A Present to His Royal Highness - The Prince of Wales — Page 37
37 LIFE, TEACHINGS AND WORK OF THE PROMISED MESSIAH. Illustrious Prince! (May God open your heart to the acceptance of truth!) the Prophet of this age was born and lived at Quadian, in the District of Gurdaspur, in the Punjab, and his parents gave him the name of GHULAM AHMAD (on him be peace and the blessings of God). Like Jesus he was born into a highly connected family, which traced its descent from the Moghul and Persian Royal Houses, and had settled in India, only a few generations back. Unlike the family of Jesus, however, his family had not been reduced to absolute poverty, although it had lost the greater portion of its ancient pomp and prestige. During the Sikh anarchy his grand-father lost his estate fighting with certain Sikh confederacies, and although Maharaja Ranjit Singh subsequently released a portion of the family estate and appointed his father to a high command in his army and thus restored the latter to a position of earthly prosperity, God had appointed work of a far different nature for the son. So He destroyed the Sikhs and established British rule in the Punjab, and with the advent of the latter the power which this family had wielded for several generations also came to an end. The representatives of the British Government resumed the whole of their estate and after repeated representations only the proprietary rights of one village and talukdari rights over three villages were released in favour of his father. It has, however, been God’s way that a family destined for spiritual honour and eminence is always endowed with