Maulvi Sher Ali Ranjha (24 November 1875 – 13 November 1947) was a prominent Ahmadi scholar and a companion 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 ...

, who claimed to be the Promised Messiah and the awaited mahdi.

Early life

Sher Ali was born to a well off and educated

Zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...

family that was part of the Ranjha

Jat The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and su ...

tribe. He was the son of Maulvi Nizam ud Din. His mother died on 7 March 1907. A daughter of Sher Ali, with the name Khadija Beguum wrote his short biography ''Seerat Hadrat Maulvi Sher Ali''. Sher Ali did his B.A. in 1897.

Works

When he heard of

's claim he travelled to

Qadian Qadian (; ; ) is a city and a municipal council in Gurdaspur district, north-east of Amritsar, situated north-east of Batala city in the state of Punjab, India. Qadian is the birthplace of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the Ahmadiyya m ...

and gave 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 ...

(Oath of Allegiance) at the hands of Ghulam Ahmad. He remained headmaster of the ''Talim-ul-Islam High School'' in Qadian. He spent his whole life in the service of the cause of Ahmadiyyah. He accompanied

Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad ( ur, ) (12 January 1889 – 8 November 1965), was the second caliph ( ar, خليفة المسيح الثاني, ''khalīfatul masīh al-thāni''), leader of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and the e ...

, the second khalifa of the Ahmadiyyah sect on his journey to Europe in 1924, and participated in the

Wembley’s Conference of Living Religions 1924 Wembley's Parliament of Living Religions was part of the British Empire Exhibition of 1924, inviting famous representatives of important living religions within the British Empire. Although the exhibition was held at Wembley Park in north-west Lon ...

. He was a profound scholar of religious sciences and the Arabic language. In the central Organization of the Community, Maulvi Sher Ali served as director of publications (''Nazir Taleef'') at Qadian. He also published an exposition and rebuttal of the book ''Yana bi'ul Islam'' in his ''

Review of Religions The ''Review of Religions'' is an English-language comparative religious magazine published monthly by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Regularly in print since 1902, it is one of the longest running Islamic periodicals in English. It has been de ...

''.

Death

His wife died on 12 July 1942 and Sher Ali died on 13 November 1947 at

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

. He was buried at the

Bahishti Maqbara Bahishti Maqbara (English: The Heavenly Graveyard), located originally in Qadian, India, and then in Rabwah, Pakistan, is a religious cemetery established by the Ahmadiyya Community as a directive from the community's founder Mirza Ghulam Ahm ...

(''The Heavenly Graveyard'') at

Rabwah Rabwah (Urdu, pnb, ), officially known as Chenab Nagar ( ur, ), is a city in Chiniot District, Chiniot, Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan on the bank of Chenab River. It was the headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community since Septemb ...

.'Obituary' in The Daily Alfazal (Rabwah) dated 14 November 1947

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Maulvi Sher Indian Ahmadis 1875 births 1947 deaths Translators of the Quran into English People of British India Pakistani Ahmadis