Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 4
4 AHMADIYY AT Colonel Massey, revised by Mr (later Sir) Henry Craik (1910), contains the following account of the family. In 1530, the last year of the Emperor Babar's reign, Hadi Beg, a Mughal of Samarkand, emigrated to the Punjab and settled in the Gurdaspur District. He was a man of some learning and was appointed Qazi or Magistrate over 70 villages in the neighbour- hood of Qadian, which town he is said to have founded, naming it Islampur Qazi, from which Qadian has by a natural change arisen. For several generations the family held offices of respectability under the Imperial government, and it was only when the Sikhs became powerful that it fell into poverty. Gul Muhammad and his son Ata Muhammad were engaged in perpetual quarrels with Ramgarhia and Kanhaya Misals, who had held the country in the neighbourhood of Qadian; and at last having lost all his estates Ata Muhammad retired to Begowal, where under the protection of Sardar Fateh Singh Ahluvalia (ancestor of the present ruling chief of the Kapurthala State) he lived quietly for twelve years. On his death Ranjit Singh, who had taken possession of all the lands of the Ramgarhia Misal, invited Ghulam Murtaza to Qadian and restored to him a large portion of his ancestral estate. He then, with his brothers, entered the army of the Maharaja, and performed efficient service on the Kashmir frontier. During the time of Nao Nihal S,ingh, Sher Singh and the Darbar, Ghulam Murtaza was continually employed on active service. In 1841 he was sent with General Ventura to Mandi and Kulu, and in 1843 to Peshawar in command of an infantry regi- ment. He distinguished himself in Hazara at the time of the insurrection there; and when the rebellion of 1848 broke out, he remained faithful to his Government and fought on its side. His brother Ghulam Muhi-ud-Din also did good service at this time. When Bhai Maharaja Singh was marching with his force to Multan to the assistance of Diwan Mul Raj, Ghulam Muhi-ud- Din, with other Jagirdars, Langar Khan Sahiwal and Sahib Khan Tiwana, raised the Mohammedan population and with the force of Sahib Dayal attacked the rebels and completely defeated them, driving them into the Chenab, where upwards of 600 perished. At annexation the jagirs of the family were resumed, but a pension ofRs. 700 was granted to Ghulam Murtaza and his brother and they retained their property rights in Qadian and the neigh-