Look up emphatic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Emphatic consonant is a term widely used in Semitic linguistics to describe one of a series of obstruent consonants which originally contrasted with series of both voiced and voiceless obstruents. In specific Semitic languages, the members of this series may be realized as pharyngealized, velarized, ejective, or plain voiced or voiceless consonants. It is also used, to a lesser extent, to describe cognate series in other Afro-Asiatic languages, where they are typically realized as either ejective or implosive consonants.

In Semitic studies, they are commonly transcribed using the convention of placing a dot under the closest plain obstruent consonant in the Latin alphabet. With respect to particular Semitic and Afro-Asiatic languages, this term has come to be used more specifically to describe the particular phonetic feature which distinguishes these consonants from other consonants. Thus, in Arabic emphasis is synonymous with a secondary articulation involving retraction of the dorsum or root of the tongue, which has variously been described as velarization or pharyngealization depending on where the locus of the retraction is assumed to be.

Within Arabic, the emphatic consonants have been reported as varying in phonetic realization from dialect to dialect, but are typically realized as pharyngealized consonants. In Ethiopian and Modern South Arabian languages, they are realized as ejective consonants. While these sounds do not necessarily share any particular phonetic properties in common, most historically derive from a common source.

Five such "emphatic" phonemes are reconstructed for Proto-Semitic:

References[link]

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Béla Bartók in 1927

Béla Viktor János Bartók ( /ˈbɑrtɒk/; Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈbeːlɒ ˈbɒrtoːk]; March 25, 1881 – September 26, 1945) was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer (Gillies 2001). Through his collection and analytical study of folk music, he was one of the founders of ethnomusicology.

Biography[link]

Childhood and early years (1881–98)[link]

Béla Bartók was born in the small Banatian town of Nagyszentmiklós in the Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary (since 1920 Sânnicolau Mare, Romania) on March 25, 1881. Bartók's family reflected some of the ethno-cultural diversities of the country. His father, Béla Sr., considered himself thoroughly Hungarian, because on his father's side the Bartók family was a Hungarian lower noble family, originating from Borsod county (Móser 2006a, 44; Bartók 1981, 13), though his mother was from a Roman Catholic Serbian family (Bayley 2001, 16). His mother, Paula (born Paula Voit), had German as a mother tongue, but was ethnically of "mixed Hungarian" origin: Her maiden name Voit is German, probably of Saxon origin from Upper Hungary (Since 1920 in Czechoslovakia, since 1993 in Slovakia), though she spoke Hungarian fluently.^{[citation needed]} Among her closest forefathers there were family names like Polereczky (Magyarized Polish or Slovak) and Fegyveres (Magyar). Béla displayed notable musical talent very early in life: according to his mother, he could distinguish between different dance rhythms that she played on the piano before he learned to speak in complete sentences (Gillies 1990, 6). By the age of four, he was able to play 40 pieces on the piano; his mother began formally teaching him the next year.

Béla was a small and sickly child and suffered from severe eczema until the age of five (Gillies 1990, 5). In 1888, when he was seven, his father (the director of an agricultural school) died suddenly. Béla's mother then took him and his sister, Erzsébet, to live in Nagyszőlős (today Vinogradiv, Ukraine) and then to Pozsony (German: Pressburg, today Bratislava, Slovakia). In Pozsony, Béla gave his first public recital at age eleven to a warm critical reception. Among the pieces he played was his own first composition, written two years previously: a short piece called "The Course of the Danube" (de Toth 1999). Shortly thereafter László Erkel accepted him as a pupil.

Early musical career (1899–1908)[link]

Bartók's signature on his high school graduation photograph, dated September 9, 1899

From 1899 to 1903, Bartók studied piano under István Thomán, a former student of Franz Liszt, and composition under János Koessler at the Royal Academy of Music in Budapest. There he met Zoltán Kodály, who influenced him greatly and became his lifelong friend and colleague. In 1903, Bartók wrote his first major orchestral work, Kossuth, a symphonic poem which honored Lajos Kossuth, hero of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.

The music of Richard Strauss, whom he met in 1902 at the Budapest premiere of Also sprach Zarathustra, strongly influenced his early work. When visiting a holiday resort in the summer of 1904, Bartók overheard a young nanny, Lidi Dósa from Kibéd in Transylvania, sing folk songs to the children in her care. This sparked his life-long dedication to folk music.

From 1907 he also began to be influenced by the French composer Claude Debussy, whose compositions Kodály had brought back from Paris. Bartók's large-scale orchestral works were still in the style of Johannes Brahms and Richard Strauss, but he wrote a number of small piano pieces which showed his growing interest in folk music. The first piece to show clear signs of this new interest is the String Quartet No. 1 in A minor (1908), which contains folk-like elements.

In 1907, Bartók began teaching as a piano professor at the Royal Academy. This position freed him from touring Europe as a pianist and enabled him to work in Hungary. Among his notable students were Fritz Reiner, Sir Georg Solti, György Sándor, Ernő Balogh, and Lili Kraus. After Bartók moved to the United States, he taught Jack Beeson and Violet Archer.

In 1908, he and Kodály traveled into the countryside to collect and research old Magyar folk melodies. Their growing interest in folk music coincided with a contemporary social interest in traditional national culture. They made some surprising discoveries. Magyar folk music had previously been categorised as Gypsy music. The classic example is Franz Liszt's famous Hungarian Rhapsodies for piano, which he based on popular art songs performed by Romani bands of the time. In contrast, Bartók and Kodály discovered that the old Magyar folk melodies were based on pentatonic scales, similar to those in Asian folk traditions, such as those of Central Asia and Siberia.

