saintliness, integrity, philanthropy and service of humanity he was a highly respected and distinguished public figure. The general non-Ahmadi Muslim associations, societies and bodies considered it a matter of honour and pride to have him as their member. Having been the first General Secretary of the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam he later became its Vice-President. He was always in the forefront in participating in the work of the Jama‘at, making the greatest financial sacrifices for the Anjuman.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1915
He wrote a biography on the life of MGA, it is quoted in Walter.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
1918
The ROR of May-1918 reports that Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg (who was working as the secretary of the Lahori-Anjuman) presented themselves as the representatives of the Ahmadi’s in British-India to the Vicerory and Secretary of State in Delhi. This made the Qadiani’s very mad. Similar statements were made in the Civil and Military Gazette. The ROR of May-1918 writes in opposition to the Lahori-Ahmadi’s and even claim that Muhammad Ali wrote things in his famous 1917 english commentary which are unislamic, this was in terms of the biological fatherhood of Joseph (astagfarullah). This article was written by the secretary of the Anjuman Tarraqi Islam which was operating out of Qadian and was forerunner of Tehrik-i-jadid.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1920
In 1920 when Maulana Muhammad Ali appealed to raise Rs. 100,000 for the Anjuman, Dr. Mirza Yaqub Baig donated those of his properties in which the Anjuman’s offices were housed.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
1923
https://www.muslim.org/intro/pioneers/myb.htm
Dr. Mirza Yacub Baig writes about what happened at the death of Lekh Ram.
Pandit Lekhram
According to the prophecy made by the Promised Messiah, Pandit Lekhram died after receiving a wound in his abdomen with a knife. By coincidence, when he was brought to Mayo Hospital [Lahore] after being stabbed, I was in the hospital as I was in my final year of my medical studies. In fact, I bandaged him myself and assisted Colonel Perry in operating on him.
As Colonel Perry lived some distance from the hospital and his arrival took time, Lekhram kept on repeating dejectedly and despondently: “O my qismat (misfortune), the doctor is not here yet”. The Pandit’s friends said to him: Premshar (God) will save you. In reply it was only once that he said: Yes, Premshar can save me, but he was convinced that he would die and kept on repeating his earlier words till the doctor arrived.
Some people have accused Hazrat Mirza sahib of having had Lekhram murdered. But I am prepared to testify on oath that the Pandit held no view of this kind about Hazrat Mirza sahib, even though this situation was one in which he had the best opportunity to express such an opinion.
Even during my student days I was not called by my forename but as Mirza Jee. In those days the late Dr. Ragbir Sahay was house surgeon and lived in a room above the operation theatre. So when Lekhram was brought in, Dr. Ragbir Sahay called me saying: Mirza sahib, please come here, a serious case has just been brought in. When I came I saw a man of height six feet or more lying on the table. On his abdomen there was a cut from one side to the other, some seven to eight inches in length, and his intestines were outside. Dr. Ragbir Sahay asked me to place a warm sponge on his abdomen and then to take his temperature, which I did. In brief, I was with him for about an hour to an hour and a half, until he was given chloroform to anaesthetize him. During this time Dr. Ragbir Sahay called me Mirza Jee several times. When I realized that the injured man was Pandit Lekhram, I paid particular attention to remembering everything that happened so that I could inform Hazrat Mirza sahib of the last hours of his life.
I say with certainty that whenever Dr. Ragbir Sahay called me Mirza Jee, Pandit Lekhram looked towards me with sorrow in his eyes and he remembered Hazrat Mirza sahib as well as his own prophecy he had made that Hazrat Mirza sahib would be destroyed. It had become clear to him that his prophecy had turned out to be false but that the prophecy made by Hazrat Mirza sahib had proved true.
If without the memory of Hazrat Mirza sahib being reawakened in his mind he had remained silent, then it would have been another matter. However, because of the calling of my name he was repeatedly reminded of Hazrat Mirza sahib, and yet despite being fully conscious and able to speak he only expressed regret at his fate and made no accusation whatsoever against Hazrat Mirza sahib.
Although the Pandit was brought directly to the hospital without any dying declaration being taken from him by the police, nonetheless any statement made by the patient in such circumstances in front of the doctor is regarded as equivalent to sworn testimony in court. However the Pandit made no statement even though, in addition to Dr. Ragbir Sahay, as far as I remember there were also two doctors present who came with other Arya Samaj members, Dr. Heera Lal and Dr. Dev Kee Nand, and they remained there till the end.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1936
On 11 February 1936 Dr. Mirza Yaqub Baig died. He was born in 1872, and when he was just twenty years old and a student of the Medical College, Lahore, he took the bai‘at of the Promised Messiah in 1892. He and his younger brother Ayub Baig were the first among young people to take the bai‘at and they were deeply loved by the Promised Messiah because of their devoutness and religious virtues. When the Promised Messiah established the Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya Qadian in 1906 he appointed Dr. Mirza Yaqub Baig as one of its members. From 1897 he was in government service, first in Lahore and then elsewhere. In 1914 or 1915 when he was teaching in the Medical College, Lahore, he received orders transferring him away from Lahore to a very prestigious post. He resigned his job to remain in Lahore for the sake of the Anjuman and went into private medical practice. The Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam was created in a state of the utmost lack of means and the Doctor sahib was its first General Secretary. The offices of the Anjuman were in the beginning located in his property. Not only due to his medical skills but also because of his uprightness, saintliness, integrity, philanthropy and service of humanity he was a highly respected and distinguished public figure. The general non-Ahmadi Muslim associations, societies and bodies considered it a matter of honour and pride to have him as their member. Having been the first General Secretary of the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam he later became its Vice-President. He was always in the forefront in participating in the work of the Jama‘at, making the greatest financial sacrifices for the Anjuman. In 1920 when Maulana Muhammad Ali appealed to raise Rs. 100,000 for the Anjuman, Dr. Mirza Yaqub Baig donated those of his properties in which the Anjuman’s offices were housed.
In Lahore, in addition to the work of the propagation of Islam, he took upon himself the duty of serving the elders of the Jama‘at. Prior to this, he had served and treated the Promised Messiah devotedly during his final illness in Ahmadiyya Buildings, and that Divine elect breathed his last in his hands. When Maulana Nur-ud-Din, during his period of leadership of the Movement, had a fall while riding his horse Dr. Mirza Yaqub Baig kept on going to Qadian again and again to treat him, and when his final illness became prolonged he stayed in Qadian looking after him day and night. Likewise when Maulvi Abdul Karim, during the life of the Promised Messiah, developed a carbuncle, Dr. Mirza Yaqub Baig took leave from his job and came to stay in Qadian for his treatment. This devotion made a deep impression on the Promised Messiah. His sympathy and attention was, however, not only for great men but his kindness extended to the most ordinary and the poorest of people and patients, belonging to every creed, race and community.
