Ghulam Ahmad's death

Ghulam Ahmad died in Lahore on the 26th of May 1908. Eye witness accounts of his final night were collected by his son Mirza Bashir Ahmad in his book 'Seeratul Mahdi'. For anyone interested, they can read those accounts here.

His opponents allege he died on (or near) the make-shift toilet which was erected near his deathbed - I will not delve into that topic here. Instead, I will look at the bigger picture surrounding Ghulam Ahmad's death through the lens of his writings, prayers and prophecies.

Smyth-Pigott

Whilst Ghulam Ahmad was claiming to be the second coming of Isa (as) in Punjab, another pretender named John Hugh Smyth-Pigott was laying claims of being Jesus Christ in England. You can read more on Smyth-Pigott here. Ghulam Ahmad had a letter sent to Pigott:

"I, therefore, warn him through this notice that if he does not repent of this irreverent claim, he shall be soon annihilated, even in my life-time… God has borne witness to my truth with heavenly signs shown in thousands… The death of Mr. Pigott within my life-time shall be another sign of my truth. If I die before Mr. Pigott, I am not the true Messiah nor am I from God…"

These words would came back to haunt him as he would die before Pigott and he would be proven false by his own words. Pigott would die around 2 decades later.

Final decision with Sanaullah Amritsari

In the April of the previous year, Ghulam Ahmad had a 3 page advert titled ‘Maulvi Sanaullah Sahib Amritsari ke saath aakhri faisla’ printed. A translation of the entire advert can be found here. In the advert he supplicated to Allah and asked for divine judgement between him and the Mawlana. It's important to note that this was NOT a prayer-duel(mubahila), but a supplication (dua) from Ghulam Ahmad:

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"If i am such a liar and fabricator as you have oftentimes referred to me as in each of your publications then I will be destroyed in your lifetime because I know that a fabricator and liar does not have a long life span and in the end, after degradation and languish, he becomes destroyed in the lifetime of his staunch opponents. And it is better for him to be destroyed so he does not misguide God’s people.

And if I am not a liar and fabricator and I am honoured by God’s dialogue and address and am Maseeh Maud then with the Grace of God I am hopeful that according to the Practice of Allah you will not escape from the punishment received by liars.

Hence if you are not inflicted with such punishment which is not from the hands of human beings but is only in the Hands of Allah like plague or cholera or such illness in my lifetime then I am not from God Almighty.

This is not a prophecy on the basis of any revelation or inspiration but is merely a Verdict which I have asked from God in the form of a prayer. And I pray to God that O my Master Baseer and Qadeer Who is Aleem and Khabeer and Who is Aware of the condition of my heart. If this claim of being Maseeh Maud is from my own nafs (mind) and if I am corrupt and a liar in Your Eyes and if I forge lies against You day and night then O my Beloved Master I humbly pray to You that destroy me in the lifetime of Molvi Sanaullah Sahib and make my death a source of happiness for him and his Jamaat. Aameen.

But O my completely Truthful God. If Molvi Sanaullah is not truthful in the slanders he attributes to me, then I humbly pray to You to annihilate him in my lifetime. But not from the hands of human beings, in fact from plague or cholera or such diseases with the exception of such a case that he openly and face to face in front of me and my Jamaat, repents from his swearing and bad language which he considers as obligatory and always hurts me. Aameen O Lord of the Worlds." 

- Majmua-e-ishtaharat 3, P578,-580 (older print)

Divine judgement would be passed in under 14 months and just was was the case with Smyth-Pigott, Ghulam Ahmad would died before his opponent again. The Mawlana would go on to outlive him by a four decades, dying on March 15, 1948. Based on the supplication and the consequential outcome, it would appear even Allah regarded Ghulam Ahmad as a corrupt liar who forged lies against Him, and whose claims of being the Messiah were from his own nafs. 

Cholera

Cholera broke out in Afghanistan after the murder of Mullah Abdul-Latif, who was an Afghani follower of Ghulam Ahmad. He saw this cholera outbreak as the 'sword of God's fury':

"Since I was grievously humiliated by the assassination of this ill-treated martyr, the wrath of God drew the sword of His fury against Kabul. A severe epidemic of cholera broke out in the city after the assassination of this ill-treated martyr, and most of those who took part in the assassination conspiracy against this ill-treated martyr fell victim to it." - The Philosophy of Divine Revelation p443 (Haqiqatul Wahi English translation)

Not only did he see the Cholera outbreak as form of God's wrath, but he also prayed for Sanaullah to die of Cholera or the plague. Based on this, It's clear he didn't see dying of Cholera as an honourable death, and saw it more as some sort of divine punishment. 