Bartók and Kodály quickly set about incorporating elements of such Magyar peasant music into their compositions. They both frequently quoted folk song melodies verbatim and wrote pieces derived entirely from authentic songs. An example is his two volumes entitled For Children for solo piano, containing 80 folk tunes to which he wrote accompaniment. Bartók's style in his art music compositions was a synthesis of folk music, classicism, and modernism. His melodic and harmonic sense was profoundly influenced by the folk music of Hungary, Romania, and other nations. He was especially fond of the asymmetrical dance rhythms and pungent harmonies found in Bulgarian music. Most of his early compositions offer a blend of nationalist and late Romanticism elements.

Middle years and career (1909–39)[link]

Personal life[link]

In 1909, Bartók married Márta Ziegler. Their son, Béla III, was born on August 22, 1910. After nearly 15 years together, Bartók divorced Márta in 1923.

He then married Ditta Pásztory, a piano student. She had his second son, Péter, born in 1924.

Opera[link]

In 1911, Bartók wrote what was to be his only opera, Bluebeard's Castle, dedicated to Márta. He entered it for a prize by the Hungarian Fine Arts Commission, but they rejected his work as not fit for the stage (Chalmers 1995, 93). In 1917 Bartók revised the score for the 1918 première, and rewrote the ending. Following the 1919 revolution, he was pressured by the new Soviet government to remove the name of the librettist Béla Balázs from the opera (Chalmers 1995, 123), as he was blacklisted and had left the country for Vienna. Bluebeard's Castle received only one revival, in 1936, before Bartók emigrated. For the remainder of his life, although he was passionately devoted to Hungary, its people and its culture, he never felt much loyalty to the government or its official establishments.

Folk music and composition[link]

After his disappointment over the Fine Arts Commission competition, Bartók wrote little for two or three years, preferring to concentrate on collecting and arranging folk music. He collected first in the Carpathian Basin (the then-Kingdom of Hungary), where he notated Hungarian, Slovakian, Romanian and Bulgarian folk music. He also collected in Moldavia, Wallachia and in 1913 in Algeria. The outbreak of World War I forced him to stop the expeditions, and he returned to composing, writing the ballet The Wooden Prince in 1914–16 and the String Quartet No. 2 in 1915–17, both influenced by Debussy.

Raised as a Roman Catholic, by his early adulthood Bartók had become an atheist. He believed that the existence of God could not be determined and was unnecessary. He later became attracted to Unitarianism and publicly converted to the Unitarian faith in 1916. As an adult, his son later became president of the Hungarian Unitarian Church (Hughes 1999–2007).

Bartók wrote another ballet, The Miraculous Mandarin influenced by Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, as well as Richard Strauss. He next wrote his two violin sonatas (written in 1921 and 1922 respectively), which are harmonically and structurally some of his most complex pieces. The Miraculous Mandarin, a modern story of prostitution, robbery, and murder, was started in 1918, but not performed until 1926 because of its sexual content.

In 1927–28, Bartók wrote his third and fourth string quartets, after which his compositions demonstrate his mature style. Notable examples of this period are Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta (1936) and Divertimento for String Orchestra BB 118 (1939). The String Quartet No. 5 was composed in 1934, and the sixth and last string quartet in 1939.

In 1936 he travelled to Turkey to collect and study folk music. He worked in collaboration with Turkish composer Ahmet Adnan Saygun mostly around Adana (Özgentürk 2008; Sipos 2000).

World War II and last years in America (1940–45)[link]

In 1940, as the European political situation worsened after the outbreak of World War II, Bartók was increasingly tempted to flee Hungary. He was strongly opposed to the Nazis and Hungary's siding with Germany. After the Nazis came to power in the early 1930s, Bartók refused to give concerts in Germany and broke with his publisher there. His anti-fascist political views caused him a great deal of trouble with the establishment in Hungary. Having first sent his manuscripts out of the country, Bartók reluctantly emigrated to the U.S. with Ditta Pásztory in July that year. They settled in New York City. After joining them in 1942, his younger son, Péter Bartók, enlisted in the United States Navy where he served in the Pacific during the remainder of the war and later settled in Florida where he became a recording and sound engineer. His oldest son, Béla Bartók, Jr., remained in Hungary where he survived the war and later worked as a railroad official until his retirement in the early 1980s.

Bartók never became fully at home in the US. He initially found it difficult to compose. Although well known in America as a pianist, ethnomusicologist and teacher, he was not well known as a composer. There was little American interest in his music during his final years. He and his wife Ditta gave concerts. Bartók, who had made some recordings in Hungary also recorded for Columbia Records after he came to the US; many of these recordings (some with Bartók's own spoken introductions) were later issued on LP and CD (Bartók 1994, 1995a, 1995b, 2003, 2007, 2008).

Supported by a research fellowship from Columbia University, for several years, Bartók and Ditta worked on a large collection of Serbian and Croatian folk songs in Columbia's libraries. They also translated some old Hungarian textbooks into English which were also from Columbia's libraries.^{[citation needed]} Bartók's economic difficulties during his first years in America were mitigated by publication royalties, teaching and performance tours. While his finances were always precarious, he did not live and die in poverty as was the common myth. He had enough supporters to ensure that there was sufficient money and work available for him to live on. Bartók was a proud man and did not easily accept charity. Despite being short on cash at times, he often refused money that his friends offered him out of their own pockets. Although he was not a member of the ASCAP, the society paid for any medical care he needed during his last two years. Bartók reluctantly accepted this (Chalmers 1995, 196–203).

The first symptoms of his health problems began late in 1940, when his right shoulder began to show signs of stiffening. In 1942, symptoms increased and he started having bouts of fever, but no underlying disease was diagnosed, in spite of medical examinations. Finally, in April 1944, leukemia was diagnosed, but by this time, little could be done (Chalmers 1995, 202–207).

