Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad (1928-2003) (may Allah have infinite mercy on his soul), a man of God, voice articulate of the age, a great orator, a deeply learned scholar of phenomenal intelligence, a prolific and versatile writer, a keen student of comparative religions was loved and devoutly followed by his approximately 10 million Ahmadi Muslim followers all over the world as their Imam, the spiritual head, being the fourth successor of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (the Promised Messiah and Mahdi (as)), to which august office he was elected as Khalifatul Masih in 1982.
After the promulgation of general Zia’s Anti Ahmadiyya Ordinance of 26th April 1984 he had to leave his beloved country, Pakistan and migrated to England from where he launched Muslim Television Ahmadiyya (MTA) which would (and still does) telecast its programmes 24 hours a day to the four corners of the world, making it possible for him to reach out to his followers around the world in particular and to humanity (especially the Islamic world) in general.
Besides being a religious leader, he was a homeopathic physician of world fame, a highly gifted poet and a sportsman.
He had his schooling in Qadian, India, and later joined the Govt. College, Lahore, Pakistan, and after graduating from Jami‘ah Ahmadiyya, Rabwah, Pakistan with distinction, he obtained his honours degree in Arabic from the Panjab University, Lahore. From 1955 to 1957 he studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
He had a divinely inspired and very deep knowledge of the Quran which he translated into Urdu. He also partially revised and added explanatory notes to the English translation of the Holy Quran by Hazrat Maulawi Sher ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). “Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge and Truth” is his magnum opus.
Though he had no formal education in philosophy and science, he had a philosophical bent of mind and tackled most difficult and abstruse theologico-philosophical questions with great acumen and ease and his intellectual approach was always rational and scientific. For a layman he had an amazingly in-depth knowledge of science, especially life sciences which attracted him most. He also had deep knowledge of human psychology. His was an analytical mind of high intelligence—an intellect scintillating with brilliance, capable of solving knottiest problems with ease, leaving his listeners and readers spellbound.