Italy, the centre of modern Christianity, is the first European country ever visited by a Khalifatul Masih. After the successful visit to the Middle East, Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra and his entourage boarded the SS Pilsna for Italy. Huzoorra was staying in the Number 17 First Class Cabin. (Safar-e-Europe, pp. 110-121 and 133)
Arrival at Brindisi
At 9:30 am on 16 August 1924, Huzoorra reached Brindisi, an Italian port city. While the ship was still in the process of docking, Huzoorra called all of his entourage to the top deck. Huzoorra led all members in lengthy silent prayer before landing on European soil, since this was a momentous occasion in the history of Islam. The staff and passengers gathered around to witness this historic scene with wonder and amazement. While the entourage was alighting from the ship, many people captured photographs, particularly of Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra. After this, Huzoorra and his entourage arrived at the Grand Hotel International, staying in Room 19. Telegrams were sent to London, Berlin and Qadian. (Safar-e-Europe, pp. 126-127 and Al Fazl, 23 August 1924, p. 2)
Arrival at Rome
From Brindisi, the entourage embarked on an express train which departed at 6:30 pm on 16 August and reached Rome at 9:30 am on 17 August 1924, staying at the Grand Continental Hotel. At around 4 pm, Huzoorra went outside for a walk and visited the catacombs, the Colosseum and the Baths of Caracalla. (Safar-e-Europe, pp. 132-134)
Speaking of the catacombs, Huzoorra wrote:
“These catacombs have been built on three levels, and I have witnessed them with my own eyes while in Rome en route to England in 1924. One can see the rooms of the first level without much difficulty, but one feels loss of breath on the second level and then it is nearly impossible for one to go to the third level, which is the lowest one, due to the darkness and humidity. I have witnessed that the Christians had made them like a maze, in accordance with their needs.” (Tafsir-e-Kabir [2023], Vol. 6, p. 485)
Three French newspapers – Paris-Midi on 26 August 1924 and Le Siècle and L’Action on 27 August 1924 – published an article titled “The Revival of Islam”. At the beginning of this article, a brief introduction was given about the Promised Messiahas and his claims. Towards the end, it stated:
[Translation] “He came straight to Rome to have a theological conversation with the other Pope, I mean Pius XI. It is clear that the conversion of the Holy Father by the Most Holy Mahmud[ra] would mark a serious progress of Ahmadiyyat, and it would be, for once, an event that we could not ignore. Unfortunately, the offices of the Vatican responded that the pontifical apartments, upset by the architects for the preparation of the Holy Year, were not in a condition, for the moment, to receive with dignity a visitor as distinguished as Mahmud[ra]. It is a shame.”
Meeting between Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra and Mussolini
To convey the message of Islam to the then-Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra had a meeting with him on 19 August 1924. (Al Fazl, 23 September 1924, p. 4)
Interview with La Tribuna
On 18 August 1924, Hazrat Chaudhry Fateh Muhammad Sayalra, Hazrat Maulana Abdur Rahim Dardra and Hazrat Sheikh Yaqub Ali Irfanira met with the editor of a well-known Italian paper, La Tribuna. The editor expressed his strong desire to interview Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra. Thereafter, Huzoorra was interviewed on 19 August, where he spoke about various religious and socio-political issues. After the interview, the newspaper published a detailed article on 20 August, along with a photograph of Huzoorra and his entourage with the caption “The Muslim ‘Pope’ and his dignitaries, in Rome”.
The photographer of La Tribuna had taken a photograph of Huzoorra. They sent two copies to Huzoorra and requested to capture more photographs on 20 August at 9 am, which Huzoorra graciously accepted. In response to the photograph, Huzoorra wrote him a letter of thanks. He ordered 10 more copies of the photograph and ordered 10 copies to Qadian. (Safar-e-Europe, p. 158)
Mentioning his stay in Italy, Huzoorra stated:
“We stayed for three days in Italy. When our members went to meet the editor of the biggest newspaper there, which has a publication of 0.8 million and is published in 10 different cities, he requested to be given the opportunity to meet before anyone else, whether it was during the night. Thus, he arrived at 11 pm as fixed, continued the discussion till 12 am, and wrote a powerful article the very next morning.
“While in Italy, I wanted to meet with the Pope, however, upon asking through the English secretary, [Pope] said that nowadays there are no meetings due to the work at his residence. The editor of the aforementioned newspaper asked whether I would meet the Pope. When I told him about the Pope’s response, he asked, why do I want to meet him? I responded since he is a respectable person, we would have presented him with a gift as a gesture of respect. He asked, what kind of a gift? I replied, in our view, Islam is the best gift, and we would have presented it to him. He mentioned this point in his article as well.” (Al Fazl, 4 December 1924, p. 5)
Interview to Il Giornale d’Italia
The editor of another Italian newspaper, Il Giornale d’Italia, interviewed Huzoorra and published an article on 20 August 1924, titled “Muslim Renewal: Ahmadiyya”
Departure from Rome
Huzoorra went to the office of Thomas Cook & Son and bought the tickets for London.Hazrat Sheikh Yaqub Ali Irfanira narrates:
“In the evening of 19 August 1924, Huzoorra himself arranged for the tickets for London through Thomas Cook & Son. […] When tickets were bought from Rome, the tickets, which were arranged by Thomas Cook & Son, had such a situation that Huzoorra would have reached before his companions. He noticed this issue and said that such an arrangement was not appropriate. He [a member of Thomas Cook & Son] expressed his point of view that there is no issue with this since the rest of the entourage will arrive after a few hours. Upon this, Huzoorra told him that this cannot happen, this journey is being managed under a plan, that cannot be compromised. Thus, new tickets were arranged. In short, he departed from Rome on the evening of 20 August along with his companions. There were many American tourists in Rome at the time, and many of them were proceeding towards London. Huzoorra completed his journey [to London] while preaching to them.” (Al Fazl, 23 September 1924, p. 5)
Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra and his entourage reached London — via Paris, Calais and Dover — on the evening of 22 August. (Safar-e-Europe, p. 138)
Visit to Italy on the way back to Qadian
While returning to Qadian, Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra and his entourage visited Italy once again. They reached Milan from Paris, via Lausanne, Brigue, and Domodossola.
Mentioning about arrival at the Stazione di Milano Centrale, Hazrat Bhai Abdur Rahman Qadianira narrates that the other passengers were looking at Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra and his entourage through the windows and they seemed to be in awe and amazement witnessing such a scene. It was evident that they wanted to ask questions but the language barrier caused hesitance, however, after some time, a few English passengers served as interpreters and helped convey the sentiments of the passengers to the entourage and their response as well. (Ibid., pp. 418-419)
Interview to Corriere della Sera
While at the Stazione di Milano Centrale, the editor of a well-known newspaper, Corriere della Sera, interviewed Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra, while an English trader served as an interpreter. The newspaper then published the article under the heading “The ‘pontiff’ of the reformist Muslims passing through Milan”.
It is interesting to mention here that in Noah’s Ark, the Promised Messiahas mentioned an article of Corriere della Sera which included a narration from Peter about Jesusas, shedding light on the fact that Jesusas had survived the crucifixion. (Noah’s Ark, pp. 122-123 [Footnote])
Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra and his entourage went out sightseeing in the city of Milan. Later on, the train departed from Milan for Venice at around 7 pm. (Safar-e-Europe, pp. 413-422)
(Prepared by the Ahmadiyya Archive & Research Centre)