Mirza Muhammad Ismail Qandahari (c 1813–1912), usually known as Mirza Muhammad Ismail, was an
Afghan
Afghan may refer to:
*Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia
*Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity
** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...
religious scholar and the first convert to the
Ahmadiyya
Ahmadiyya (, ), officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ, ar, الجماعة الإسلامية الأحمدية, al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmīyah al-Aḥmadīyah; ur, , translit=Jamā'at Aḥmadiyyah Musl ...
faith among the
Pashton
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian peoples, Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were ...
s of the
North West Frontier Province
The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ps, شمال لویدیځ سرحدي ولایت, ) was a Chief Commissioner's Province of British India, established on 9 November 1901 from the north-western districts of the Punjab Province. Followin ...
of India.
[Tareekh-e-Ahmadiyya (Sarhad) istory of the Ahmadiyya in the North West Frontierby Qazi Muhammad Yousaf Farooqi ; Published: Manzoor e Aam Press, Qissa Khwani Bazar, Peshawar (1958). pp:8-21]
He was an ethnic
Turk, born about 1813 at
Qandahar
Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the ca ...
,
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. His father was a
Qazi in the city of Qandahar, as well as being a some-time minister during the reign of
Shah Shujah Durrani
''Padshah Sultan'' Shah Shuja Durrani (Pashto/Dari: ; November 1785 – 5 April 1842) was ruler of the Durrani Empire from 1803 to 1809. He then ruled from 1839 until his death in 1842. Son of Timur Shah Durrani, Shuja Shah was of the Sadduzai ...
(1785-1842), King of Afghanistan. He was a scholar of
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
,
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
and
Pashto
Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...
, a good poet
and a
calligrapher
Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...
.
He was a Pashto and
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
teacher to Captain (later Major)
Henry George Raverty
Henry George Raverty (31 May 1825 – 20 October 1906) was an officer and linguist in the British Indian Army.
Life
Raverty was born in Falmouth, Cornwall.
He served from 1843 to 1864, rising to the rank of Major in the 3rd Bombay Native Infa ...
(1825-1906), assisting him in many of his works on the Pashto language.
He converted to
Ahmadiyya
Ahmadiyya (, ), officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ, ar, الجماعة الإسلامية الأحمدية, al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmīyah al-Aḥmadīyah; ur, , translit=Jamā'at Aḥmadiyyah Musl ...
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
in response to a vision in 1887.
Ismail died on September 18, 1912, at
Peshawar
Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...
.
Early life
Ismail was born in the house of a renowned religious scholar, a
Qazi, in the city of Qandahar.
Raised speaking Pashto, he became a scholar of Arabic, Persian and his native language, as well as being an Islamic
jurist
A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...
who was able to assist his father in his profession as a Qazi. According to his biographer,
Qazi Muhammad Yousaf, he never married
He had an interest in Pashto and Persian poetry, writing his own poetry.
Henry George Raverty
Henry George Raverty (31 May 1825 – 20 October 1906) was an officer and linguist in the British Indian Army.
Life
Raverty was born in Falmouth, Cornwall.
He served from 1843 to 1864, rising to the rank of Major in the 3rd Bombay Native Infa ...
mentioned his skill as both a poet and scholar
Migration to India
At the age of 32, Ismail left Afghanistan and traveled to
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. Leaving
Qandahar
Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the ca ...
, he passed through
Chaman
Chaman ( Balochi, Pashto and ur, ) is a city and recently claimed as a new district of Balochistan named Chaman District as it was earlier a part of district Qila Abdullah District located on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. It is the capital ...
,
Pashin,
Quetta
Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه) is the tenth List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in Geography of Pakistan, south-west of the country close to the ...
,
Sibi
Sibi ( Sindhi: سيوي ur, ) is a city situated in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. The city is the headquarters of the district and tehsil of the same name.
Etymology
The origin of the town's name is attributed to Rani Sewi, a Hindu la ...