His death was an incalculable loss to the Jama‘at and a great shock to everyone. On that occasion Maulana Muhammad Ali paying tribute to his qualities and services said in his Friday khutba:
“Our connection went back a very long way. In the Anjuman of Qadian these five of us had a unique closeness. Three of us have already passed away: Shaikh Rahmatullah sahib, Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din sahib and Dr. Mirza sahib have faithfully completed their obligations. There remain two who are waiting ((Meaning Dr. Syed Muhammad Husain Shah and Maulana Muhammad Ali himself.)) and Allah will deal with them as He wills…
When the foundations of the Anjuman in Lahore were laid, there was no building, no office, and no missionary. The sacrifices that the Doctor sahib made in those days, it is entirely beyond my power to describe them; only Allah knows them. Then, in those circumstances, when he was being transferred from Lahore in the course of his employment he resigned from his job, fulfilling his pledge of giving priority to religion over worldly gain. The promise he had given at the hand of the man sent by God, he abided by that at the time of need. He dedicated himself to the service of the faith. He donated his valuable property for the offices of the Anjuman, and till today the offices are in that building.”
______________________________________________________________________________________________
1939
He is mentioned by the 2nd Khalifa at the Jalsa at Qadian in 1939. The 2nd Khalifa gave the inaugural speech on Dec-26, 1939, he mentioned the Lahori-Ahmadi’s and how that conflict happened 25 years ago, he specifically mentioned Dr. Mirza Yacub Baig. The 2nd Khalifa alleged that Qadian would be controlled by Christians, ironically, 8 years after this speech, the Sikhs had taken full control of Qadian and control it til this day (2023). The 2nd Khalifa even made prophecies that Ahmadi’s of Rabwah would return to Qadian (including himself).
_______________________________________________________________________________________________The reference
The Hope Bulletin, May-2008 edition
Click to access hope200805_lastdaysmgamirzayaqubbeg.pdf
https://www.muslim.org/books/m-kabir/mjk3-4b.htm
https://www.muslim.org/intro/pioneers/myb.htm
https://ahmadiyyafactcheckblog.com/2020/04/16/the-death-of-mirza-ghulam-ahmad-from-ahmadi-sources/
http://exahmadi.blogspot.com/2013/12/death-of-mirza-ghulam-qadiani-according.html
http://www.irshad.org/exposed/death.php
http://exahmadi.blogspot.com/2013/12/death-of-mirza-ghulam-qadiani-according.html
https://ahmadiyyafactcheckblog.com/2017/09/29/hyat-e-nasir-by-mir-nasir-nawab-the-full-pdf-book/
https://ahmadiyyafactcheckblog.com/2020/04/13/what-is-lecture-ludhiana-by-mirza-ghulam-ahmad-1905/
https://ahmadiyyafactcheckblog.com/2017/01/16/hyat-e-nasir-1927-1st-edition-vs-2nd-edition/
https://ahmadiyyafactcheckblog.com/2016/12/02/mirza-ghulam-ahmad-died-of-an-opium-overdose-1908/
https://ahmadiyyafactcheckblog.com/2018/12/17/lekh-rams-murder-the-details-aryasamaj-lekhram/
https://ahmadiyyafactcheckblog.com/2018/03/31/batalvis-children-were-brought-to-qadian-by-force/
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Tags
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The data
Life Sketch of Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg (1872-1936)
[Researched and written by Choudry Masud Akthar, Secretary, AAIIL, Hayward, California, USA.]
Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg was born in 1872 in Kalanaur, District Gurdaspur. His father, Mirza Niaz Beg, was a land owner in Kalanaur and a God-fearing, righteous person with a Sufistic bent of mind. He was Zilidar in the Canal Department.
After passing his High School Examination, Mirza Yaqub Beg joined Medical College in Lahore in 1890. His younger brother, Mirza Ayyub Beg, also came to Lahore in 1891 for college education. In Lahore, they were renting a house in Anarkali Bazaar. In 1891, when Mirza Yaqub Beg was a second year student in Medical College, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib came to Lahore. Dr. Abdul Hakim Khan, who was a third year student in Medical College, informed Mirza Yaqub Beg about the Promised Messiah’s visit to Lahore and both of them went to meet the Promised Messiah, who was staying at Mehboob Rayon’s house near Hira Mandi. The house had a large gate which was closed and a window was kept open for entry and exit through which both of them were let in.
Some persons were present in the courtyard where Mirza Yaqub Beg was introduced to Maulana Nuruddin Sahib. When Mirza Yaqub Beg extended his hands for a handshake, Maulana Sahib said, “Not here; like this,” and embraced him with love. Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg later wrote that with this embracing by the Maulana Sahib he felt a special type of feeling; his chest became cold and he felt as if an electric current had entered his body which filled his heart with special feelings of contentment and exhilaration which he had not experienced ever before in his life.
They then proceeded to the sitting room where the Promised Messiah was sitting and was talking to people in an informal manner. People were enquiring about various religious and spiritual matters and he was answering their queries. During this time, a person came in and hurled filthy abuses in the face of the Promised Messiah, who quietly listened to the abuses. When the person was finished, the Promised Messiah said, “My brother, utter some more.” On hearing these words the person felt ashamed and asked for forgiveness, saying he had not recognized him.
At that time among the visitors there was a well-educated Hindu gentleman. He said he had read the stories of forbearance and toleration of the Christ but had not seen anyone dyed in those colours. Then, pointing towards the Promised Messiah, he said, “This gentleman is the only one whom I find completely dyed on these colours and he will succeed in his mission for sure.” On seeing the countenance of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib and observing his demeanour, Mirza Yaqub Beg was fully convinced that he was truthful and could not be an impostor.
At sunset, the Promised Messiah went upstairs for offering Maghrib prayers and Dr. Abdul Karim Khan asked Mirza Yaqub Beg about returning home. Mirza Yaqub Beg said he would return only after taking the pledge of allegiance (Bai’at) at the hands of the Promised Messiah. Accordingly, a message was sent through Hamid Ali, the personal attendant of the Promised Messiah, and they were asked to go to the upper floor where the Promised Messiah administered Bai’at by repeating all the ten conditions of the Bai’at.
The next day, Mirza Yaqub Beg’s younger brother, Mirza Ayyub Beg, without informing him, went to see the Promised Messiah and took Bai’at on his very first visit. In those days, due to the severity of opposition to the Promised Messiah, taking pledge at his hands was generally not publicly announced. Therefore, both brothers kept this matter secret from each other and neither one of them knew that the other had taken Bai’at at the hands of the Promised Messiah. However, after some time it did not remain hidden as a change in day to day life of both brothers was noticed by the other. Prior to Bai’at, both of them did not attach much importance to the religious rites and were quite lax in the performance of prayers, fasting and other ordinances of the Shariah. After taking the Bai’at, not only did they start offering regular five times daily prayers but they also offered Tahajjud prayers. Mirza Yaqub Beg wrote that he felt a state of ecstasy and absorption in his prayers and experienced seeing true dreams which had a novel and fascinating condition. Until then, he had read only one or one and a half part (sipara) of the Qur’an. Now he started reading the Qur’an and Maulana Raheemullah Sahib, an Ahmadi with a Sufistic bent of mind who was Imam of a masjid near the water tank in the street where Sikhs lived, started coming daily to Mirza Yaqub Beg’s residence in Anarkali to give lessons in the recital of the Qur’an, and thus he had completely read the Qur’an by his second year of Medical College.
