Fazl-e-Umar — Page 383
Fazle Umar 383 Ahmadi missionaries have been very successful in the African countries particu- larly along the Western coastal areas. There they have to face intense opposition from the Christian missionaries and work extremely hard. He translated Holy Qur’an and its commentary in more than a dozen languages. In addition to that he has left behind invaluable and extensive literature in defence of Islam. In the days when the movement for independence was at its height, Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad supported the Muslim League with full force. Before that in 1924 when the Shudhi movement was in its full force in UP and the Arya Samaj (sect of Hindus) were converting Muslims to Hinduism in great numbers, Mirza sahib accepted that challenge and opposed it with great vigour. In 1931 he was elected as President of the All India Kashmir Committee and he infused new life into the movement for the Independence of Kashmir and in 1948 created a full battalion of volunteers from his Community and put them under Government control at his expense to take part in the war in Kashmir. ” (Al-Fazl, 3 December 1965). Daily Imroze of Lahore highlighted some of his countless services to the Mus- lims in its 13 November, 1965 issue and particularly mentioned the missions in Asia, Europe and Africa, leadership in the political affairs of the nation and the translations of the Holy Qur’an. A tribute was also published in The Light, a weekly publication of the dissentient Lahore group, published from Lahore. In its issue of 16 November 1965, under the caption “A GREAT NATION-BUILDER”, the editor wrote: “The death of Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad, Head of the Ahmadiyya Movement (Rabwah) rang the curtain down on a most eventful career, packed with a multitude of far-reaching enterprises. A man of versatile genius and dynamic personality, there was hardly any sphere of contemporary thought