Maulvi Sher Ali Ranjha (24 November 1875 – 13 November 1947) was a prominent

Ahmadi 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 ...

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 metapho ...

, 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 language, Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian language, Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous Raja, ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughal Em ...

family that was part of the Ranjha Jat 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 gi ...

(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 ...

, 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''.

Death

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

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th List of largest cities, most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is th ...

. He was buried at the Bahishti Maqbara (''The Heavenly Graveyard'') at Rabwah.'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