Mirza Yaqub Beg’s father, Mirza Niaz Beg, who was posted as Ziladar in Kukkar Hatta District, Multan, on seeing the disinclination of his sons towards performing their religious duties prior to taking Bai’at, used to say that instead of providing a school and college education it would have been better if he would had sent them to a madrassah for religious studies and he would have also loved them to look after their lands as agriculturists. Now, after the Bai’at when both sons went to stay with him to spend their summer vacations, he observed a change in their lives. They were regularly performing their five daily prayers and also the Tahajjud prayer and were crying to Allah during prayers and supplicating to Him with extreme humility and regularly reading the Qur’an. On seeing this change he was wonderstruck that this change had occurred. The sons had not apprised him of their Bai’at with the Promised Messiah.
About a year after taking the Bai’at, Mirza Yaqub Beg visited Qadian where he met the Promised Messiah, Maulvi Abdul Karim and other followers of the Promised Messiah. On seeing the spiritual atmosphere there, he thought that he should invite his father to join this spiritual brotherhood. Because of his father’s favours and love for him he wished to do this favour him, that he should convey to him the good news of the advent of the Promised Messiah and
extend an invitation to him to join the silsilah of the Promised Messiah. Accordingly, while in Qadian, he wrote a sixteen-page letter to his father and, before mailing it, he read it out to the Promised Messiah and the assembly of his followers who were sitting with him in the masjid. On hearing the letter, the Promised Messiah observed, “I wish my sons were like this.” On receiving the letter, Yaqub Beg’s father, who himself had once spent two years of his life as a hermit in the company of Sajjadah Nasheen of Rattar Chattar by completely abandoning the world and had returned home only at the death of his father, and fearing that Yaqub Beg too may become a hermit like him by quitting his studies, wrote back to him advising him not to be hasty in this matter. He informed him that he will come and meet Mirza Sahib and then will advise him about him. Since he himself had spent many years of his life in Tassawaf, therefore, he had the knowledge of recognizing the Sufia-e-Karam (saints). He could breathe the aroma of a saint and determine the spiritual state of that saint.
In reply to this, Mirza Yaqub Beg wrote an eighty-page letter to his father giving more details about the Promised Messiah and further assuring him that he should not worry about his academic career as he was more diligent in this matter than before and that his retentive memory had increased much and that he studied devotedly so much so that whatever he read once he could recite by heart. The time which other boys spent playing or idly talking, he spent in offering prayers and reading the Qur’an.
Dr. Yaqub Beg once wrote that the result of this change in his life’s routine after taking the Bai’at was in spite of the fact that he had joined Medical College after High School while other boys had come after spending two years (for FA, FSc) or four years (for BA, BSc). Even from his second year onward, that is, the last four years of Medical College, he used to pass the examination by standing first for all those years and as a result was earning a stipend for his studies. At the end he was made the House Surgeon, a post which was offered only to the student who was considered to be the best. When the Promised Messiah was busy in debates with Abdullah Atham in Amritsar, Mirza Yaqub Beg’s father came to Amritsar to see the Promised Messiah. In his first meeting he was convinced of the piety and spiritual attainments of the Promised Messiah and took Bai’at at his hands, and as a matter of honouring him, Maulana Nuruddin Sahib renewed his Bai’at by joining with him in taking the Bai’at afresh. Mirza Niaz Beg informed both his sons who were present in Amritsar that the scent of the Promised Messiah was so strong that it seemed that his whole body was nothing but fragrance.
Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg wrote that when he went to Qadian for the first time, in those days the number of guests used to be small. Maulvi Abdul Karim was very influenced by the views of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and used to ask a lot of questions to the Promised Messiah, therefore, much of the Promised Messiah’s time used to pass in answering those questions. This kind of debate was very useful in that it provided a chance for learning for those who were present at
those question and answer sessions. Ultimately, Maulvi Abdul Karim Sahib recognized the weakness of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s views and became an ardent believer in Allah and Unity of Allah.
Maulvi Sahib had very special compassion for Yaqub Beg and Ayyub Beg. During his visit Mirza Yaqub Beg saw in a dream that the Promised Messiah had made him and Maulvi Abdul Karim as brothers. When he told that dream to the Promised Messiah, he said, “From today both of you are brothers to each other.” This special relationship remained with them for life
During Maulvi Abdul Karim Sahib’s last ailment, Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg was staying in Qadian for three months and was taking lessons in the Qur’an and Hadith from Maulana Nuruddin Sahib. He spent about two months treating Maulvi Abdul Karim. At times, when Maulvi Sahib’s disease got serious, Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg spent days and nights for weeks in his treatment without even getting a wink of sleep. Not even a most devoted son would have rendered this much service or shown so much concern for his father as was done by Mirza Yaqub Beg. Finally, when Maulvi
Abdul Karim Sahib passed away Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg and Maulvi Muhammad Ali Sahib were crying so bitterly and incessantly that the Promised Messiah had to remind them to be patient and submit to the Will of God.
When Mirza Yaqub Beg and his brother Ayyub Beg had taken the pledge at the hands of the Promised Messiah in 1891, they were the youngest members of the Promised Messiah’s followers and all the elders of the community used to show a special compassion towards them. If there was one day’s vacation in college they would go to Qadian by night train, spend the day there and return by the next night’s train to Lahore. Similarly, when Maulana Nuruddin Sahib went to Lahore from Jammu, the Beg brothers used to spend all available time in his company. They would reach where the Maulana was staying early in the morning. At times, when he was still asleep, and they would lay down by his side. He would explain to them the meanings of prayer and Surah-e-Fateha. Then they will offer morning prayers with him and remain in his company till the college starting time and return again after college. They would leave when he went to sleep. Maulana Nuruddin Sahib had developed a special compassionate liking for the Beg brothers. He had many friends in Lahore and used to stay at their homes but at times he would stay at the Beg brothers’ residence in Anarkali. If he was visiting Lahore for only a few hours, then he would visit them in college. Due to this special compassion he used to call them beta (son). Even during his Khilafat days he used to address Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg as beta (son) or at times bhai (brother). Similarly, the Promised Messiah used to treat both the brothers as his own sons. When Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg took his final Medical Examination the Promised Messiah received an ilham, “You have passed the examination.” The Promised Messiah has explained this ilham in Haqeeqat-al-Wahy in the words, “I had supplicated for Yaqub Beg. Since there is an affinity between him and I, therefore, Allah has addressed me, but in fact Yaqub Beg was meant thereby.”