As his body slowly failed, Bartók found more creative energy, and he produced a final set of masterpieces, partly thanks to the violinist Joseph Szigeti and the conductor Fritz Reiner (Reiner had been Bartók's friend and champion since his days as Bartók's student at the Royal Academy). Bartók's last work might well have been the String Quartet No. 6 but for Serge Koussevitsky's commission for the Concerto for Orchestra. Koussevitsky's Boston Symphony Orchestra premièred the work in December 1944 to highly positive reviews. Concerto for Orchestra quickly became Bartók's most popular work, although he did not live to see its full impact. In 1944, he was also commissioned by Yehudi Menuhin to write a Sonata for Solo Violin. In 1945, Bartók composed his Piano Concerto No. 3, a graceful and almost neo-classical work. He began work on his Viola Concerto, but had not completed the scoring at his death.

Béla Bartók's portrait on 1,000 Hungarian forint banknote (printed in 1983; no longer in circulation).

Béla Bartók died at age 64 in a hospital in New York City from complications of leukemia (specifically, of secondary polycythemia) on September 26, 1945. His funeral was attended by only ten people. Among them were his wife Ditta, their son Péter, and his pianist friend György Sándor (anon. 2006).

Bartok's body was initially interred in Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. During the final year of communist Hungary in the late 1980s, the Hungarian government, along with his two sons, Béla III and Péter, requested that his remains be exhumed and transferred back to Budapest for burial, where Hungary arranged a state funeral for him on July 7, 1988. He was reinterred at Budapest's Farkasréti Cemetery (Chalmers 1995, 214).

The Third Piano Concerto was nearly finished at his death. For his Viola Concerto, Bartok had completed only the viola part and sketches of the orchestral part. Both works were later completed by his pupil, Tibor Serly. György Sándor was the soloist in the first performance of the Third Piano Concerto on February 8, 1946. The Viola Concerto was revised and polished in the 1990s by Bartók's son, Peter; this version may be closer to what Bartók intended (Chalmers 1995, 210).

Statues[link]

• A statue of Béla Bartók stands in Brussels, Belgium near the central train station in a public square, Spanjeplein-Place d'Espagne.
• A statue stands outside Malvern Court, south of South Kensington Underground Station, and just north of Sydney Place, where he stayed when performing in London.
• A statue of him was installed in front of one of the houses which Bartók owned in the hills above Budapest. It is now operated as a house museum.
• A bust and plaque located at his last residence, in New York City at 309 W. 57th Street, inscribed: "The Great Hungarian Composer / Béla Bartók / (1881–1945) / Made His Home In This House / During the Last Year of His Life".
• A bust of him is located in in the front yard of Ankara State Conservatory, Ankara, Turkey right next to the bust of Ahmet Adnan Saygun.

Compositions[link]

Bartók's music reflects two trends that dramatically changed the sound of music in the 20th century: the breakdown of the diatonic system of harmony that had served composers for the previous two hundred years (Griffiths 1978, 7); and the revival of nationalism as a source for musical inspiration, a trend that began with Mikhail Glinka and Antonín Dvořák in the last half of the 19th century (Einstein 1947, 332). In his search for new forms of tonality, Bartók turned to Hungarian folk music, as well as to other folk music of the Carpathian Basin and even of Algeria and Turkey; in so doing he became influential in that stream of modernism which exploited indigenous music and techniques (Botstein [n.d.], §6).

One characteristic style of music is his Night music, which he used mostly in slow movements of multi-movement ensemble or orchestral compositions in his mature period. It is characterised by "eerie dissonances providing a backdrop to sounds of nature and lonely melodies" (Schneider 2006, 84). An example is the third movement Adagio of his Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta.

His music can be grouped roughly in accordance with the different periods in his life.

Youth: Late-Romanticism (1890–1902)[link]

The works of his youth are of a late-Romantic style. Between 1890 and 1894 (nine to 13 years of age) he wrote 31 pieces with corresponding opus numbers. He started numbering his works anew with ‘opus 1’ in 1894 with his first large scale work, a piano sonata. Up to 1902, Bartók wrote in total 74 works which can be considered in Romantic style. Most of these early compositions are either scored for piano solo or include a piano. Additionally, there is some chamber music for strings. Compared to his later achievements, these works are of less importance.

New influences (1903–11)[link]

Under the influence of Richard Strauss (among other works Also sprach Zarathustra) (Stevens 1993, 15–17), Bartók composed in 1903 Kossuth, a symphonic poem in ten tableaux. In 1904 followed his Rhapsody for piano and orchestra which he numbered opus 1 again, marking it himself as the start of a new era in his music. An even more important occurrence of this year was his overhearing the eighteen-year-old nanny Lidi Dósa from Transylvania sing folk songs, sparking Bartók’s lifelong dedication to folk music (Stevens 1993, 22). When criticised for not composing his own melodies^{[citation needed]} Bartók pointed out that Molière and Shakespeare mostly based their plays on well-known stories too. Regarding the incorporation of folk music into art music he said:

The question is, what are the ways in which peasant music is taken over and becomes transmuted into modern music? We may, for instance, take over a peasant melody unchanged or only slightly varied, write an accompaniment to it and possibly some opening and concluding phrases. This kind of work would show a certain analogy with Bach’s treatment of chorales. [...] Another method [...] is the following: the composer does not make use of a real peasant melody but invents his own imitation of such melodies. There is no true difference between this method and the one described above. [...] There is yet a third way [...] Neither peasant melodies nor imitations of peasant melodies can be found in his music, but it is pervaded by the atmosphere of peasant music. In this case we may say, he has completely absorbed the idiom of peasant music which has become his musical mother tongue. (Bartók 1931/1976, 341–44.)

Bartók became first acquainted with Debussy’s music in 1907 and regarded his music highly. In an interview in 1939 Bartók said

Debussy's great service to music was to reawaken among all musicians an awareness of harmony and its possibilities. In that, he was just as important as Beethoven, who revealed to us the possibilities of progressive form, or as Bach, who showed us the transcendent significance of counterpoint. Now, what I am always asking myself is this: is it possible to make a synthesis of these three great masters, a living synthesis that will be valid for our time? (Moreux 1953, 92)

Debussy's influence is present in the Fourteen Bagatelles (1908). These made Ferruccio Busoni exclaim ‘At last something truly new!’ (Bartók, 1948, 2:83). Until 1911, Bartók composed widely differing works which ranged from adherence to romantic-style, to folk song arrangements and to his modernist opera Bluebeard’s Castle. The negative reception of his work led him to focus on folk music research after 1911 and abandon composition with the exception of folk music arrangements (Gillies 1993, 404; Stevens 1964, 47–49).

