Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 1
CHAPTER ONE In 1530 Mirza Hadi Beg, a Central Asian chieftain of Persian descent, moved out of Samarkand, accompanied by the members of his family and about two hundred of his re- tainers, and entered the Punjab and settled down in an open area in the district of Gurdaspur. Mirza Hadi Beg was a descendant of Haji Barlas, uncle of the famous Amir Taimur whose tomb in Samarkand continues to be an attraction for tourists. The place he selected for settling down was about seventy miles due east of Lahore. He founded a walled village there which he named Islampur. As he was a scion of the royal family of Emperor Babar, he was granted a jagir of several hundred villages by the Emperor and was appointed Qazi of the surrounding district. Thus the village founded by him became known as Islampur Qazi. In course of time Islampur was dropped and the village began to be called Qazian which could also be pronounced Qadian. Though the seat of the family was situated far from the Imperial capital at Delhi, members of the family from time to time held important offices under the Imperial Government. In the days of the decline of Mughal rule Mirza Faiz Muham- mad, the then head o( the family, adopted strong measures to suppress the anarchy that prevailed in the Punjab, in appre- ciation of which the Emperor Farrukhsiyar bestowed upon him the rank of Haft Hazari in 1716. The holder of this rank was entitled to maintain a regular force of seven thousand soldiers. This rank was generally bestowed only upon 'the members of the Imperial family. The emperor also conferred upon Mirza Faiz Muhammad the title of Azadud Daulah, meaning the Strong Arm of the Government. After the death of Mirza Faiz Muhammad his son, Mirza Gul Muhammad, had to put up a desperate struggle against I