The Promised Messiah would often summon Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg from Lahore for his own treatment, his wife’s and other members of his family. On one such occasion, when he was called to treat the Promised Messiah’s wife, and Dr Yaqub Beg was going downstairs in the new home after examining her, the Promised Messiah said, “Please pray for her health too because a brother’s prayer in favour of his sister is accepted. During the Promised Messiah’s last ailment, Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg was summoned to Ahmadiyya Buildings from his residence in Gumti Bazaar at 2:00 AM. When he arrived, the Promised Messiah said, “Please prescribe medicine for treatment and please also pray for my recovery,” and added, “in reality, the treatment is in the heavens.”
After passing his Medical Examination Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg went to Qadian. His job appointment letter was received there. On receipt of this letter he saw the Promised Messiah and said that he was about to embark on a new career in life and requested advice which may serve as a guide in his professional life. The Promised Messiah said, “In your profession, your relationship with your patients will be with their physical being and not their spirits or souls. Therefore, a person who spends his whole night in prayers and remembrance of God and one who uses abusive language about God day and night should be equal in receiving treatment for their physical diseases.” Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg remembered this advice of his spiritual mentor and guide for the whole of his life and wherever he worked as a doctor, worshippers of God – Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians – as well as atheists, all received the same treatment at his hands and all of them always reposed their confidence in him equally. He remained popular amongst all of them so much so that Maulvi Muhammad Hussain Batalvi, though an enemy of the Promised Messiah, was a great admirer of Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg and once he, along with a deputation of Ahle-Hadith, came to see Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg at his home in Lahore to specially thank him for medical treatment to his wife and himself. Once, Maulvi M.H. Batalvi came to know that Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg was going to Qadian. He received him at the Batala Railway Station and took him to his own home and treated him with sumptuous food and then saw him off the next morning, walking with him up to the road to Qadian. He said, “Whenever you visit Qadian, please stay at my home on your way; you have a right on this house because Mirza Sahib (the Promised Messiah) also used to stay at this house.”
Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg used to say that the great success which he achieved in the medical profession was the result of the Promised Messiah’s prayers and his being a member of the silsilah founded by the Promised Messiah. He was of the view that his exemplary moral character and piety, which was praised equally by friends and foes, was the result of keeping company with the Promised Messiah and the pious and righteous persons who had gathered around him. He used to say that all Ahmadis should manifest through their good moral character that special difference acceptance of Ahmadiyyat made in their personalities. Like the companions of the Holy Prophet (peace be on him), every Ahmadi, through his or her high moral character, should be a special exemplar and become a minaret of enlightenment for the sake of the service and dissemination of religion so that others may be attracted towards the path of guidance and people may be convinced of the truth of the Promised Messiah by seeing their truthful intentions, pious lives and righteousness.
Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg was a God-fearing person and often treated poor patients free of charge, and when the patient had no means to purchase medicines he would also pay for the medicine, including tests, and even for food. He was a hospitable person. His home used to remain full of guests at all times. People used to come from outside Lahore, stay at his home, enjoyed sumptuous meals and get medical treatment for their illnesses. He was one of the leading doctors of Lahore in his time.
During his college years, he used to donate one rupee per month to the Ahmadiyya Movement. After becoming a doctor he used to pay one hundred rupees per month as monthly chanda (subscription). He used to donate thousands of rupees on every special appeal for the projects of the Anjuman. For his piety and devotion and dedicated services to the cause of Ahmadiyyat, the Promised Messiah nominated him a member of the Majlise Motamaddeen of the Sadar Anjuman in 1905, a position which he held till the Split in 1914. In 1914, after the Split, he became one of the Five Founding Members of the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat-e-Islam, Lahore. In the beginning, all the expenses of this Anjuman, which was being raised from scratch, were met by donations from Sheikh Rahmatullah Sahib, Dr. Syed Muhammad Hussain Sahib and Dr Mirza Yaqub Beg Sahib. He generously donated towards funding of the Anjuman’s projects, which, amongst others, included construction of the Anjuman’s office building, financing of the Woking Muslim Mission and construction of the Berlin Mosque, printing of the English translation of the Qur’an, opening of the Mission in Indonesia, printing of Paigham-e-Sulah (Urdu), The Light, Young Islam etc. and other literature on Islam, salaries of the missionaries, editors of the publications, office staff, school teachers, and much more. In addition to this, Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg used to make generous donations towards all Muslim causes. He used to make large donations to Anjuman Himayat-e-Islam, Lahore, which was formed for building schools and colleges for the education of Muslim children and youth. In addition to donating funds, Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg used to work as Honorary Medical Officer of Islamia College, Lahore where he used to provide medical services for a few hours daily for the treatment of students of Islamia College. This meant a sacrifice of time during which he could have made thousands of rupees a month.
In recognition of his services and lavish donations he was elected as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Anjuman Himayat-e-Islam which was called the Council of Anjuman Himayat-e-Islam. In 1936, Maulvi Ahmad Ali, a Sunni Maulvi of Lahore who was running his own Anjuman under the name Anjuman Khaddamul Muslimeen, had become a member of the Council of Anjuman Himayat-e-Islam. He moved a resolution that Ahmadis should be removed from membership of that Anjuman and no Ahmadi should be allowed any employment in the Anjuman nor should any Ahmadi student be granted admission to any educational institution being run by the Anjuman Himayat-eIslam. Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg protested this resolution but to no avail. Maulvi Ahmad Ali got his object and the resolution was passed through majority vote. Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg was shocked and on returning from the meeting he suffered a stroke from which he did not recover. He passed away after two or three days. Inna Lilah-e-Wa Inna Ilaih Rajeo’on.
In his Wassiyat Nama (The Will) Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg donated to the Central Anjuman the two properties he had built and owned within the compound of the Ahmadiyya Buildings located at Brandreth Road, Lahore.
He left behind two sons: Mirza Daud Beg, who was at that time practicing homeopathy medicine in Turkey; and Mirza Abdur Rahman Beg, who was an Officer in the Railways and who, after retirement, settled in Austin, Texas, USA and was son-in-law of the late Hazrat Ameer, Dr. Saeed Ahmad Khan Sahib.
Dr Mirza Yaqub Beg had three daughters. One of them was the late Begum Razia Madad Ali, mother-in-law of the present Hazrat Ameer, Dr. Abdul Karim Saeed Pasha Sahib, and Dr. Zahid Aziz of the UK. She was a very active member of the Ahmadiyya Jama‘at, like her venerable father.