New inspiration and experimentation (1916–21)[link]

His pessimistic attitude towards composing was lifted by the stormy and inspiring contact with Klára Gombossy in the summer of 1915 (Gillies 1993, 405). This interesting episode in Bartók's life remained hidden until it was researched by Denijs Dille between 1979 and 1989 (Dille 1990, 257–77). Bartók started composing again, including the Suite for piano opus 14 (1916), and The Miraculous Mandarin (1918) and he completed The Wooden Prince (1917).

Bartók felt the result of World War I as a personal tragedy (Stevens 1993, 3). Many regions he loved were severed from Hungary: Transylvania, the Banat where he was born, and Pozsony where his mother lived. Additionally, the political relations between Hungary and the other successor states to the Austro-Hungarian empire prohibited his folk music research outside of Hungary (Somfai, 1996, 18). Thrown largely onto himself, he experimented with extreme compositional practices, the peak being his Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 (Op. 21) and No. 2.^{[citation needed]} Bartók also wrote the noteworthy Eight Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs in 1920, and the sunny Dance Suite in 1923, the year of his second marriage.

"Synthesis of East and West" (1926–45)[link]

In 1926, Bartók needed a significant piece for piano and orchestra with which he could tour in Europe and America. In the preparation for writing his First Piano Concerto, he wrote his Sonata, Out of Doors, and Nine Little Pieces, all for solo piano (Gillies 1993, 173). He increasingly found his own voice in his maturity. The style of his last period—named "Synthesis of East and West" (Gillies 1993, 189)—is hard to define let alone to put under one term. In his mature period, Bartók wrote relatively few works but most of them are large-scale compositions for large settings. Only his voice works have programmatic titles and his late works often adhere to classical forms.

Among his masterworks are all the six string quartets (1908, 1917, 1927, 1928, 1934, and 1939), the Cantata Profana (1930, Bartók declared that this was the work he felt and professed to be his most personal "credo", Szabolcsi 1974, 186), the Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta (1936), the Concerto for Orchestra (1943) and the Third Piano Concerto (1945).

Bartók also made a lasting contribution to the literature for younger students: for his son Péter's music lessons, he composed Mikrokosmos, a six-volume collection of graded piano pieces.

Analysis[link]

Analytic approaches[link]

Paul Wilson lists as the most prominent characteristics of Bartók's music from late 1920s onwards the influence of the Carpathian basin and European art music, and his changing attitude toward (and use of) tonality, but without the use of the traditional harmonic functions associated with major and minor scales (Wilson 1992, 2–4).

Although Bartók claimed in his writings that his music was always tonal, it rarely uses the chords or scales of tonality, and so the descriptive resources of tonal theory are of limited use. George Perle and Elliott Antokoletz focus on alternative methods of signaling tonal centers, via axes of inversional symmetry. Others view Bartok's axes of symmetry in terms of atonal analytic protocols. Richard Cohn argues that inversional symmetry is often a byproduct of another atonal procedure, the formation of chords from transpositionally related dyads. Atonal pitch-class theory also furnishes the resources for exploring polymodal chromaticism, projected sets, privileged patterns, and large set types used as source sets such as the equal tempered twelve tone aggregate, octatonic scale (and alpha chord), the diatonic and heptatonia seconda seven-note scales, and less often the whole tone scale and the primary pentatonic collection (Wilson 1992, 24–29).

He rarely used the simple aggregate actively to shape musical structure, though there are notable examples such as the second theme from the first movement of his Second Violin Concerto, commenting that he "wanted to show Schoenberg that one can use all twelve tones and still remain tonal" (Gillies 1990, 185). More thoroughly, in the first eight measures of the last movement of his Second Quartet, all notes gradually gather with the twelfth (G♭) sounding for the first time on the last beat of measure 8, marking the end of the first section. The aggregate is partitioned in the opening of the Third String Quartet with C♯–D–D♯–E in the accompaniment (strings) while the remaining pitch classes are used in the melody (violin 1) and more often as 7–35 (diatonic or "white-key" collection) and 5–35 (pentatonic or "black-key" collection) such as in no. 6 of the Eight Improvisations. There, the primary theme is on the black keys in the left hand, while the right accompanies with triads from the white keys. In measures 50–51 in the third movement of the Fourth Quartet, the first violin and 'cello play black-key chords, while the second violin and viola play stepwise diatonic lines (Wilson 1992, 25). On the other hand, from as early as the Suite for piano, op. 14 (1914), he occasionally employed a form of serialism based on compound interval cycles, some of which are maximally distributed, multi-aggregate cycles (Martins 2004, Gollin 2007).

Béla Bartók memorial plaque in Baja, Hungary

Ernő Lendvaï (1971) analyses Bartók's works as being based on two opposing tonal systems, that of the acoustic scale and the axis system, as well as using the golden section as a structural principle.

Milton Babbitt, in his 1949 critique of Bartók's string quartets, criticized Bartók for using tonality and non tonal methods unique to each piece. Babbitt noted that "Bartók's solution was a specific one, it cannot be duplicated" (Babbitt 1949, 385). Bartók's use of "two organizational principles"—tonality for large scale relationships and the piece-specific method for moment to moment thematic elements—was a problem for Babbitt, who worried that the "highly attenuated tonality" requires extreme non-harmonic methods to create a feeling of closure (Babbitt 1949, 377–78).