,
Shikarpur and
Sind
Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
. He stayed in these places and continued his intellectual pursuits. Qazi Muhammad Yousaf has recorded his discussion of
Shia
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...
and
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
differences with a scholar at
Shikarpur. He ended his journey in
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
, where he was appointed tutor in Pashto and Persian to Captain
Henry George Raverty
Henry George Raverty (31 May 1825 – 20 October 1906) was an officer and linguist in the British Indian Army.
Life
Raverty was born in Falmouth, Cornwall.
He served from 1843 to 1864, rising to the rank of Major in the 3rd Bombay Native Infa ...
of the 3rd Bombay Native Infantry,
accompanying him on military campaigns, and ending up in
Peshawar
Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...
in 1852.
Tutor to H G Raverty
Henry George Raverty
Henry George Raverty (31 May 1825 – 20 October 1906) was an officer and linguist in the British Indian Army.
Life
Raverty was born in Falmouth, Cornwall.
He served from 1843 to 1864, rising to the rank of Major in the 3rd Bombay Native Infa ...
makes clear reference to Ismail's contribution to his various works. In the introduction to Raverty's 'Dictionary of the Pashto Language' he writes:
:: "“During the whole time I had the valuable assistance of a Molawi of the Ghalzi tribe, located in central Afghanistan in the District around Khelat-iGhalzi, and whose father was for some time Kazi of the city of Kandahar, in which office the Molawi, who is better acquainted with Pashto both theoretically and practically, than any other man I ever saw or heard of, assisted. His profound knowledge of Arabic—the foundation of all Muhammadan languages—and without which the situation of Kazi, in the western Capital of Afghanistan, could not have been held, together with the fact of his possessing no mean poetical powers, rendered him peculiarly fitted for a task of this kind, in which many works had to be examined and collated.”
A similar comment about Ismail is found in Raverty's 'Preface' to the ''Grammar of the Afghan language, Pakhtu''.
Educational Services
In 1852, Mirza Muhammad Ismail was appointed District Inspector of Schools in the Peshawar and
Hazara districts to look after the newly established schooling system in this region. He served in this position until his retirement in 1884. He travelled widely in the region to inspect schools in the villages of the North West Frontier.
Molvi Muhammad Ismail made a contribution to Pashto literature and to the learning of Pashto as a foreign language, publishing handbooks such as ''Pashto Tutor'', ''Khazana-i-Afghani'', ''Sawal-o-Jawa'' and ''Pushto Guide''. Tariq Rahman writes:
::: "One of the first such books was ''Tutor to Pushto'' and it was published in 1896 by Moulvi Ismail Khan as ‘a perfect help to the lower and higher standard Pashto examination’ (Khan 1896). Khan, Ismail. 1896. Tutor to Pushto: With English, Urdu and Persian Translation and Pronunciation in Roman...."
While in Peshawar, Ismail was requested by
T.P. Hughes and
Worthington Jukes to translate parts of the Bible into Pashto. This translation work assisted his understanding the works of
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
Mirzā Ghulām Ahmad (13 February 1835 – 26 May 1908) was an Indian religious leader and the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam. He claimed to have been divinely appointed as the promised Messiah and Mahdi—which is the metaphoric ...
and his claims.
Religious experiences
In 1887, he had a
vision
Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to:
Perception Optical perception
* Visual perception, the sense of sight
* Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight
* Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain un ...
, which he reported to
Qazi Muhammad Yousaf.
: I was sitting on my prayer mat, after offering the ''Nimaz e
Tahajjud
Tahajjud, also known as the "night prayer", is a voluntary prayer performed by followers of Islam. It is not one of the five obligatory prayers required of all Muslims, although the Islamic prophet, Muhammad was recorded as performing the ta ...
''
idnight Prayers Suddenly I saw that the roof has lifted up from the walls on the eastern side and a strong light was coming inside the room. Then I saw a saintly figure entering in the enlightened room. I stood up and shook his hands and then sat in front of him in a humble and respectful
squatting posture. After a while the scene disappeared. Years later, when I saw a photograph of
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
Mirzā Ghulām Ahmad (13 February 1835 – 26 May 1908) was an Indian religious leader and the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam. He claimed to have been divinely appointed as the promised Messiah and Mahdi—which is the metaphoric ...