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https://www.muslim.org/intro/pioneers/myb.htm
Reminiscences of my beloved
‘To recall your beloved is no less than meeting him’
Some eye-witness events of the Imam of the Age
by Dr Mirza Yaqub Baig
(From Paigham Sulh, 26 May 1923, pages 6 to 9)
Although fifteen years have passed since the death of the Imam of the Age, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad sahib of Qadian, the Promised Messiah, but as I spent a long period during my younger days, a period of almost sixteen years, in his company the events and conditions of that time are always fresh before my eyes and can never be forgotten. Besides this, during the last thirty years I have had occasion to meet all sorts of people, and I find his life to be the best and most noble example. Today, leaving aside his claims and the exalted rank bestowed upon him by Allah the Most High, I put before the readers some events of his life which show the exalted status of his morals, and it appears even at a cursory glance that a man of this illustrious rank, far from making a false claim about God, cannot even utter an untruth about any human being. Such a truthful man cannot possibly be an impostor, and one who entertains so deep a love and adoration for the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) cannot present himself as a rival to him. On the contrary, he considers it his greatest honour to be his servant, as he writes:
The glory of Ahmad is beyond all imagination and comprehension,
Whose servant, observe, is the Messiah of the age.
His physical appearance
There are hundreds of people still alive from among the earliest followers of Hazrat Mirza sahib, who spent a long time in his company, and there are thousands who had the opportunity to see him. However, there are millions of people who never had the chance to see him, and for them I want to say that the description of the coming Messiah in Hadith — that his colour will be wheatish, his hair will be straight, and it would always look as if he had just had a bath — is exactly how Hazrat Mirza sahib would be described in brief. That is how he was shown by Allah to the Holy Prophet Muhammad by means of a vision thirteen centuries earlier, and that is precisely what the appearance of this promised one was like. He was of a very handsome, wheat-like colour, with a brightly radiant face. He had a high forehead and a bushy beard, whose hair were slightly turned at the end. As his hair had turned grey at a young age, he used to apply henna to his hair. His face always appeared to have a smile on it, and his eyes always half open. He was of medium height. The hair on his head were not thick; he did not have any bald patches but his hair were spaced apart. His appearance was quite distinct from the description of the Israelite prophet Jesus as given in Hadith, who is described as being reddish white in colour with curly hair.
He wore a turban of a very simple form. Sometimes he would have a Turkish cap on his head, and sometimes he would wear a turban over the cap. His [Indian style] coat, trousers and other garments were of the simplest kind, and most frequently he wore traditional Indian shoes.
There were no artificial airs about him, nor did he keep any special place or seat reserved for himself. In every way he behaved simply. He would take his seat wherever there was a vacant place. Sometimes he would be seated on the floor while some of his followers, due to lack of space, sat higher up on a couch.
He usually went for a walk in the early morning, accompanied by a crowd consisting of his own followers and visitors. During the walk many people, in order to listen to him, would pass him and walk ahead. As they passed him, dust raised by their feet would blow on him but he would not care in the least. Again and again someone would step on one of his shoes causing it to slip out of his foot, but he would never look to see who did it. Someone would step on his walking stick and knock it out of his hand to the ground, but his face would never show any sign of displeasure. In gatherings he would sit like an ordinary person and talk without assuming any artificial airs. If a humorous remark was made he laughed so heartily that his face turned red and his eyes streamed. Sometimes while laughing he covered his mouth with the end of his turban cloth.
Socialisation and hospitality
His food was absolutely simple. Whatever was cooked in the house he would eat without any fuss. He ate very little. His hospitality was of the highest degree. He looked after his guests with the greatest care. Whenever a guest took his leave to depart, Hazrat Mirza sahib would clearly be grieved. In the early days, he served his guests personally and would go and bring a guest’s meal to him. Quite often during the meal he would rise and go to bring some drink or pickles or something else for his guest.
While eating he took very small morsels of food. Tiny bits of bread collected in front of him as he ate. He would eat at most one chipati at any meal. He would also take out pieces of meat from the curry dish and place them before the guests seated near to him.
Times
He said the five daily prayers in congregation. Sometimes he led the prayer, but usually a senior member of the community would be the imam. Maulana Abdul Karim of Sialkot led the five daily prayers and the Friday prayer till his death. After that, Allama Hakim Maulana Nur-ud-Din used to lead the prayers, although sometimes Maulana Sayyid Muhammad Ahsan or another senior member led the prayers.
After almost every prayer Hazrat Mirza sahib engaged in conversation about some religious matter. Everyday there were new people in attendance who had come from distant places, and often a question asked by one of them would become the subject of a talk by him. He sometimes talked about family matters, or if he was writing a book at the time he would talk about the issues under discussion. After the morning prayer he did not sit for long but, after taking a short rest, he would come out and go for a walk of about two to three miles accompanied by his friends. All through the walk conversation continued. He walked so fast that most people had to run to keep up with him to listen to his talk. He would speak with a constant flow and at speed.
Between the zuhr and asr prayers he would usually stay in the mosque, and likewise between the maghrib and ‘isha prayers. Almost all this time was spent on talking about various religious topics, answering questions from people, and giving goodly preaching. Except for those days when he was engaged in writing some book, he spent most of his time with guests in conversations on religion. After maghrib he would usually have dinner with them and retire to his room after the ‘isha prayers.
Tahajjud prayers
Aside from praying in congregation for the five daily prayers, he was regular in his tahajjud prayer. Although his humility before Allah in every prayer was enviable, his tahajjud prayer was quite without equal. He would be in the state of prostration for hours, beseeching Allah from the bottom of his heart to grant success to Islam and the Muslims. While doing so, the thought of the moral plight and pitiable condition of the world would make him shed tears, so much so that his cries could sometimes be heard. In the early days the neighbourhood around his house was sparsely populated, and when he said his tahajjud prayers on the roof in the hot summer months, the sounds of his pleading and crying before the Almighty with a painful heart could be heard far outside the house.
His love and affection
While he had thousands of followers, most of them so devoted that they would give their all for him, he too was no less in showing love and devotion towards them. In fact, his devotion towards them was much greater, and it made each one of them feel as if Hazrat Mirza sahib loved him specially, more than he loved any other follower. He was in reality a model of the Holy Prophet Muhammad’s quality of being a mercy to all. He shared in the grief or the joy of every one of his followers. If anyone was in distress or difficulty he would do his best for him practically as well as by prayer, as if he were striving for his own success. He remembered all his sincere followers in his prayers and in his tahajjud prayers he went so far as to pray for everyone of them by name.
Not only for his friends but he also prayed for his opponents and the Maulvis who called him kafir, especially praying for them in his tahajjud prayers that they be guided aright. As he writes in a poetic verse:
“My soul is eaten away in sorrowing after your faith, my friend,
The wonder is that you consider me to be a kafir.”
Penmanship and writing
Apart from his walks outside, the Promised Messiah used to stroll within his house as well. He had a separate room where he sometimes sat down to write. However, he did most of his writing while walking. At both ends of the courtyard he would place an inkpot in a niche in the wall. With pen and paper in hand he would write while strolling from one end to the other. After having done some writing he would fold the paper over to reduce its length so as to facilitate writing further on it.
