General

A respectable government officer had come to Qadian for some reason and was invited by the Promised Messiahas. Hazrat Mufti Muhammad Sadiq Sahibra writes: ‘This discourse was based on such beneficial and useful words that I immediately noted most sentences in my notebook, as was my habit. Afterwards, I thought it would be appropriate to give our friends an opportunity to benefit from this deep and subtle discourse through the Al-Hakam newspaper.

Sir James Wilson was born to Rev. John Wilson, DD, minister and historian of Dunning, Perthshire on 27 February 1853.  He passed the Indian civil service examination in 1873 and arrived in India in November 1875 to take up the position of assistant commissioner and settlement officer in Punjab Province, where he stayed for most of his career in India. He worked under various capacities. He began as a secretary to the government of Punjab and as a senior financial secretary to the finance commission in 1885 and 1886.

An American couple who were from Chicago after visiting various countries came to India, to experience its culture and religions. On 7th April 1908 they visited Qadian with another Scotsman named Mr Bancer. They desired to meet the Promised Messiahas and were welcomed and seated in the offices below Mubarak Mosque. The Promised Messiahas came, Deputy Ali Ahmad Sahib first and later, Hazrat Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra interpreted the conversation.

Alexander Russell Webb belonged to a well-established upstate New York family. He was the second child of Alexander Nelson Webb and Caroline Elizabeth Lefferts, born in Hudson, Columbia, New York, on 9th November 1846. His father Nelson Webb was a leading journalist of his time who was hired as a printer for the Columbia Washingtonian, a local newspaper in 1844, he purchased the Washingtonian from Warren Rockwell and continued its publication while also founding Hudson Daily Star, the first daily newspaper in the county.[1]

Anthony George Baker[1] was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 2nd February 1849.[2] The son of German immigrants, Dr Jacob Baker and Mary Catherine Platt, he always maintained a keen interest in his heritage and in later years wrote A History of the Germans in America.[3]

Hazrat Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra was always keen and passionate in conveying the message of Islam to the west while residing in Qadian. He writes:

It was this remote part of India that the renowned scientist, astronomer and meteorologist, Clement Lindley Wragge decided to visit. His real name was William, but he later changed this to Clement. His father’s name was Clement Ingleby Wragge, and his mother’s name was Anna Maria Nee Downing. He lost both of his parents at a young age, his mother at five months and his father at five years. He was raised by his grandmother, Emma Wragge at Oakamoor, Staffordshire, who taught him the rudiments of cosmology and meteorology. His formal education was at Uttoxeter Thomas Alleyne’s Grammar School.[1]