Catalogues and opus numbers[link]

The cataloguing of Bartók's works is somewhat complex. Bartók assigned opus numbers to his works three times, the last of these series ending with the Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1, Op. 21 in 1921. He ended this practice because of the difficulty of distinguishing between original works and ethnographic arrangements, and between major and minor works. Since his death, three attempts—two full and one partial—have been made at cataloguing. The first, and still most widely used, is András Szőllősy's chronological Sz. numbers, from 1 to 121. Denijs Dille subsequently reorganised the juvenilia (Sz. 1–25) thematically, as DD numbers 1 to 77. The most recent catalogue is that of László Somfai; this is a chronological index with works identified by BB numbers 1 to 129, incorporating corrections based on the Béla Bartók Thematic Catalogue.^{[citation needed]}.

Discography[link]

• Bartók, Béla. 1994. Bartók at the Piano. Hungaroton 12326. 6-CD set.
• Bartók, Béla. 1995a. Bartok Plays Bartok – Bartok At The Piano 1929–41. Pearl 9166. CD recording.
• Bartók, Béla. 1995b. Bartók Recordings From Private Collections. Hungaroton 12334. CD recording.
• Bartók, Béla. 2003. Bartók Plays Bartók. Pearl 179. CD recording.
• Bartók, Béla. 2007. Bartók: Contrasts, Mikrokosmos. Membran/Documents 223546. CD recording.
• Bartók, Béla. 2008. Bartok Plays Bartok. Urania 340. CD recording.

Media[link]

See also[link]

Biography portal

• List of solo piano compositions by Béla Bartók

Bibliography[link]

• Anon. 2003. "Béla Bartók 1881–1945". Websophia.com. (Accessed March 25, 2009)
• Anon. 2006. "Gyorgy Sandor, Pianist and Bartok Authority, Dies at 93". The Juilliard Journal Online 21, no. 5 (February). (Accessed September 15, 2010)
• Antokoletz, Elliott. 1984. The Music of Béla Bartók. University of California Press.
• Babbitt, Milton. 1949. "The String Quartets of Bartók". Musical Quarterly 35 (July): 377–85. Reprinted in The Collected Essays of Milton Babbitt, edited by Stephen Peles, with Stephen Dembski, Andrew Mead, and Joseph N. Straus, ^[citation needed]. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-691-08966-3
• Bartók, Béla. 1948. Levelek, fényképek, kéziratok, kották. ("Letters, photographs, manuscripts, scores"), ed. János Demény, 2 vols. A Muvészeti Tanács könyvei, 1.–2. sz. Budapest: Magyar Muvészeti Tanács. English edition, as Béla Bartók: Letters, translated by Péter Balabán and István Farkas; translation revised by Elisabeth West and Colin Mason (London: Faber and Faber Ltd.; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1971). ISBN 978-0-571-09638-1
• Bartók, Béla. 1976. "The Influence of Peasant Music on Modern Music (1931)". In Béla Bartók Essays, edited by Benjamin Suchoff, 340–44. London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-10120-8 OCLC 60900461
• Bartók, Béla. 1981. The Hungarian Folk Song, second English edition, edited by Benjamin Suchoff, translated by Michel D. Calvocoressi, with annotations by Zoltán Kodály. The New York Bartok Archive Studies in Musicology 13. Albany: State University of New York Press.
• Bartók, Peter. 2002. "My Father". Homosassa, Florida, Bartók Records (ISBN 0-9641961-2-3).
• Bayley, Amanda. 2001. Cambridge Companion to Bartók. Cambridge Companions to Music. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Bónis, Ferenc. 2006. Élet-képek: Bartók Béla. Budapest: Balassi Kiadó: Vávi Kft., Alföldi Nyomda Zrt. ISBN 963-506-649-X.
• Botstein, Leon. [n.d.] "Modernism", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed April 29, 2008), (subscription access)
• Boys, Henry. 1945. "Béla Bartók 1881–1945". Musical Times 86, no. 1233 (November): 329–31.
• Chalmers, Kenneth. 1995. Béla Bartók. 20th-Century Composers. London: Phaidon Press. ISBN 0-7148-3164-6 (pbk.)
• Cohn, Richard, 1988. "Inversional Symmetry and Transpositional Combination in Bartok." Music Theory Spectrum 10.
• Cohn, Richard, 1992. "Bartok's Octatonic Strategies: A Motivic Approach." Journal of the American Musicological Society 44
• Czeizel, Endre. 1992. Családfa: honnan jövünk, mik vagyunk, hová megyünk? [Budapest]: Kossuth Könyvkiadó. ISBN 963-09-3569-4
• de Toth, June. 1999. "Béla Bartók: A Biography". Bela Bartok Biography Liner notes to Béla Bartók: Complete Piano Works 7-CD set, Eroica Classical Recordings^{[Full citation needed]}
• Dille, Denijs. 1990. Béla Bartók: Regard sur le Passé. (French, no English version available). Namur: Presses universitaires de Namur. ISBN 2-87037-168-3 ISBN 978-2870371688
• Einstein, Alfred. 1947. Music in the Romantic Era. New York: W.W. Norton.
• Gillies, Malcolm (ed.). 1990. Bartók Remembered. London: Faber. ISBN 0-571-14243-5 (cased) ISBN 0-571-14244-3 (pbk)
• Gillies, Malcolm (ed.). 1993. The Bartók Companion. London: Faber. ISBN 0-571-15330-5 (cloth), ISBN 0-571-15331-3 (pbk) New York: Hal Leonard. ISBN 0-931340-74-8
• Gillies, Malcolm. 2001. "Béla Bartók". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Press; New York: Grove's Dictionaries of Music. Also in Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed May 23, 2006), (subscription access)
• Gollin, Edward. 2007. "Multi-Aggregate Cycles and Multi-Aggregate Serial Techniques in the Music of Béla Bartók". Music Theory Spectrum 29, no. 2 (Fall): 143–76.
• Griffiths, Paul. 1978. A Concise History of Modern Music. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-20164-1
• Hughes, Peter. 1999–2007. "Béla Bartók" in Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography. [n.p.]: Unitarian Universalist Historical Society.
• Leafstedt, Carl S. 1999. Inside Bluebeard's Castle. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-510999-6
• Lendvaï, Ernő. 1971. Béla Bartók: An Analysis of His Music, introduced by Alan Bush. London: Kahn & Averill. ISBN 0-900707-04-6 OCLC 240301
• Loxdale, Hugh D., and Adalbert Balog. 2009. "Bela Bartok: Musician, Musicologist, Composer, and Entomologist!." Antenna – Bulletin of the Royal Entomological Society of London 33, no. 4:175–82.
• Moreux, Serge. 1953. Béla Bartók, translated G. S. Fraser and Erik de Mauny. London: The Harvill Press.
• Móser, Zoltán. 2006a. "Szavak, feliratok, kivonatok". Tiszatáj 60, no. 3 (March): 41–45.
• Móser, Zoltán. 2006b. "Bartók-õsök Gömörben". Honismeret: A Honismereti Szövetség folyóirata 34, no. 2 (April): 9–11.
• Özgentürk, Nebil. 2008. Türkiye'nin Hatıra Defteri, episode 3. Istanbul: Bir Yudum İnsan Prodüksiyon LTD. ŞTİ. Turkish CNN television documentary series.
• Sipos, János (ed.). 2000. In the Wake of Bartók in Anatolia 1: Collection Near Adana. Budapest: Ethnofon Records.
• Somfai, Laszlo (1996). Béla Bartók: Composition, Concepts, and Autograph Sources. Ernest Bloch Lectures in Music 9. Berkeley : University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-08485-8
• Schneider, David E. 2006. Bartók, Hungary, and the Renewal of Tradition: Case Studies in the Intersection of Modernity and Nationality. California Studies in 20th-Century Music 5. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-24503-7
• Stevens, Halsey. 1964. The Life and Music of Béla Bartók, second edition. New York: Oxford University Press. ASIN: B000NZ54ZS (Third edition 1993, ISBN 978-0-19-816349-7)
• Szabolcsi, Bence. 1974. Bartók Béla: Cantata profana in "Miért szép századunk zenéje?" (Why is the music of the Twentieth century so beautiful), ed. György Kroó. Budapest.
• Wells, John C. 1990. "Bartók", in Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 63. Harlow, England: Longman. ISBN 0-582-05383-8
• Wilson, Paul. 1992. The Music of Béla Bartók. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-05111-5.