It was not as if his courtyard was reserved for him. The women and children of the house would be moving about in it. He often likened his house to a railway train station due to the hustle bustle. It was in that tumultuous environment that he did his writing work, but the noise never distracted his attention from his writing. He would be as deeply absorbed and engrossed in his work as if he were in utter solitude and silence.
So absorbed would he be in his writing as to be entirely oblivious to what was going on around him. In the early days his father used to have his meals sent to him in his room. Sometimes a dog would come and eat his food and he would not notice. Nor would it occur to him that he had not eaten. He never asked for another meal to be sent.
Once, in the later days, it so happened that Hazrat Mirza sahib wrote a long article and put the papers by his side. His son, Mirza Mahmud Ahmad, at present head of the Qadiani Jama‘at, who was a child at the time, while sitting next to him and playing with a match box, set the papers alight. Hazrat Mirza sahib did not notice. When he needed to look up those papers, he found them burnt to ashes. All he said was: “There must be some Divine wisdom in why this happened”. He rewrote the article, and it was better than the one burnt.
Love of friends
His relationship with his devoted followers was that of a close friend. He addressed everyone of them with respect. When I and my late brother Mirza Ayub Baig took the bai‘at we were the youngest people in the Movement, yet whenever he wrote us a letter he addressed us as: “My dear brothers”. He found it difficult to accept a complaint against a friend. Once when Maulvi Abdul Karim, Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din and some others made a complaint about a friend from the town of Gujaranwala, Hazrat Mirza sahib told them: I cannot believe that he could have done such a thing, you must make enquiries again.
When friends came from other places to see him he would not let them go quickly. When he did bid them farewell, he would walk with them for a long distance to see them off. Sometimes when seeing off us two brothers he would accompany us for two miles outside Qadian.
Unequalled forbearance and tolerance
I and my late brother Mirza Ayub Baig entered into the bai‘at of Hazrat Mirza sahib in 1892. He had come to Lahore after having been to Delhi. The ulama had just then issued the declaration against him denouncing him as a kafir. He was staying at the house of Mehboob in Lahore where afterwards the Railway Station Dispensary was located for a long time. Opposition to him was so fierce that the main gate of the house was kept locked, and only a narrow, side entrance was open for those going in and out. However, some malicious persons used to slip inside even through there. One day Hazrat Mirza sahib was sitting in a room on the first storey with many people who had come to see him. Some Hindus were present as well. A man came and started hurling abuse at him. Hazrat Mirza sahib simply hung his head down and kept on listening. When the man got tired of insulting him, Hazrat Mirza sahib said to him: Brother, if you have any more to say, then say it also. The man was deeply embarrassed and regretful and asked for pardon. There was a Hindu sitting there who saw it all. He commented about Hazrat Mirza sahib: “This man will be successful” and then added: “In the Gospels we read about the forbearance and tolerance of Jesus, but we had not seen any person practising it till now”.
In those days he used to go to the mosques of the general Muslims and pray behind their imams. He was returning home after prayer from a mosque when he was assaulted by a lunatic who claimed to be the Mahdi. As he was pushed by that man, Hazrat Mirza sahib’s turban fell to the ground. Accompanying Hazrat Mirza sahib were Sayyid Amir Ali Shah, sub-Inspector Police, his brother Sayyid Fazilat Ali Shah, Inspector Police and many other friends, who could have dealt a blow to that man. Sayyid Fazilat Ali Shah grabbed him by the neck, but Hazrat Mirza sahib said: Let him go, he is an helpless man. So no one did anything to him.
Apart from the fatwas of kufr he frequently used to receive abusive mail from his opponents. He used to say that he had two chests full of such letters. But they made no impression on him. One day he said: “If my opponents knew that this sort of obscenity does not upset me in the least, they would kill themselves with disappointment”. He refers to this evil behaviour of these people in a poetic verse as follows:
“The foul stench produced by the jealous opponents cannot harm me,
As I am kept fragrant all the time by the musk of the remembrance of God.”
Qadian in his time
I first visited Qadian in 1893. After that, during my student days I used to go to Qadian almost every day that was a holiday. During the summer holidays also most of my time was spent in his company. After finishing my education I became house surgeon in the medical college. Later on I also spent most of my employment as a lecturer in the medical college. In those days whenever anyone in Qadian fell ill the Promised Messiah used to send for me. In addition to that, being a member of the Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya I had occasion to visit Qadian once or twice a month in that connection as well.
Whenever I went to see him in Qadian, my faith in the existence of God was refreshed. I would see the truth of Hazrat Mirza sahib and the truth of the Holy Prophet Muhammad appear in a new glory. The reason why this place had such an effect was that the Qadian of that time was entirely different from the outside world. I said to my friends several times that the very earth and sky of Qadian was godly. No worldly business or concern or fire of worldly ambition was at all in evidence there. On the contrary, it was a habitation populated by godly persons who had been attracted there, to that true servant of the Holy Prophet, by nothing other than spiritual aims and love of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. Being in his company really cleansed you of sin, and all worldly cares and anxieties disappeared by going to him. His love and affection for his followers was so great that in no physical relationship, whether of father, mother or any other kith or kin, was such an example to be found of a heart-felt connection and passion for the sake of Allah. Nor could such contentment of mind be found in any friendship.
Besides this, his love and devotion for the Holy Prophet Muhammad and his engrossment in matters of faith was so thorough that when you went to meet him there was no other talk except about the teachings of the religion. Moreover, his talk was entirely different in nature from that of the ulama. Every single word he spoke entered into your heart, his speech melted most people’s hearts and breathed the spirit of sacrifice into them. Just as he obtained the promise from every follower, during the bai‘at, of preferring religion to the world, so did his preaching always teach the lesson of acting on this golden rule. Being in his company created within you the strength to withstand difficulties and trials in the way of Allah, and it produced within you such unshakeable faith in his truth and in the truth of Islam that no declarations of kufr or opposition by the Maulvis could scare you, nor could the attacks upon Islam by its detractors make the least impression upon you. He established the whole of his Jama‘at upon such a firm rock of faith that no power could shake them. Even though at this time the Jama‘at has split into two groups, both sections in doing religious service are holding the cause of religion above the world. Even the section that has exaggerated the status of Hazrat Mirza sahib is doing work of propagation of Islam that is an example for other Muslims.
His power of attraction
Before Hazrat Mirza sahib’s mission, no one in the world knew of Qadian. Even in the Punjab very few people had heard of it. But since he began his mission, there is no part of the world from where people have not come to Qadian. Similarly, there is no worldly blessing or comfort which has not reached there. His presence brought people to Qadian from all over the world. This is an evidence of his truth because at the time when no one in the world had heard of Qadian Hazrat Mirza sahib told of a revelation, which he also published in Barahin Ahmadiyya in 1882, that “people will come to you from every remote path”. Events proved the truth of this revelation, and today its veracity is evident.
