The Great Reformer

Dowie’s claim to prophethood In 1902, Dr. John Alexander Dowie, a Christian clergyman of Chicago who had won recognition in United States for his knowledgeand scholarship, claimed that he was a prophet and messenger of God.  He stated that just as John the Baptist had appeared in the likeness ofElias, prior to the first appearance of Jesus, similarly he (Dr. Dowie) had come as Elias prior to the second appearance of Jesus. Dr. Dowie further claimed that it had been revealed to him that Jesus would descend from the heavens within the next 25 years. He started a newspa- percalled Leaves of Healing and used it to propagate his views worldwide. Dr. Dowie was proficient in the art of hypnotism and was able tosuccessfully treat and cure certain patients with nervous disorders.  As a result, thousands of people in the United States became his disciples,and he accumulated a great deal of wealth from them. He founded a city called Zion for his disciples and began to live there in a princelyfashion. Intoxicated by this temporary success, he made the following announcement in his newspaper on December 12, 1903: My part is to bring out the people from the East and the West, from the North and the South, and settle them in this and other Zion cities until the time shall come when the Mohammadans are swept away…may God grant us that time. Dr. Dowie then asserted: Through my prayers, all Muslims shall perish, Islam will be annihilat- ed, and the Kabah will become deserted. Dr. Dowie was a staunch polytheist who considered Jesus to be actual- ly God. Upon learning about Dr. Dowie’s claims, Hazrat Mirza started getting his newspaper.…

Mr. Pigott’s Claim of Divinity: In the same year 1902, sometime after Dr. Dowie had made his claim, a clergyman, Rev. J. H. Smyth-Pigott, laid claim before his church congregation in England that he was Divine. He claimed that he was Jesus the Messiah, who is god, and whose Second Coming is widely awaited. Upon…

Nikah of Mian Bashir Ahmad: On September 12, 1902, Mian Bashir Ahmad, Hazrat Mirza’s second son from his second wife, married Sarwar Sultan Sahiba, the daughter of Maulana Ghulam Hasan of Peshawar. The mehr (dowry) was fixed at one thousand rupees. The marriage was performed by Maulana Nur-ud-Din following the Asr (late afternoon) prayer, and the guests were served with food and tea after the ceremony.…

Babu Muhammad Afzal, a disciple of Hazrat Mirza, had successfully preached Hazrat Mirza’s message in Uganda where he was employed in the railways department. When Babu Afzal returned to Punjab, he took up residence in Qadian and started a newspaper in September of 1902. He initially named the newspaper Al-Qadian, but a month later, he changed its name to Al-Badr. The newspaper continued publication…

Disputatious nature of the Ghaznavis Maulvi Abdullah Ghaznavi, a resident of Amritsar, was a very right- eous and God-fearing person. He had settled in Amritsar after being exiled as a result of the machinations of the local clerics from his homeland of Ghazni (Afghanistan). He once saw in a vision that a light had descended in Qadian but that his offspring had remained…

Nadwat-ul-Ulama (Association of Religious Scholars) Maulana Shibli Nomani was an enlightened and broad-minded scholar among his contemporaries. Observing the shortcomings of the instructional courses offered for the training of clerics in India, he decided to establish a religious institution that would be founded upon the latest style of instruction; the old-fashioned style of teaching would be replaced by the modern style of imparting religiouseducation.  The goal of the institution would be to remove the students’ narrow-minded views, and to instill them with…