MAULĀNĀ MUḤAMMAD ‘ALĪ

Born in 1874 in the Punjab (India) Maulana Muhammad Ali had a distinguished academic record, obtaining degrees in English and Law by 1899. As he stood on the threshold of a lucrative career in law, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmed, the reformer (mujaddid) of the 14th century Hijra, called on him to devote his life to the service of Islam. He forthwith abandoned his worldly plans and joined the great reformer in Qadian. Here he learned those gems of Islamic truth uncovered in this age by Hazrat Mirza Sahib through which Islam was now destined to attract people all over the world. He became the secretary of the organization and was appointed by Hazrat Mirza Sahib as the editor of the Review of Religions, one of the first Islamic journals in English. Under his editorship this journal presented the pristine beautiful face of Islam to a world which had seen only an ugly image of it.

image

When the successor of Hazarat Mirza Sahib, Maulana Nuruddin Sahib, died in 1914 certain elements in the organization led by the founder’s son gained control of the movement, turning it into an exclusive intolerant sect ruled by a spiritual auto-cracy. They distorted and misrepresented Hazrat Mirza Sahib’s views by asserting that he had claimed prophethood. These circumstances compelled Maulana Muhammad Ali to leave Qadian, and he along with his