Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad
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Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad (* 12th January 1889 in Qadian, † 7th November 1965 in Rabwah), was one of the Heads of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and was given the title of Khalifatul Masih II. He was elected to this post on 14nd March 1914, the day after the death of his predecessor, Hakeem Noor-ud-Din.
Basheer-ud-Din Ahmad is sometimes referred to as the Promised Son (Musleh Maoud). During his youth he engaged himself in the service of his father's movement by founding an organization called “Anjuman Tashheezul Azhaan”, he also started a magazine by the same name for the purpose of proselytizing.
On 26nd May 1908, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad died at Lahore when Basheer-ud-Din Ahmad was 19 years old. On 27nd May 1908, he was the first to take the oath of allegiance to the first Khalifa.
He performed Hajj in September 1912. In June 1913, he started a newspaper [1] which became the central organ of the Community. On March 14, 1914, in Qadian, the will of Khalifatul Masih I was read out, which requested the people to elect someone as his successor.
When Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad was elected the second successor to the Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in 1914 a faction, which later came to be known as the Lahori Party, strongly opposed his succession and refused to accept him as the new Caliph. He is credited with developing the scope of missionary activities, and establishing a Madrasa Ahmadiyya [Seminary] up to university level. As part of this, he established 46 foreign missions. In a public gathering in Delhi in 1944, he made the claim to be the “Musleh Maoud” (Promised Reformer). He also managed the translation and publication of the Qur´an into various languages. His five-volume “Tafseer-e-Kabeer” is one of the most detailed commentary done on Qur´an in modern times.
He was one of leading muslim figures in pre-partition India, and had close links with the leadership of All-India Muslim league. He was the founding member and first president of Kashmir Committee. His scholarship of Islamic and secular subjects was well known among the literary circles. He delivered a series of famous lectures on a variety of topics in educational institutions which were attended by the intellectuals and leaders of that time.
At the time of partition of India in 1947, the country was divided along religious lines with Indian Muslims migrating to Pakistan. The Community found a tract of arid land and built the town of Rabwah, which became the new headquarters.
In April 1955 there was an attempt on Basheer-ud-Din Ahmad´s life for which he had to seek medical treatment in London, UK. He died in Rabwah in 1965 after 52 years as Caliph.
