Hayat-e-Nasir is an Urdu biography of Mir Nasir Nawab (1846-1924), the father of Nusrat Jehan Begum and therefore Ghulam Ahmad's father-in-law. Much of it is in his own words. It was compiled by Shaikh Yaqub Ali Irfani, editor of the Ahmadi newspaper Al-Hakam, and first published from Qadian in December 1927.
In the book, Mir Nasir Nawab describes the last night of Ghulam Ahmad's life. He recalls being woken when Ghulam Ahmad's condition worsened, and on reaching his bedside, hearing him say plainly that he had contracted cholera. By Mir Nasir Nawab's recollection, Ghulam Ahmad said nothing as clearly again before he died the following morning. The first edition records it as follows:
View Urdu Transliteration
Jab aap ko bahut takleef hui to mujhe jagaya gaya tha. Jab main Hazrat Sahib ke paas pahuncha aur aap ka haal dekha to aap ne mujhe mukhatib kar ke farmaya: 'Mir Sahib, mujhe wabai haiza ho gaya hai.' Is ke baad aap ne koi aisi saaf baat mere khayal mein nahin farmai, yahan tak ke doosre roz das baje ke baad aap ka inteqal ho gaya.
Translation:
When he was in great distress, I was woken. When I reached Hazrat Sahib and saw his condition, he addressed me and said: 'Mir Sahib, I have contracted epidemic cholera.' After this, to my recollection, he said nothing else as clearly, until the next day, after ten o'clock, he passed away.
This admission matters because of a prayer Ghulam Ahmad had published a year earlier. In April 1907, addressing his opponent Maulvi Sanaullah Amritsari, he asked God to cause whichever of them was the liar to die in the other's lifetime, naming plague and cholera among the possible causes. Ghulam Ahmad died in May 1908, while Sanaullah lived for another forty years. By the prayer's own terms, it was answered against Ghulam Ahmad, and his father-in-law's account suggests it was answered in the very manner he had described.
Perhaps for this reason, when the book was later typeset and reprinted, the passage was removed altogether:
View Urdu Transliteration
Jab aap ko bahut takleef hui to mujhe jagaya gaya tha. Jab main Hazrat Sahib ke paas pahuncha aur aap ka haal dekha aur doosre roz das baje ke baad aap ka inteqal ho gaya.
Translation:
When he was in great distress, I was woken. When I reached Hazrat Sahib and saw his condition, and the next day, after ten o'clock, he passed away.
(Hayat-e-Nasir, typeset edition without footnote, pp. 13-14)
In this edition, the words between "saw his condition" (aap ka haal dekha) and "the next day" (aur doosre roz) have been removed, taking with them Ghulam Ahmad's statement that he had cholera. The gap is closed with aur ("and"), leaving no visible break on the page, though the sentence now reads awkwardly: Mir Nasir Nawab reaches the bedside and the account jumps straight to the death the following day. The omission was later highlighted by Hani Tahir, and the edition now published by the community restores the sentence, but with a footnote added:
View Urdu Transliteration
Yeh Hazrat Masih-e-Mau'ud alaihis salam ka zaati khayal tha, jabke Huzoor ki na'sh-e-mubarak ko rail mein le kar jaane ke liye aap ke mu'alij Doctor Sutherland, Principal Medical College Lahore, ki tasdeeq par afsar-e-majaz Civil Surgeon Lahore Doctor Cunningham ne certificate diya ke Huzoor ki wafat a'sabi thakan se is-haal ki wajah se hui thi, is liye rail mein le jaya ja sakta hai. (Nashir)
Translation:
This was the personal opinion of the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him), whereas, so that his blessed body could be taken by train, the authorised officer, the Civil Surgeon of Lahore, Dr Cunningham, on the confirmation of his physician, Dr Sutherland, Principal of the Medical College, Lahore, issued a certificate stating that his death was caused by nervous exhaustion brought on by diarrhoea, and that he could therefore be taken by train. (Publisher)
The footnote, absent from the 1927 edition but present in the version now on alislam.org, does not deny that Ghulam Ahmad said he had cholera. By calling the remark his "personal opinion", it accepts that he said it and argues only that he was wrong. Its evidence is a medical certificate that it neither reproduces nor cites. By the footnote's own explanation, that certificate was needed so the body could travel by train, which implies a cholera diagnosis would have prevented it. This does not prove the certificate was inaccurate, but it was hardly issued in neutral circumstances. The cause it records is also closer to cholera than the footnote suggests, since severe diarrhoea is the disease's chief symptom. On the other side is the testimony of a family member who was present at the bedside and recorded Ghulam Ahmad's own words.
