242 



THE REV. H. D. GRISW0LD, M.A., PH.D._, ON 



religion. He therefore claims that he and his disciples can be 

 fitly described as Ahmadiyyali, the society of peace. 



The family of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is of Moghul descent, 

 nd came into India from Samarkand, Turkistan, in the reign 

 of Babar, the founder of the Moghul Dynasty. The Mirza 

 Sahib himself professes to be altogether loyal to the British 

 Government, and he often cites as proof of his loyalty the 

 services rendered to Government by his father and his brother 

 (or rather first cousin, Ghulam Kadar son of Ghulam Muham- 

 mad) during the mutiny of 1857, on account of which the 

 latter received honourable mention in Sir Lepel Griffin's book, 

 The Panjab Chiefs (vol. ii, pp. 49-50, new ed. by Massy). 

 Another first cousin, by name Mirza Imam-ud-Dln, attained to 

 some notoriety of another sort. Although he remained a 

 Muharamadan until his death (in 1903), yet he posed as the 

 guru, or religious guide of the chuhras, or sweeper community, 

 in the Panjab, and advised them not to become either Muham- 

 madans or Christians, but to remain as they are. 



Both men, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and Mirza Imam-ud-Dln, 

 lived in the same village of Qadian. Mirza Imam-ud-dm 

 claimed to be a kind of successor to Lai Beg, the traditional 

 religious guide of the sweepers, and to have the mission of 

 teaching them morality, and to this end he prescribed the Ten 

 Commandments, with certain editorial changes (vide Hidayat- 

 ndrna, p. 15). But the claims of his cousin, Mirza Ghulam 

 Ahmad are far more pretentious. He professes to have come : 

 (1) in the " spirit and power " of Jesus Christ, and so to be " the 

 promised Messiah " ; (2) in the spirit and power of Muhammad, 

 and so to be the promised Ahmad ; and (3) in the spirit and 

 power of Krishna, and so to be the promised future Incarnation 

 expected by the Hindus. Thus, in one of his last conspicuous 

 utterances (" The Future of Islam," a lecture delivered at 

 Sialkot November 2nd, 1904; vide Review of Religions, 

 November, 1904, p. 410), the Mirza Ghulam Ahmad says: 

 " My advent in this age is not meant for the reformation of 

 the Muhammadans only, but Almighty God has willed to bring 

 about through me a regeneration of three great nations, viz., 

 Hindus, Muhammadans and Christians. As for the last two I 

 am the Promised Messiah, so for the first 1 have been sent as. 

 an Avatar." Thus the claim is made to a universal mission. 



In an article entitled "The Early Life and Mission of the 

 Promised Messiah " (Review of Religions, February, 1903, pp. 61- 

 67), the Mirza of Qadian describes the beginning of his prophetic 

 career : " At length the time came when God called away my 



