The Promised Messiah and Mahdi — Page 16
THE PROMISED MESSIAH AND MAHDI. SOME HISTORICAL NOTES lain Adamson, a British writer has written a very useful and brief biography of the Promised Messiah with the title "Mirza. Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian". This book was published in 1989 in. England. This section of our book is mostly based upon the biographical data contained in Adamson's book. . Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was born on February 13, 1835, the second son of Mirza Ghulam Murtaza, who was a chieftain of the Punjab (a province of India) and principal landowner of the village of Qadian, situated seventy miles east of Lahore. . The ancestor of the family was Mirza Hadi Baig, a central. Asian chieftain of Persian descent. . He migrated from Samarkand accompanied by his family and two hundred retainers in about year 1530 and settled down in a village in Punjab which he founded. It was a walled and fortified village which he named Islampur. Gradually the name changed to Islampur. Qazi, then to Qadhi and finally to Qadian. Mirza Hadi Baig was a descendent of Haji Barlas who was an uncle of famous king, Amir. Taimur. He belonged to the same royal Mughal family which founded the Mughal empire in India in the sixteenth Century and Emperor. Babar was its founder. Mirza Hadi Baig was granted an estate of several hundred villages and was appointed as judge or Qazi. Over the next two hundred years descendants of Mirza Hadi Baig occupied important imperial posts under the Mughal emperors. The family had ownership of eighty four villages and became, in effect, Quasi rulers. . Mughal empire suffered serious decline in later part of 18th century following the death of Emperor Aurangzeb. Sikhs rebelled in. Punjab and became strong resulting in anarchy in Punjab. At the beginning of the 19th century, Mirza estate had shrunk to the village of Qadian which became a besieged fortress. In 1802 Sikhs stormed into Qadian. Mosques and homes were looted and the library was 16