Mirza Hadi Baig

Mirza Hadi Baig
Rais and Qazi of Qadian
Reign	1530
Successor	Mirza Faiz Muhammad
Born	Samarqand, Greater Khorasan (present-day Uzbekistan)
Died	Qadian, India
House	Timurid
Religion	Islam

Mirza Hadi Baig (fl. 1530 CE) was an Indian nobleman and Qadhi (Islamic magistrate) of Central Asian origin and a direct ancestor of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement. Originating from Samarqand in what is today Uzbekistan, he immigrated to northern India and settled in the Punjab during the 16th century.

Mirza Hadi Baig was born in Samarqand, Greater Khorasan (present-day Uzbekistan) and belonged to the Barlas tribe, a Turco-Mongol tribe who had lived and ruled in the region of Kish (modern Shahrisabz, some 80 km south of Samarqand) prior to the rise of Timur (Tamerlane). In 1530, Hadi Baig left his home in Samarqand, perhaps due to domestic dissensions or an affliction, and moved, along with an entourage of two hundred persons consisting of his family, servants and followers, to northern India where the emperor Babur had founded the Mughal dynasty just several years earlier. They finally settled in the Punjab during Babur’s reign where Hadi Baig established a hamlet near the river Beas and named it Islampur. He was granted a large tract of land comprising several hundred villages, that together resembled a semi-independent territory, by the imperial court of Babur, and was also appointed the Qadhi of the surrounding district. As the hamlet was associated with the seat of the Qadhi, it came to be known as Islampur-Qazi. This name evolved into various forms based on cognates and the local dialect, until Islampur was dropped altogether, and it simply came to be known as Qadian, the name by which it is still known today. Hadi Baig’s descendants held Qadian for over 300 years maintaining close relations with the Mughal rulers and holding important offices within the imperial government.

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