The Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam was founded by Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, a “devout” Muslim, in 1889 in the Qadian province of Punjab, India (Hammann 15 May 1985; Al Islam n.d.a; The Toronto Star 4 July 2004; BBC 8 Aug. 2005; AI 15 May 2001; The Columbia Encyclopedia 2001-05; The Encyclopedia of Religion 1987, 153). Ahmadis, or followers of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, are also often referred to as Qadianis, since Qadian was Hadhrat’s birth place (ibid.; The Columbia Encyclopedia 2001-05; The Encyclopedia of Islam 1986, 301; BBC 8 Aug. 2005). In 1889, Hadhrat “announced that he had received a divine revelation authorizing him to accept the baya,
the allegiance of the faithful” (1891) (The Columbia Encyclopedia 2001-05; The Encyclopedia of Islam 1986, 301). According to the The Encyclopedia of Religion,
Ahmadis believe that Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was “a prophet (nabi), the awaited reformer (mujaddid) of the fourteenth century, the Mahdi and promised Messiah (masih maw’ud).
and the expected tenth incarnation of the Hindu god Visnu” (1987, p.153; see also The Encyclopedia of Islam 1986, 301).