There's no evidence to suggest Sanaullah died due to any such disease. There is plenty of evidence to suggest Mirza himself died due to it:

1. Ghulam Ahmad was suffering from excessive loose motions (Diarrhoea) the night before he died. To remedy this, he took drops of a medicine called 'Chlorodyne'. This was a medicine which was used to treat Cholera:

"Peer Manzoor Muhammad sahab ne ba'wasta Maulvi Abdur Rahman Sahab Mubashir ba'zariya tehreer mujh se bayan kiya. Lahore mein ghaliban wafat se aik din pehley Hazrat Maseeh Maud andar se bahar tashreef laye or farmaya ke aaj mujhay dast ziyada aa gaye hain. Chunan'cha mein ne teen qatrey Chlorodyne ke pee liye hain"

Translation:

"Peer Manzoor Muhammad.... In Lahore, a day before passing away, Hazrat Maseeh Maud came outside and said 'today I've had more Diarrhoea, so I've taken 3 drops of Chlorodyne'

2. There was an obituary posted in the newspaper 'The Vakil'  wherein Cholera was stated as the cause of death. This was a pro-Ahmadi newspaper with an Ahmadi editor. You can read more on this here.

3. In narration 12 of Seeratul Mahdi, Nusrat Jehan tells how her husband was suffering from excessive loose motions and vomiting whilst he was on his deathbed. These are both symptoms of cholera and are the reason why he was taking drops of Chlorodyne.

4. Finally, there is a deathbed testimony which Ghulam Ahmad gave to his his father in law, Mir Nasir, wherein he acknowledged that has had been struck with cholera:

 

Transliteration:

"Jab aap ko bohat takleef huwi, toh mujhay jagaya gaya, jab mai hazrat sahab k pas pohoncha or aap ka haal dekha, to aap nai mujhay mukhatib kar kay farmaya, 'Meer sahab mujhay wabai haiza ho gaya hai'. Iss kay baad aap nai koi aisi saaf baat meray khayal mai nahi farmai. Yaha thak kay doosray roz das (10) bajay kay baad aap ka intiqal ho gaya"

Translation:

"I was awaken when he began to feel great pain. When I got close to Hazrat Sahab (Mirza Ghulam) and I saw his condition, he called me and stated 'Mir Sahab, I am suffering from epidemic cholera". After this, I believe he did not say anything, and the next day at 10 o'clock he passed away' - Hayat-e-Nasir: Page No. 13

This was understandably a highly problematic testimony for the Ahmadis. It was a testimony of their prophet admitting he had the disease which he prayed for his opponents to die of. Additionally it was narrated by his father in law, and collected by a prominent follower (Yacub Ali Irfani) of Ghulam Ahmad and printed by an Ahmadi press. 

Various attempts were employed to limit the damage caused by this deathbed utterance, including briefly removing the incriminating part - you can read more on that here - before having to reinstate it. After re-instating it, they added a disclaimer in the footnote stating that this was just an opinion of Ghulam Ahmad, so as to infer that it was an unqualified opinion. Neglecting to mention the fact that his father was a respectable physician and Ghulam Ahmad had studied some books of medicine with him:

"My father was an expert physician and under him I studied some books on medicine." - The Essence of Islam vol 4 p10

As well as studying books of Greek medicine:

"On 5 August 1906, the lower half of my body became numb and I could not move one step. Since I had systematically studied books on Greek medicine, I apprehended that these were symptoms of stroke." - The Philosophy of divine revelation p300 (Haqiqatul Wahi)

Even if we accept that it was just his opinion and he was wrong with his diagnosis, it still means that whilst on his deathbed he believed he had been struck by the sword of God's wrath.

It would also appear that Ghulam Ahmad had predicted his own downfall through Cholera the year before:

"Cholera is about to break out" - Tadkhirah p991

80 year prophecy

Ghulam Ahmad had issued prophecies relating to his age at death in a number of his writings, you can read more on these prophecies here. The prophecies revolved around Mirza dying at the age of 80, or a few years up and down 80:

"The actual words of the Revelation that pertain to this promise, however, fix the age between 74 and 86' - Brahin e Ahmadiyya part 5 p347

In terms of his birth, Ghulam-Ahmad wrote:

"I was born around 1839 or 1840, during the latter part of the Sikh rule." 

- Essence of Islam Vol 4 Page 8

As per his own writings he failed to reach the minimum age of 74 years by a whole 5 years, thus this prophecy was proven false. You can read more on what he said relating to what he said in relation to failed prophecies here.

Dr Abdul-Hakeem Khan

Dr Abdul-Hakeem Khan had been a follower of Ghulam Ahmad for around 20 years and his name was also included at number 159 in the list of Mirza's 313 followers. Abdul-Hakeem would then go onto leave the community and issue prophecies against Ghulam Ahmad's. He would predict Ghulam Ahmad would die 14 months from July 1, 1907. In response to Abdul-Hakeem's prophecies, Ghulam Ahmad was given revelation saying God would lengthen his days: 

"I will lengthen your days also" - Tadkhirah 1009

Despite this promise from his God. Ghulam Ahmad did not live past 14 months after July 1, 1907.