, I could recognize that he was the person I had seen in the vision.
Ismail would always say he had taken his
Bay'ah
''Bayʿah'' ( ar, بَيْعَة, "Pledge of allegiance"), in Islamic terminology, is an oath of allegiance to a leader. It is known to have been practiced by the Islamic prophet Muhammad. ''Bayʿah'' is sometimes taken under a written pact ...
in that
Vision
Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to:
Perception Optical perception
* Visual perception, the sense of sight
* Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight
* Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain un ...
in 1887. Yousaf named him as the first Ahmadi among the
Pashtoons of the
North West Frontier.
Ismail and Ahmadiyya
He was a subscriber to
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
Mirzā Ghulām Ahmad (13 February 1835 – 26 May 1908) was an Indian religious leader and the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam. He claimed to have been divinely appointed as the promised Messiah and Mahdi—which is the metaphoric ...
's
Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya
''Al-Barāhīn al-Ahmadīyyah 'alā Haqīqatu KitābAllāh al-Qur'ān wa'n-Nabūwwatu al-Muhammadīyyah'' (Ahmadiyya Arguments in Support of the Book of Allah - the Qur'an, and the Prophethood of Muhammad) is a five-part book written by Mirza Ghu ...
.
When the Founder of the
Ahmadiyya
Ahmadiyya (, ), officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ, ar, الجماعة الإسلامية الأحمدية, al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmīyah al-Aḥmadīyah; ur, , translit=Jamā'at Aḥmadiyyah Musl ...
Community published his claim to be the promised
Messiah
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach'' ...
in his books ''Fatah Islam'' and ''Tauzi Muram'' in 1891, Ismail commented that "The writer speaks like the Messengers of Bani Israel"; his Bible translation work had made him acquainted with the Biblical prophets.
He became a spiritual disciple of the Syed Amir of ''Kotah'' (
Swabi
Swabi ( ps, صوابۍ; ur, ) is a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan,[Mahdi
The Mahdi ( ar, ٱلْمَهْدِيّ, al-Mahdī, lit=the Guided) is a Messianism, messianic figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the Eschatology, end of times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a de ...](_blank)
of the
End time
The end time (also called end times, end of time, end of days, last days, final days, doomsday, or eschaton) refers to:
* Eschatology in various religions—beliefs concerning the final events of history or the destiny of humanity
End Time, En ...
.
In ''Tohfa e Golariya'',
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
Mirzā Ghulām Ahmad (13 February 1835 – 26 May 1908) was an Indian religious leader and the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam. He claimed to have been divinely appointed as the promised Messiah and Mahdi—which is the metaphoric ...
wrote:
:Among those narrators is one, Mirza Muhammad Ismail. He lives in street ‘Gul Badsha Ji’ at Peshawar City. He retired as District Inspector of Schools; he is an honorable and righteous person and has no oath of Bay’ah (
Oath of Allegiance
An oath of allegiance is an oath whereby a subject or citizen acknowledges a duty of allegiance and swears loyalty to a monarch or a country. In modern republics, oaths are sworn to the country in general, or to the country's constitution. For ...
) with me. He remained in the company of Syed Amir Sahib of Kotha, being his longtime companion. He has deposed his testimony
n writingto Syed Sarwar Shah sahib, “I have heard from the Syed of Kotha, he
yed Amirsaid "the Mahdi of the End-time is already born, but has not yet appeared". When asked, what is his name? He said, he would not tell the name, but could only tell, his tongue is Punjabi.”
[Book Tohfa e Golarviya, uhani Khazain Vol 17, page 14]
/ref>
Death
Muhammad Ismail lived in Peshawar
Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...
from 1852 to 1912, dying on September 18, 1912.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ismail, Muhammad
1813 births
1912 deaths
19th-century Afghan poets
Afghan politicians
Afghan Ahmadis
Pashto
Pashtun people
People from Kandahar
People of the Second Anglo-Afghan War
20th-century Afghan poets