Mirza Nasir Ahmad

Mirza Nasir Ahmad was born in Qadian, India on 16 November 1909. His early education was both religious and secular. By the age of thirteen, with guidance from his father Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad, Nasir Ahmad had committed all 114 chapters of the Qur’an to memory, making him a Hafiz. His father placed great emphasis on the acquisition of religious education. In pursuit of that goal, Nasir Ahmad was enrolled at the Madrassa Ahmadiyya, Qadian, graduated with honors in July 1929. After graduation, he went through his post-secondary education and by 1934, obtained his Bachelor of Arts Degree from the Government College, Lahore. On 5 August 1934, Nasir Ahmad married Syeda Mansoora Begum, a granddaughter of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and eldest daughter of Nawab Muhammad Ali Khan of Malerkotla, India. Within a month of getting married, Nasir Ahmad left India and proceeded for postgraduate studies to England. In England, he obtained Masters of Arts degree in the Tripos (P.P.E.) Political Science, Philosophy and Economics from Balliol College, University of Oxford. He impressed his college professors as a very well-behaved and deep-thinking student. During a subsequent visit to England, he met one of his former professors who welcomed him to his residence. The professor told other members of the Community that he had seen signs of leadership in Nasir Ahmad and was certain that he would be a leader one day. Before returning to India he visited Egypt for three months from July to November 1938 in order to improve his Arabic and to meet up with his brother Mirza Mubarik Ahmad to analyse the progress of the Community in Cairo. During his stay, he also visited numerous sites of historical interest. == Career under Basheer-ud-din Mahmood Ahmad's caliphate ==

In November 1938, he returned to the town of his birth, Qadian, where he was appointed a professor at Jamia Ahmadiyya, the missionary theological training college of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. In 1939, he was appointed principal where he remained for five years. From May 1944 to November 1965, he was principal of the Talim-ul-Islam College, first in Qadian, then after partition, in Rabwah, Pakistan. During the anti-Ahmadiyya riots in 1953, Nasir Ahmad was imprisoned briefly but released on 28 May 1953. Upon his release, he served in various other offices of the community, until being elected as Khalifatul Masih after the demise of his father, Khalifatul Masih II. ==Caliphate==

Mirza Nasir Ahmad was elected as Khalifatul Masih III on 9 November 1965, shortly after Isha prayer at Mubarak Mosque in Rabwah, Pakistan. The Majlis Intikhab Khilafat (Electoral College) was presided by Mirza Aziz Ahmad. Eventually Ahmadis were declared non-Muslim by the National Assembly of Pakistan. London In 1978, Mirza Nasir Ahmad traveled to London where the conference of Jesus' Deliverance from the cross was held at the Commonwealth Institute in Kensington. This was attended by various scholars belonging to principal faiths who read their papers discussing the circumstances surrounding the Crucifixion of Jesus, after which the Ahmadiyya viewpoint regarding the death of Jesus was presented. Presentations were also given by Sir Zafarullah Khan and M.M. Ahmad. The Christian Church gave a statement dismissing the Ahmadiyya as not representing the teachings of Islam and refused to be drawn into the debate that had been re-opened by the discovery of the Shroud of Turin and now this conference. There were participants from Pakistan, India, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the United States. On this occasion, Nasir Ahmad also delivered a lecture on this issue. He dealt with the subject of Jesus' survival from death upon the cross, his travel to the east, the Unity of God, and expounded the status of Muhammad. Compilation of Ahmadiyya texts During his Caliphate, Mirza Nasir Ahmad is also known for having directed the compilation of the complete dreams, visions and verbal revelations claimed to have been received by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, which had hitherto been published in various books of Ghulam Ahmad, as well as various journals and newspapers. The compiled version of his entire revelations was published in the form of the Tazkirah. The complete dialogues or utterances of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad were also compiled under the directives of Khalifatul Masih III. This was published in the form of the Malfoozat, which include his discourses, speeches, question and answer sessions, sermons and casual sayings. Spain in Pedro Abad, of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, was the first mosque to be built in modern Spain. In 1980, Mirza Nasir Ahmad traveled to Spain, where he laid the foundation stone of the Basharat Mosque in Pedro Abad. This was the first mosque to be built in Spain in over 750 years. It was here he coined the motto "Love for All, Hatred for None". The construction of the mosque was not completed until after his death in 1982. ==Marriage, children, and family==

Mirza Nasir Ahmad married Sayyidah Mansoora Begum on 5 August 1934. She was the daughter of Nawab Muhammad 'Ali Khan of Malerkotla and Nawab Mubarka Begum, the daughter of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. They had five children together: • son Mirza Anas Ahmad, (17 April 1937 – 18 December 2018). • daughter Amatul Shakoor, (26 April 1940 – 3 September 2019). • daughter Amatul Haleem, (born 29 January 1942). • son Mirza Fareed Ahmad, (born 4 March 1951). • son Mirza Luqman Ahmad, (born 9 November 1953). Shortly after the death of his wife Mansoora Begum, Nasir Ahmad decided to remarry. On 11 April 1982, he married Tahira Siddiqua Nasir, daughter of Abdul Majeed Khan of Verowal. This marriage only lasted a few short months with the demise of Nasir Ahmad on 9 June 1982. ==Death==

On 21 May 1982, Mirza Nasir Ahmad delivered his last Friday sermon in Rabwah. Two days later on 23 May, he left Rabwah for the Pakistani capital Islamabad, where he was taken ill on 26 May. In June 1982, Mirza Nasir Ahmad suffered a severe heart attack. He died on 9 June 1982 at 12:45 p.m. in the city's Baitul Fazl. Mirza Nasir Ahmad's body was then taken to Rabwah. The next day of his death, Mirza Tahir Ahmad, half-brother of Nasir Ahmad, was elected as the Khalifatul Masih IV. Tahir Ahmad led his predecessor's funeral prayers, which was participated by nearly a hundred thousand people. Mirza Nasir Ahmad was then buried in Bahishti Maqbara, a cemetery established by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. ==Bibliography==