Mirza Hadi Baig

Mirza Hadi Baig
Rais and Qazi of Qadian
Reign 1530
Successor Mirza Faiz Muhammad
Born Samarqand, Khorasan (present-day Uzbekistan)
Died Qadian, India
House Timurid
Religion Islam

Mirza Hadi Baig (Persian: میرزا هادي بیگ‎; fl. 1530 CE) was an Indian nobleman and Qadhi (Islamic magistrate) of Central Asian origin and a direct ancestor of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement. Originating from Samarqand in what is today Uzbekistan, he migrated to northern India and settled in the Punjab during the 16th century.[1]

Life and Reign

Mirza Hadi Baig was born in Samarqand, Khorasan (present-day Uzbekistan) and belonged to the Barlas tribe, a Turco-Mongol tribe who had lived and ruled in the region of Kish (modern Shahrisabz, some 80 km south of Samarqand) prior to the rise of Timur (Tamerlane).[2] In 1530, Hadi Baig left his home in Samarqand, perhaps due to domestic dissensions or an affliction, and moved, along with an entourage of two hundred persons consisting of his family, servants and followers, to northern India where the emperor Babur had founded the Mughal dynasty just several years earlier.[2][3] They finally settled in the Punjab during Babur’s reign where Hadi Baig established a hamlet near the River Beas and named it Islampur. He was granted a large tract of land comprising several hundred villages that together resembled a semi-independent territory by the imperial court of Babur and was also appointed the Qadhi of the surrounding district.[4] As the hamlet was associated with the seat of the Qadhi, it came to be known as Islampur-Qazi. This name evolved into various forms based on cognates and the local dialect, until Islampur was dropped altogether, and it simply came to be known as Qadian, the name by which it is still known today.[4] Hadi Baig’s descendants held Qadian for over 300 years maintaining close relations with the Mughal rulers and holding important offices within the imperial government.[5]

Citations

  1. ↑ Khan 2015, pp. 21–22.
  2. 1 2 Khan 2015, p. 22.
  3. ↑ Dard 2008, pp. 8–9.
  4. 1 2 Dard 2008, p. 9.
  5. ↑ Dard 2008, pp. 9–10.

References

  • Dard, A.R. (2008). Life of Ahmad: Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement (PDF). Tilford: Islam International. ISBN 1-85372-977-9.
  • Khan, Adil Hussain (2015). From Sufism to Ahmadiyya: A Muslim Minority Movement in South Asia. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-01529-7.
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