The Great Reformer

In March 1905, Muhammad Afzal, the editor of the newspaper Al-Badr, died and the publication of the newspaper stopped for a few days. On March 30, 1905, Hazrat Mirza expressed great pleasure that Mufti Muhammad Sadiq had taken over the editorship, and the newspaper had resumed publication.

On the advice of Maulvi Abdul Karim, the newspaper was renamed Badr.

The rationale behind the name change was that Al-Badr is the Arabic term for the full moon but its appearance has a negative connotation in that it heralds the subsequent decline in the size of the visible moon. Badr, on the other hand was the site of the famous battle in which Allah, the Most High, had helped the Holy Prophet. Accordingly, from April 20, 1905, the newspaper began appearing under the name Badr. The deceased Muhammad Afzal was the proprietor and editor of Al-Badr, but after his death, the paper was owned by Mian Miraj-ud-Din of Lahore and Mufti Muhammad Sadiq took over as editor.