Further reading[link]

• Antokoletz, Elliott. 1984. The Music of Béla Bartók: A Study of Tonality and Progression in Twentieth-Century Music. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-04604-8.
• Jyrkiäinen, Reijo. 2012. "Form, Monothematicism, Variation and Symmetry in Béla Bartók’s String Quartets". Ph.D. diss. Helsinki: University of Helsinki. ISBN 978-952-10-8040-1 (Abstract).
• Kárpáti, János. 1975. Bartók's String Quartets, translated by Fred MacNicol. Budapest: Corvina Press.
• Somfai, László. 1981. Tizennyolc Bartók-tanulmány [Eighteen Bartók Studies]. Budapest: Zeneműkiadó. ISBN 963-330-370-2.
• Somfai, Lászlo. 1996. Béla Bartók: Composition, Concepts, and Autograph Sources. Ernest Bloch Lectures. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-08485-3.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Béla Bartók

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Béla Bartók

• Béla Bartók biography and works on the UE website (publisher)
• The Lied and Art Song Texts Page Original texts of the songs of Bartok with translations in various languages.
• Bartók Béla Memorial House, Budapest
• Bartók and his relationship with Unitarianism
• Gallery of Bartók portraits
• Béla Bartók at the Notable Names Database
• Don Gabor and Laszlo Halasz recorded Béla Bartók at his home in New York
• Béla Bartók at Find a Grave
• Plaque #94 on Open Plaques. in Sydney Place, London

Recordings

• Kunst der Fuge: Béla Bartók—MIDI files
• Excerpts from sound archives of Bartok's works.
• In the BBC Discovering Music: Listening Library

Sheet music

• Free scores by Béla Bartók at the International Music Score Library Project

Founder of The Ahmadiyya Movement
Claim as Messiah
Personal Information
Name	Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
Born	(1835-02-13)13 February 1835 Qadian, Sikh Empire
Died	26 May 1908(1908-05-26) (aged 73) Lahore
Resting place	Bahishti Maqbara, Qadian, India
Spouse(s)	Hurmat Bibi Nusrat Jehan Begum
Children	Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad Mirza Bashir Ahmad Mirza Sharif Ahmad Mubarika Begum Amatul Hafeez Begum
Parents	Mirza Ghulam Murtaza Chiragh Bibi

Part of a series on:
Ahmadiyya
Beliefs & Practices
Five Pillars of Islam · Six articles of faith · Quran Sunnah · Hadith
Distinct views
Prophethood · Jesus Jihad · Evolution
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
Prophecies · Claims Writings
Literature
Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya · The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam · Jesus in India Noor-ul-Haq · Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth  · Victory of Islam Malfoozat · Tafseer-e-Kabeer  · Haqā’iq al-Furqān
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community
Successors of the Messiah: I · II · III · IV · V Jalsa Salana · Mosques · Jamia MTA International
Miscellaneous
Persecution · Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement · List of Ahmadis
See also
Ahmadiyya portal v t e

Mīrzā Ghulām Aḥmad^[1] (Arabic: ميرزا غلام أحمد; Urdu: مرزا غلام احمد; 13 February 1835 – 26 May 1908 CE, or Shawal 14, 1250 – Rabi' al-thani 24, 1326 AH) was a religious figure from India and the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

