The Great Reformer

Dr. Basharat Ahmad (1876 – 1943), of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, was a leading Islamic intellectual, scholar and author, noted particularly for his fresh and inspiring expositions of the Quran. He was born on October 3, 1876, in the town of Bagsoor in northern India. His grandfather, Shaikh Ahmad Ali Faruqui, was a tutor of Persian and Urdu to British Army officers in Dharamsala Cantonment. Dr. Basharat Ahmad spent his early childhood in Dharamsala. On retirement, his grandfather moved to Sialkot, and it was there that Dr. Basharat Ahmad received his formal education, first in the Scotch Mission High School, and then in Murray College. His grandfather wanted him to pursue a career in medicine. When Dr. Basharat Ahmad obtained admission to the Medical College in Lahore (later known as King Edward Medical College), a prestigious medical institution, his grandfather also moved to Lahore to provide all possible care and attention to his education.

After finishing his medical education, Dr. Basharat Ahmad’s first appointment was in East Africa where he stayed for one and a half years during the late 1890s. He then returned to India and worked first as a medical officer and then as the chief medical officer and administrator of several hospitals in some major cities of Punjab such as Gujrat, Rawalpindi and Mianwali. Dr. Basharat Ahmad was highly regarded in his professional field of medicine for his proficiency, honesty, integrity and above all, his kindness and benevolence towards his patients. When he retired from government service in Ludhiana in 1931, he was offered the high post of Chief Medical Officer by the state of Malerkotla, but on the suggestion of the late Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Ali he decided to settle down in Lahore to serve the cause of Islam with his vast knowledge of the religion, deep understanding of the Quran, and true comprehension of the claims and teachings of the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement.

From an early age, Dr. Basharat Ahmad studied the Quran intensely to develop a full understanding of the last Divine message to humanity. He applied his own analytical thinking and reasoning to aid his understanding of the Holy Quran, Hadith and other Islamic literature. He then turned to teaching, explaining and expounding the Quran to others. During his government service and even after retirement, he regularly gave Dars-i Quran (Quranic lessons) in the afternoons. In his exposition, he brought out deep new truths from the Quran to shed light both on age-old questions as well as new issues that have arisen in the modern age. In his explanations, he made reference to current events, trends, thinking, scientific knowledge and discoveries, and showed how the Holy Quran sheds light on them, so that man may derive benefit from their positive aspects and shun their deleterious impacts. His exposition was eloquent, impressive, convincing and relevant to the present circumstances, and it attracted Muslims of all persuasions and sections and even non-Muslims.

Dr. Basharat Ahmad has narrated in one of his publications the inspiring events of how he came to join the Ahmadiyya Movement. In 1901, his eldest son became critically ill and doctors lost all hope of his survival. By that time, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement, had become well-known for his spiritual eminence. Dr. Basharat Ahmad especially went to Qadian to request him to pray for the child. When he met Hazrat Mirza Sahib, he became totally captivated by his humble, hospitable manner and his spiritual aura. Dr. Basharat Ahmad requested Hazrat Mirza Sahib to give him some spiritual advice. Hazrat Mirza Sahib’s response was so profound and moving that Dr. Basharat Ahmad felt as if Hazrat Mirza Sahib’s replies were entering deep into his heart, removing the doubts within, and purifying his soul. He felt a strong compulsion within him to forthwith accept Hazrat Mirza Sahib as his spiritual mentor. Accordingly, he took the pledge right there and joined the Ahmadiyya Movement. It was only at the end of their talk that Dr. Basharat Ahmad remembered the original purpose of his visit to request Hazrat Mirza Sahib to pray for his son. He made the request, and Hazrat Mirza Sahib prayed for the child. Dr. Basharat Ahmad later learnt, to his astonishment, that the child began to recover from his hopeless situation the same day that Hazrat Mirza Sahib prayed for him. By the third day, he was fully recovered. This extraordinary acceptance of prayer further intensified Dr. Basharat Ahmad’s faith in the truth of Hazrat Mirza Sahib.

In 1914, after the death of the Founder, a split took place in the Ahmadiyya Movement because Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad, eldest son of Hazrat Mirza Sahib from his second wife, invented and started propagating the heretical doctrine that the Founder was a prophet and all those Muslims who did not accept him were disbelievers and outside the fold of Islam. Dr. Basharat Ahmad, from that time onwards, wrote numerous articles and booklets refuting these false doctrines and clarifying the true nature of the claim and status of the holy Founder.

For almost thirty years Dr. Basharat Ahmad wrote extensively in the Urdu periodical of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, the Paigham-i Sulh, on a wide range of issues relating to the Quran, Islam and the Ahmadiyya Movement. He replied to questions posed to him in a most cogent and authoritative manner which not only satisfied the questioner but also showed the rationality and deep Divine wisdom underlying the Last Word of Allah. A large number of such articles relating to Islam were later compiled by his elder son, Mr. Mumtaz Ahmad Faruqui, in book form and published in three volumes under the title Basharat-i Ahmadiyya. Some of his lengthy articles have also been published as separate booklets. These include, Kashaf-uz- Zanoon, a rebuttal of various charges against Hazrat Mirza Sahib by his opponents, Ikhtaylaf-e-Silsala-e-Ahmadiyya per aik Nazar, Nabi ka Naam Paanay kee Khusooseeat, and Fazeelat kee Haqeeqat.

Towards the closing years of his life, Dr. Basharat Ahmad wrote an enlightened commentary of the 30th and then the 27th parts of the Holy Quran, entitled Anwarul Quran (The Light of the Quran). The commentary of Part 30 has been rendered into English by Imam Kalamazad Mohammed and published by the Muslim Literary Trust, Trinidad and Tobago. This translation was very much appreciated by members of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Trinidad and Guyana. Due to requests from people in Suriname, Holland and Indonesia, who were also greatly impressed by it, it has now also been translated into Dutch and Indonesian.

With the passage of time, Dr. Basharat Ahmad became convinced that he must write a comprehensive, authentic biography of the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement, covering his life and works, and dealing particularly with the unique services to Islam of this outstanding Islamic revivalist of the age. He compiled and published his monumental research work in three volumes entitled Mujaddid Azam (The Great Reformer). This book is widely considered, by friend and foe, to be the most authentic biography and a true depiction of the great and tireless service done for Islam by the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement. The first two volumes, published in 1939 and 1940 respectively, consist of the Founder’s life history, and also contain synopsis of each of his major Urdu, Arabic and Persian works. The third volume deals with his Islamic philosophy, thought, exposition of Islamic concepts, defense of Islam in reply to non-Muslim critics, and his mission of carrying the message of Islam to the West. This volume was published shortly after the death of the author.

In January 1943, Dr. Basharat Ahmad went to Bombay to stay with the younger of his two sons, Mr. Naseer Ahmad Faruqui, who was the Collector of Bombay (a post in the Indian Civil Service) at that time. He wanted to impart his knowledge of the Quran to his son who was equally a keen student of the Quran. Dr. Basharat Ahmad had been fighting cancer for several years before his visit to Bombay, but he succumbed to the disease there and died peacefully on April 21, 1943. His body was brought to Lahore by train, where janaza (funeral) prayers were offered for him at the Ahmadiyya Buildings Mosque on April 23rd and he was buried at the Miani Sahib Ahmadiyya Cemetery in Lahore.

Compiled by: Dr. Zahid Aziz and Mr. Nasir Ahmad