Mirza Ghulam Ahmad 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 Mahdī—which is the metaphorical second-coming of Jesus (mathīl-iʿIsā), in fulfillment of the Islamic prophecies regarding the end times, as well as the Mujaddid of the 14th Islamic century.
Ahmad, c. 1897
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (seated centre) with some of his companions at Qadian c. 1899.
Jama Masjid, Delhi, 1852, William Carpenter.
Alexander Dowie in his robes as "Elijah the Restorer."
Ahmadiyya, officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ) is an Islamic messianic movement originating in British India in the late 19th century. It was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), who said he had been divinely appointed as both the Promised Mahdi and Messiah expected by Muslims to appear towards the end times and bring about, by peaceful means, the final triumph of Islam; as well as to embody, in this capacity, the expected eschatological figure of other major religious traditions. Adherents of the Ahmadiyya—a term adopted expressly in reference to Muhammad's alternative name Aḥmad—are known as Ahmadi Muslims or simply Ahmadis.
The White Minaret and the Ahmadiyya flag in Qadian, India. For Ahmadi Muslims, the two symbolize the advent of the Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.
The Shahada, outside the Mahmood Mosque in Zurich, proclaiming the oneness of God.
Some of the many Quran translations by Ahmadi translators at the 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair
Roza Bal shrine in Srinagar, Kashmir