His victories witnessed
Being with him we always saw the hand of Allah the Most High acting in his support. He had a revelation: “I will help him who intends to help you and I will disgrace him who intends to disgrace you”. His helpers, despite facing widespread opposition, were always made victorious by Allah and by His grace we progressed and prospered. Each and every one of us can compare his past and present conditions and testify to that. Those who tried to disgrace him, as they were really opponents of the truth, were always brought down low.
Debate with Abdullah Atham
I was present at the debate between Hazrat Mirza sahib and the Christian preacher Deputy Abdullah Atham which took place in Amritsar in 1893. Details of the proceedings of the debate have been published. One point is worthy of special mention, and that is that for each of the two parties, i.e. Abdullah Atham and Hazrat Mirza sahib, four helpers had been appointed. Abdullah Atham used to seek assistance from his helpers when preparing his replies but Hazrat Mirza sahib required no help. He had only the Holy Quran in his hand and consulted it on every issue. Whenever he spoke, a river of knowledge flowed forth. Someone asked Hazrat Mirza sahib how he could locate verses in the Quran without help. He replied: When I thumb through the pages of the Quran to look for a particular verse, that verse comes before me as if it were highlighted. “This is Allah’s grace which He grants to whom He pleases”, as the Quran says.
After the debate was concluded Deputy Abdullah Atham and the Rev. Henry Martyn Clarke extended an invitation to the Ahmadi side through Maulana Nur-ud-Din for a meal. The Maulana replied that he would let them know after asking Hazrat Mirza sahib. When the Maulana mentioned this to Hazrat Mirza sahib, he said: Can your self-respect tolerate that you accept an invitation for a meal from an enemy of the Holy Prophet Muhammad? He added: It is a fact that although I was engaged in a debate with Abdullah Atham for fifteen days yet my self-respect could not tolerate that I look at the face of such a dark hearted opponent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad.
All thinking persons should ponder on this, and also those who today make Hazrat Mirza sahib equal to the Holy Prophet Muhammad as well as those who call him a kafir should both take a lesson from this, and they should realize the depth of love that Hazrat Mirza sahib entertained in his heart for the Holy Prophet Muhammad and his closeness to and affinity for his master.
We too are witness to the fact that in reality Hazrat Mirza sahib never cast a glance towards the face of Abdullah Atham during the debate. He used to be keeping his attention turned towards the Holy Quran, and when he spoke his eyes would be cast downwards.
Love for the Holy Prophet Muhammad
Apart from the events mentioned above there were many examples of how Hazrat Mirza sahib showed love for and devotion to the Holy Prophet Muhammad. I was present with him at the end of the period of his prophecy about Abdullah Atham, when on the day of the expiry of that period he wrote the announcement, on the basis of Divine revelation, that as Abdullah Atham had repented due to his fear of the prophecy, so Allah had granted him respite. About two or three days before the expiry of the limit of the prophecy he said: I have no worry about myself, my worry is about the honour of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. He added that if he were to be killed, his family butchered and cut to pieces in front of his eyes, and his house destroyed to the ground, but at that moment he were to be told that the honour of the Holy Prophet Muhammad and of the Holy Quran had been established in the world as it deserves to be established, he would regard himself as the most successful person on earth. If someone abused Hazrat Mirza sahib and used bad language about him he never became angry, but he could not tolerate abuse directed against the Holy Prophet Muhammad. He never prayed for punishment for anyone who abused him but he used to get very roused against those who vilified the Holy Prophet Muhammad. He has prayed for punishment for such vituperators, as in the prophecy about Lekhram he has warned him about the fate that will befall him due to his wickedness.
Mubahila
During the debate in Amritsar with Abdullah Atham in 1893, Hazrat Mirza sahib held a mubahila with his opponent Maulvis — the two parties stood in the same open ground confronting one another and prayed to Allah to send His verdict against the liar and to make the truthful one steadfast and show in his support a clear evidence from heaven.
The mubahila took place at the Eid prayer ground in Amritsar. On one side was Hazrat Mirza sahib with a group of his followers, their hands raised in prayer, and on the other side was Maulvi Abdul Haq Ghaznavi with his supporters. It is noteworthy about this mubahila that while Maulvi Abdul Haq Ghaznavi prayed for punishment to befall Hazrat Mirza sahib, but Hazrat Mirza sahib did not pray for punishment to befall Maulvi Abdul Haq Ghaznavi or any other opponent. In fact, he prayed for punishment for himself, saying: “O Allah, if I am the impostor and not from You, then destroy me and save the world from my mischief; and if I am from You then grant me aid and help, and support me openly so that my truthfulness may be clear to the world”. He prayed aloud and his followers who were standing behind him in rows said Amin. I was one of them.
At the time of the mubahila his devoted followers numbered 313. Hence in writing about this incident he has recorded their names and likened this encounter to the battle of Badr. Consequently, Allah the Most High bestowed upon him progress day after day following this mubahila. His Movement, from being in the hundreds, reached thousands, and hundreds of thousands. Today the services of this Jama‘at to Islam and its work of the propagation of Islam have set the seal upon the truth of its founder, the Promised Messiah. As against this, the opponent Maulvis, particularly those who took part in the mubahila, were not blessed with any progress; on the contrary, today those who call Muslims as kafir are denounced and reviled by everyone.
The awe of truth
It was because of the awe and fear of the power of truth that Maulvi Muhammad Husain Batalvi, despite being the staunchest adversary of Hazrat Mirza sahib and the originator of the fatwa against him declaring him as kafir, did not come forward for the mubahila. He was actually present at that time in that very Eid prayer ground and was attempting to ensnare people into opposing Hazrat Mirza sahib but he did not come forward for the mubahila himself. Likewise, Maulvi Sanaullah openly refused to engage in mubahila with Hazrat Mirza sahib.
Pandit Lekhram
According to the prophecy made by the Promised Messiah, Pandit Lekhram died after receiving a wound in his abdomen with a knife. By coincidence, when he was brought to Mayo Hospital [Lahore] after being stabbed, I was in the hospital as I was in my final year of my medical studies. In fact, I bandaged him myself and assisted Colonel Perry in operating on him.
As Colonel Perry lived some distance from the hospital and his arrival took time, Lekhram kept on repeating dejectedly and despondently: “O my qismat (misfortune), the doctor is not here yet”. The Pandit’s friends said to him: Premshar (God) will save you. In reply it was only once that he said: Yes, Premshar can save me, but he was convinced that he would die and kept on repeating his earlier words till the doctor arrived.
Some people have accused Hazrat Mirza sahib of having had Lekhram murdered. But I am prepared to testify on oath that the Pandit held no view of this kind about Hazrat Mirza sahib, even though this situation was one in which he had the best opportunity to express such an opinion.
