Life of The Promised Messiah (as) — Page 2
2 was our dear Imam and leader, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian—the Promised Messiah as. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) was born on Friday, 13 February 1835 in a small and remote village of India named Qadian. He belonged to the Barlas clan, who enjoyed great respect in their community. His ancestors had migrated from Samarkand (present-day Uzbekistan) and settled near the banks of the Beas River in northern India. One of his ancestors, Mirza Hadi Baig, was appointed as a judge (qazi) of this area. This settlement eventually became known as Qadian. The name of the Promised Messiah’s father was Mirza Ghulam Murtaza , a brave chief whose ancestors were also chiefs. While he was a skilled physician, his primary source of income was from being a landowner. Mirza Ghulam Murtaza was greatly sympathetic towards man- kind. Once there was an outbreak of cholera in Qadian, with people in the slums quickly falling prey to it in large numbers. Mirza Ghulam Murtaza was in Batala at the time, but when he heard the news, he left for Qadian right away. As soon as he arrived there, he called for the pharmacists in Qadian to meet him and developed a medicine by which Qadian was rid of cholera by the next day.