He claimed to be the Mujaddid of the fourteenth Islamic century, the Promised Messiah (Second Coming of Christ), and the Mahdi awaited by the Muslims in the end days.^[2][3] He declared that Jesus (Isa) had in fact survived the crucifixion and later died a natural death after having migrated towards Kashmir, and that he had appeared in the spirit and power of Jesus.^[4]

He travelled extensively across the subcontinent of India preaching his religious ideas and ideals and won substantial following within his lifetime. He is known to have engaged in numerous debates and dialogues with the Muslim, Christian and Hindu priesthood and leadership. Ghulam Ahmad founded the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam on 23 March 1889. The mission of the movement, according to him, was the propagation of Islam in its pristine form.^[5]

Ghulam Ahmad authored around 100 books on various religious, spiritual and theological issues.^[6] He advocated a peaceful propagation of Islam and emphatically argued against the necessity of Jihad in its military form in the present age.^[5]

Life[link]

Early life and education[link]

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was born on 13 February 1835, in Qadian, India,^[7] the surviving child of twins born to an affluent family. His father's name was Mirza Gulam Quader. He was born in Sikh Empire under Maharaja Ranjit Singh where the means of communication were not advanced and majority of the people remained illiterate. He was of Persian descent. At the time of his birth, Christianity had come to India. It was spread all of India except Punjab with the support of British Raj. As a child, he received his early education at home. He learned to read the Arabic text of the Qur'an and studied basic Arabic grammar and the Persian language from a teacher named Fazil-e-Illahi. At the age of 10, he learnt from teacher who was a good and pious man named Fazl Ahmad. Again at the age of 17 or 18, he learnt from a teacher named Gul Ali Shah.^[8] In addition, he also studied some works on medicine from his father, Mirza Ghulam Murtaza, who was a physician.

From 1864 to 1868, upon his father's wishes, he worked as a clerk under in Sialkot which was a rare case at that time.At that time a strong anti- British movement was in progress in India. Especially, Muslim leaders called for armed jihad and almost every Muslim groups supported the call of jihad, apart from Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.

After 1868, he returned to Qadian, as per his father's wishes, where he was entrusted to look after some estate affairs. During all this time, Ahmad was known as a social recluse because he would spend most of his time in seclusion studying religious books and praying in the local mosque. As time passed, he began to engage more with the Christian missionaries, particularly in defending Islam against their criticism. He would often confront them in public debates, especially the ones based in the town of Batala.

In 1886, certain leaders of the Arya Samaj held discussion and debate with Ghulam Ahmad about the truthfulness of Islam and asked for a sign to prove that Islam was a living religion. In order to dedicate special prayers for this purpose and so as to seek further divine guidance, Ghulam Ahmad travelled to Hoshiarpur upon what he claimed was divine instruction. Here, he spent forty days in seclusion, a practice known as chilla-nashini. He travelled accompanied by three companions to the small two-storied house of one of his followers and was left alone in a room where his companions would bring him food and leave without speaking to him as he prayed and contemplated. He only left the house on Fridays and used an abandoned mosque for Jumu'ah (Friday prayers). It is during this period that he declared God had given him the glad tidings of an illustrious son.^[9][10]

Taking of the covenant[link]

Ghulam Ahmad claimed divine appointment as a reformer as early as 1882 but did not take any pledge of allegiance or initiation. In December 1888, Ahmad announced that God had ordained that his followers should enter into a Bay'ah with him and pledge their allegiance to him. In January 1889, he published a pamphlet in which he laid out ten conditions or issues to which the initiate would abide by for the rest of his life.^[11] On 23 March 1889, he founded the Ahmadiyya community by taking a pledge from forty followers.^[11] The formal method of joining the Ahmadiyya movement included joining hands and reciting a pledge, although physical contact was not always necessary. This method of allegiance continued for the rest of his life and after his death by his successors.^[12]

His claim[link]

Ahmad proclaimed that he was the Promised Messiah and Mahdi and that he was fulfilment of various prophecies. This sparked great controversy, especially among the Muslim and Christian clergy.^{[citation needed]} Ahmad's followers say that he never claimed to be the same physical Jesus who lived nineteen centuries earlier. Ahmad claimed that Jesus died a natural death, in contradiction to the traditional Muslim view of Jesus' physical ascension to heaven and the traditional Christian belief of Jesus' crucifixion.^[13] He claimed in his books that there was a general decay of Islamic life and a dire need of a messiah.^[14][15][16] He argued that just as Jesus had appeared 1400 years after the time of Moses, the promised messiah—i.e. the Mahdi—must also appear in the 14th century after the appearance of Muhammad.^[17]

In Tazkiratush-Shahadatain, he wrote about the fulfilment of various prophecies. In it, he enumerated a variety of prophecies and descriptions from both the Qur'an and Hadith relating to the advent of the Mahdi and the descriptions of his age, which he ascribed to himself and his age. These include assertions that he was physically described in the Hadith and manifested various other signs; some of them being wider in scope, such as focusing on world events coming to certain points, certain conditions within the Muslim community, and varied social, political, economic, and physical conditions.^[18]

Post-claim[link]

In time, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's claims of being the Mujaddid (reformer) of his era became more explicit.^[19] In one of his most well-known and praised^[20] works, Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, a work consisting of a number of volumes, he claimed to be the Messiah of Islam,^[19] which has proven a strong challenge for Muslims to accept, since traditional Islamic thought maintained that Jesus will return in the flesh during the last age.^[21] Ahmad, by contrast, asserted that Jesus had in fact survived crucifixion and died of old age much later in Kashmir, where he had migrated. According to Ahmad, the promised Mahdi was a symbolic reference to a spiritual leader and not a military leader in the person of Jesus Christ as is believed by many Muslims. With this proclamation, he also rejected the idea of armed Jihad and argued that the conditions for such Jihad are not present in this age, which requires defending Islam by the pen and tongue but not with the sword.^[22]

Reaction of religious scholars[link]

See also Rejection of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.

