17 July 1885: The Promised Messiah (as) dispatched a decisive letter for Pandit Lekhram on this day. Lekhram was born in Chakwal, District Jhelum. He joined the police force in 1876 and established the Arya Samaj at Peshawar in 1881. Later on, he resigned from this post and went to Lahore in 1884. He was appointed as editor of the Arya Gazette in Firozpur. In this letter, Hazrat Ahmad invited prominent representatives of different faiths to come and stay in Qadian for at least one year and witness heavenly signs in favour of Islam, as a result of Hazrat Ahmad’s (as) prayers. Huzoor (as) added one term for Pandit Sahib in response to his demand of depositing 2,400 rupees and Huzoor (as) gave fine details of it. (Maktubat-e-Ahmad, Vol. 1, p. 72)
17 July 1924: Hazrat Musleh-e-Maud (ra) appointed two missionaries to Syria: Hazrat Syed Zainul Abideen Waliullah Shah (ra) and Hazrat Maulana Jalal-ud-Din Shams (ra). They left for Damascus, Syria, on 27 June 1925 and arrived at their destination on this day.
For more details of their fruitful activities, see: “Pioneer Missionaries: Part 4 – Taking Ahmadiyyat’s message to the highest echelons of society” at alhakam.org (11 November 2022, p. 10-11).
18 July 1935: On this day, Al Fazl published an article by Hazrat Musleh-e-Maud (ra), written in response to Sir Muhammad Iqbal’s call for Ahmadis to be declared a non-Muslim minority sect. His powerful and logical rebuttal conveyed a clear message across religious and political circles. (Al Fazl, Qadian, 18 July 1935, pp. 3-4)
18 July 1974: On this day, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih III’s (rh) statement was recorded by the investigation tribunal set up under Justice Samdani to probe the 1974 Rabwah railway station incident. (Silsila Ahmadiyya, Vol. 3, p. 337)
19 July 1935: On 31 May 1935, a deadly earthquake hit Quetta, British India. This earthquake was not only the worst in the Balochistan province, but the whole of the Indian subcontinent at the time.
On this day, Hazrat Musleh-e-Maud (ra) wrote a booklet on this subject and presented this earthquake as a grand sign in fulfilment of the Promised Messiah’s (as) truth.
To read the English rendering of this book, see “The Quetta Earthquake – A Mighty Divine Sign”, www.alislam.org.
19 July 2012: On this day, an Ahmadi, Chaudhry Naeem Ahmad Gondal Sahib, born in 1961, was martyred in Orangi Town, Karachi. He held an MA in Economics and an MBA (Master of Business Administration) and was working as an assistant director in the State Bank of Pakistan.
The incident of martyrdom took place on the morning of 19 July at 8:30 am, when two youngsters fired at him while he was going to his office. He had been serving as the local president of the Orangi Town Jamaat for 11 years. Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V (aa) mentioned him in his Friday sermon the next day.
20 July 1891: The Promised Messiah’s (as) written debate with Maulvi Muhammad Hussain of Batala commenced on this day in Ludhiana. It continued for the next 10 days. It was later published in book form under the title Al Haqq: Mubahisa Ludhiana, from Sialkot. It was through Hazrat Maulvi Abdul Karim Sialkoti’s (ra) efforts that it saw publication through his magazine Al Haqq of Sialkot.
20 July 2003: On this day, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V (aa) inspected the arrangements of Jalsa Salana UK 2003 and addressed the volunteers of Jalsa. It was the first Jalsa Salana UK of Khlifat-e-Khamisa. (Al Fazl, 29 July 2003, p. 2)
21 July 1967: On this day, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih III (rh) inaugurated Masjid Nusrat Jahan in Copenhagen, Denmark, which was the first mosque of Denmark. The inaugural ceremony was not only aired on Danish television, but also on television in other European countries and some Islamic countries showed great interest in this ceremony, especially Saudi Arabia, where the visuals of this ceremony were shown on television twice. They showed the building of the mosque, the inaugural address and the first Friday sermon. The ceremony was also shown on television channels of West Germany, which was viewed by hundreds of thousands of people. Moreover, Morocco’s radio broadcast the news of this event in its news bulletins three times. (Tarikh-e-Ahmadiyyat, Vol. 24, p. 118)
21 July 2006: During his Friday sermon on this day, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V (aa) said that the then President of Sierra Leone, Dr Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, had come to offer the Friday prayer at the Bait-ul-Futuh Mosque on that day. Huzoor (aa) introduced the distinguished guest and said that he had expressed his desire to offer the Friday prayer here. Huzoor (aa) prayed that Allah the Almighty may fulfil his pious wishes, reward him and establish lasting peace and security in his country. Huzoor (aa) also graced a reception held in honour of the distinguished guest.
22 July 1955: On this day, the first-ever international conference of the Ahmadi missionaries commenced in London, presided over by Hazrat Musleh-e-Maud (ra). On 23 July, the Civil and Military Gazette reported on this, titled “Conference of Muslim Mission of Europe and America Begins.”
For more details, see “First-ever international conference of Ahmadiyya missionaries, London, 1955”, at alhakam.org (21 July 2023, p. 16).
22 July 1974: During a parliamentary inquiry into the religious and constitutional status of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih III (rh) read the Jamaat’s statement before Pakistan’s National Assembly on this day. He was then formally questioned about the Jamaat’s beliefs and position for nearly 52 hours, with the proceedings continuing until 24 August. (Silsila Ahmadiyya, Vol. 3, p. 339)
23 July 1898: The plague was claiming lives in most parts of the Indian subcontinent. This was a matchless heavenly sign shown in favour of the Promised Messiah (as). But out of sheer love and compassion for humankind, he announced on this day that everyone should repent to God and that a precautionary medicine had been prepared for plague patients. It was named “Tiryaq-i-Ilahi” (Divine cure) as the main ingredients of this medicine were inspired to Huzoor (as) by God Almighty. This indigenous medicine costs 2,500 rupees. Hazrat Hakeem Maulvi Noor-ud-Din (ra) bore a major part and donated around 2,000 rupees. (Tarikh-e-Ahmadiyyat, Vol. 2, p. 8)
23 July 1933: On this day, Hazrat Musleh-e-Maud (ra) drew the attention of members of the Jamaat towards learning the Urdu language. Huzoor (ra) said that deriving benefit from the books written by the Promised Messiahas was the best and most efficient way to learn Urdu.
Hazrat Khalifatul Masih II (ra) stated that, on the one hand, the Promised Messiah (as) reformed religious matters; at the same time, he also reformed the Urdu language. (Tarikh-e-Ahmadiyyat, Vol. 6, p.117)