Mirza Ghulam Murtaza

Mirza Ghulam Murtaza
Aqsa Mosque, Qadian, built by Ghulam Murtaza and adjacent to his grave.
Born	c.1791
Died	June 1876
Occupation	Rais, physician, military personnel
Spouse(s)	Chiragh Bibi
Children	Murad Begum Ghulam Qadir Ghulam Ahmad

Mirza Ghulam Murtaza (Urdu: مرزا غلام مرتضى‎) (c.1791 – June 1876) was an Indian nobleman, physician, military officer, and father of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement. He belonged to a family of landed aristocracy within the Mughal Empire that lost its estate to the Sikhs during the 18th century, and only a fraction of which – including Qadian, the family’s ancestral seat – he was able to regain from them. He was mentioned in some detail by Sir Lepel Griffin in The Panjab Chiefs, a survey of the Punjab’s aristocracy. Ghulam Murtaza was married to Chiragh Bibi and had three surviving children.

Mirza Ghulam Murtaza was the son of Mirza Atta Muhammad, a Punjabi chieftain over the fortified hamlet of Qadian. His predecessors had originally exercised authority over a large semi-independent territory comprising over seventy villages neighbouring Qadian and had quasi-familial ties with the Mughal Emperors. With the insurgency of the Ramgharia Sikhs during the 18th century, the decline of the Mughals and lacking any practical support from Delhi, the family saw a steady loss of its estate until, by the time of Atta Muhammad’s death, Qadian, the last remaining stronghold had also come under the control of the Sikhs and merged with the Sikh Empire. The family was expelled and lived in a nearby village for sixteen years until in 1818, Ghulam Murtaza was allowed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh to return to Qadian in return for military support. In around 1834-5, a further five villages out of his ancestral estate were returned to him. In 1849, when the Punjab first encountered the British, Ghulam Murtaza remained loyal to the Sikhs. However, during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 he actively supported the British and provided military assistance to their forces. Subsequently, he spent much of his time and fortune trying to regain his properties through litigation in the Colonial courts but to no avail.