Even during my student days I was not called by my forename but as Mirza Jee. In those days the late Dr. Ragbir Sahay was house surgeon and lived in a room above the operation theatre. So when Lekhram was brought in, Dr. Ragbir Sahay called me saying: Mirza sahib, please come here, a serious case has just been brought in. When I came I saw a man of height six feet or more lying on the table. On his abdomen there was a cut from one side to the other, some seven to eight inches in length, and his intestines were outside. Dr. Ragbir Sahay asked me to place a warm sponge on his abdomen and then to take his temperature, which I did. In brief, I was with him for about an hour to an hour and a half, until he was given chloroform to anaesthetize him. During this time Dr. Ragbir Sahay called me Mirza Jee several times. When I realized that the injured man was Pandit Lekhram, I paid particular attention to remembering everything that happened so that I could inform Hazrat Mirza sahib of the last hours of his life.
I say with certainty that whenever Dr. Ragbir Sahay called me Mirza Jee, Pandit Lekhram looked towards me with sorrow in his eyes and he remembered Hazrat Mirza sahib as well as his own prophecy he had made that Hazrat Mirza sahib would be destroyed. It had become clear to him that his prophecy had turned out to be false but that the prophecy made by Hazrat Mirza sahib had proved true.
If without the memory of Hazrat Mirza sahib being reawakened in his mind he had remained silent, then it would have been another matter. However, because of the calling of my name he was repeatedly reminded of Hazrat Mirza sahib, and yet despite being fully conscious and able to speak he only expressed regret at his fate and made no accusation whatsoever against Hazrat Mirza sahib.
Although the Pandit was brought directly to the hospital without any dying declaration being taken from him by the police, nonetheless any statement made by the patient in such circumstances in front of the doctor is regarded as equivalent to sworn testimony in court. However the Pandit made no statement even though, in addition to Dr. Ragbir Sahay, as far as I remember there were also two doctors present who came with other Arya Samaj members, Dr. Heera Lal and Dr. Dev Kee Nand, and they remained there till the end.
Another incident
Hazrat Mirza sahib had already announced his prophecy about Pandit Lekhram when in 1896, while on his way probably to Multan, he was at the mosque which used to be to the west of Lahore railway station in those days, performing his ablutions (wudu) before prayer. By coincidence, Pandit Lekhram was passing and, after learning that Hazrat Mirza sahib was there, he went into the mosque to see him. However, Hazrat Mirza sahib did not raise his sight to look at him. The reason was that same deep love he had for the Holy Prophet Muhammad which made it intolerable for him to cast a glance at the face of a man who reviled and abused the Holy Prophet. So Hazrat Mirza sahib paid him no attention.
When Pandit Lekhram was killed the newspapers speculated about who the murderer might be. Some expressed suspicion that the murderer was a Sanatam Dharm Hindu, others that he was a Christian, and yet others that he was a Sikh, because the Pandit used to abuse not only Muslims but all religions and parties that he was opposed to. Some suspected one of his own friends in whose house he lived. Some, of course, expressed suspicion about Hazrat Mirza sahib as he had made the prophecy. When these news reached Hazrat Mirza sahib, he expressed regret that all those people were being suspected and said that no decent person could be involved in an act of murder like this. He added: Even though I had made the prophecy about Lekhram, but if I had been with him when he was stabbed I would have done my best to save him and done everything possible to procure treatment for him.
Journey to Delhi
In 1904 when he went to Delhi I was with him. During the journey he told of a dream in which he had seen that the gates of Delhi were locked. He took it to mean that the people of Delhi would not benefit from him and their hearts would not open to him. So did it happen. He stayed there for more than one month. Everyday he gave a lecture but people did not take advantage from his presence. So he went to the tombs of all the famous saints buried in the outer areas of Delhi and prayed for them. He thought it better to visit these truthful deceased saints than the living persons of Delhi.
The illness and deaths of Maulvi Abdul Karim and Mirza Mubarak Ahmad
When Maulvi Abdul Karim, his beloved and devoted follower, fell fatally ill I was in Qadian on three months’ leave. I spent almost all my leave in attending to the late Maulvi sahib. Hazrat Mirza sahib showed his deepest love for his disciple by procuring every kind of necessity for the treatment of the Maulvi sahib to an out of the way place like Qadian. Let alone other things, when the Maulvi sahib died there was a huge stock of ice in his room, a provision which in those days was very difficult to transport from the railway station to a distant place.
Everyday Hazrat Mirza sahib used to wait restlessly for the latest news about the Maulvi sahib’s health. He prayed for him day and night and made all possible arrangements to obtain medicines. When he died some of us, including Maulvi Muhammad Ali sahib, myself and other friends, could not contain our grief and some screams emerged from our mouths spontaneously. Hearing this, Hazrat Mirza sahib came and called us together, and exhorted us to accept the will of Allah the Most High. Despite the fact that his connection with the deceased was the closest of all of us, and he should have been more grief stricken than anyone else, yet he not only showed the most perfect example of patient acceptance of the Divine decree but imbued others with the spirit of resignation as well.
He showed the same example at the death of Mirza Mubarak Ahmad even though he was his own son. He spent many sleepless nights attending to his care and treatment, but when he died and was being lowered into his last resting place, Hazrat Mirza sahib was telling his followers and all others present that this kind of trial and tribulation is sent by Allah upon man for his spiritual reform and for establishing his permanent relationship with Allah, the Being Who is ever living, and that those who fail to show patience and resignation under these trials, destroying themselves with grief, can never attain the pleasure of Allah.
The Promised Messiah’s migration and death
The Promised Messiah had received the revelation dagh-i hijrat (‘Shock of Separation’). He had been informed by many other revelations that his death was approaching. This last time that he left Qadian, to go to Lahore, he felt as if he would not return alive to Qadian, where he expressed regret on this separation. However, it was necessary for destiny to be fulfilled.
He stayed first at the house of Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din in Ahmadiyya Buildings. Here he received the revelation from Allah: ‘I will safeguard everyone who is in this house’, the same revelation he had received about his own house in Qadian. As Hazrat Mirza sahib preferred to stay on an upper storey he moved to the house of Dr Sayyid Muhammad Husain, which adjoined the Khwaja sahib’s house. Here he penned his last writing, Paigham Sulh (‘Message of Peace’), whose object was to create harmony between Hindus and Muslims. While writing this message he had a severe attack of diarrhoea. Although he had previously had attacks of diarrhoea, this time he succumbed to it.
In those days I lived in the inner city area of Lahore. It was at two o’clock at night [on 26 May 1908] that Hazrat Mirza sahib sent for me in this state of illness. When I arrived, he was sitting on the toilet seat. He said to me: “Mirza sahib, recommend a medicine for me”. Then he said: “Also pray for me”, and he added: “In truth, the medicine is by decree from heaven”.
When he died he was remembering his True Master, Allah, in the words: “O my beloved, O my beloved”. It was with the love of Allah that he was entirely intoxicated and it was to Him that he went in the end.
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Links and Related Essays
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and Dr Mirza Yaqub Baig–who became a Lahori-Ahmadi in 1914
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