In time, the religious scholars turned against him, and he was often branded as a heretic. His opponents accused him of working for the British Government due to the termination of armed Jihad, since his claims of being the Mahdi were made around the same time as the Mahdi of Sudan (Muhammad Ahmad). Many years after his death, he was again accused of working for the British to curb the Jihadi ideology of Muslims.

Following his claim to be the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, one of his adversaries prepared a Fatwa (decree) of disbelief against Ahmad, declaring him a Kafir (disbeliever), a deceiver, and a liar. The decree permitted killing him and his followers. It was taken all around India and was signed by some two hundred religious scholars.^[23]

Some years later, a prominent Muslim leader and scholar, Ahmed Raza Khan, was to travel to the Hejaz to collect the opinions of the religious scholars of Makkah and Madina. He compiled these opinions in his work Hussam ul Harmain (The sword of two sanctuaries on the slaughter-point of blasphemy and falsehood);^[24] in it, Ghulam Ahmad was again labelled an apostate. The unanimous consensus of about thirty-four religious scholars was that Ghulam Ahmad's beliefs were blasphemous and tantamount to apostasy and that he must be punished by imprisonment and, if necessary, by execution.

Journey to Delhi[link]

Jama Masjid, Delhi, 1852, William Carpenter

Ghulam Ahmad travelled to Delhi, which was at the time considered a centre of religious learning and home to many prominent religious leaders, in 1891, with the intention of distinguishing what he believed to be the truth from falsehood and attempting to make it openly manifest for people through these influential divines. He published an advertisement in which he invited the scholars to accept his claim and to engage in a public debate with him regarding the life and death of Isa (Jesus), particularly Maulana Nazeer Hussein, who was hailed as the greatest shaikh and a leading religious scholar. He also proposed three conditions that were essential for such a debate: that there should be a police presence to maintain peace, the debate should be in written form (for the purpose of recording what was said), and that the debate should be on the subject of the death of Jesus.

Eventually, it was settled, and Ahmad travelled to the Jama Masjid Delhi (main mosque) of Delhi accompanied by twelve of his followers, where some 5,000 people were gathered. Before the debate started, there was a discussion on the conditions, which led to the conclusion that the debate should not be upon the death of Jesus, but upon the claims of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. He explained that his claim could only be discussed after the death of Jesus was proven, for Jesus was considered by many to be living and the one who will descend to Earth himself. Only when this belief was refuted could his claim to be the Messiah be discussed.

Upon this, there was a clamour among the crowds, and Ahmad was informed that the other party alleged that he was at odds with Islamic beliefs and was a disbeliever; therefore, it was not proper to debate with him unless he clarified his beliefs. Ahmad wrote his beliefs on a piece of paper and had it read aloud, but due to the clamour among the people, it could not be heard. Seeing that the crowd was drifting out of control and that violence was imminent, the police superintendent gave orders to disperse the audience, and the debate did not take place. A few days later, however, a written debate did take place between Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and Maulwi Muhammad Bashir of Bhopal, which was later published.

Ghulam Ahmad is known to have travelled extensively across Northern India during this period of his life and to have held various debates with influential religious leaders.^[25]

Challenge to opponents[link]

Ahmad published a book called The Heavenly Decree, in which he challenged his opponents to a "spiritual duel" in which the question of whether someone was a Muslim or not would be settled by God based on the four criteria laid out in the Qur'an, namely, that a perfect believer will frequently receive glad tidings from God, that he will be given awareness about hidden matters and events of the future from God, that most of his prayers will be fulfilled and that he will exceed others in understanding novel finer points, subtleties and deeper meanings of the Qur'an.^[26]

The sun and moon eclipse[link]

After announcing his claim to be the Messiah and Mahdi, his opponents demanded that he should produce the "heavenly sign" detailed in the tradition attributed to the 7th-century Imam Muhammad al-Baqir,^[27] also known as Muhammad bin Ali, in which it is stated about the appearance of the Mahdi:^[28]

For our Mahdi there are two signs which have never appeared before since the creation of the heavens and the earth, namely the moon will be eclipsed on the first night in Ramadhan and the sun will be eclipsed on the middle day in the same month of Ramadhan, and these signs have not appeared since God created the heavens and the earth.

— Dar Qutni Vol. 1, page 188

Ahmadis maintain that this prophecy was fulfilled in 1894/1895, about three years after Ghulam Ahmad proclaimed himself to be the Promised Mahdi and Messiah, with the lunar and solar eclipse during the month of Ramadhan. Ghulam Ahmad declared that this was a sign of his truth and was in fulfilment of the tradition or prophecy.^[29]

The occurrence has, however, faced some criticism, with critics of Ahmad asserting that this was a weak tradition with unreliable narrators, one that cannot be traced back to Muhammad himself,^[30] and that such eclipses have taken place before. Ahmadis however argue that such eclipses have never taken place as a sign for the truth of any person, and that this sign being mentioned in other religious scriptures such as the Bible^[31] and the Qur'an^[32] and the fact that it actually took place while there was a claimant further enhances the reliability of the tradition.

The eclipses being a sign of the Mahdi are also mentioned specifically in the Letters of Rabbani by Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi, who is considered to be Mujaddid Alf Thānī, meaning the "reviver of the second millennium" (of Islam).^[33]

Lawsuit[link]

In 1897, a Christian missionary, Henry Martyn Clarke, filed a lawsuit of attempted murder against Ahmad at the court of District Magistrate Captain William Douglas in the city of Ludhiana. The charge laid against him was that he hired a man by the name of Abdul Hameed to assassinate Clarke. However, he was not detained by the police and was declared innocent by the then-Magistrate Captain Douglas.^[34][35]

Ahmad was offered permission to sue the plaintiff. However, he declined to do so, stating that Clarke will be answerable to God.

The Revealed Sermon[link]

In 1900, on the occasion of the festival of Eid ul-Adha, he is said to have delivered an hour-long sermon extempore in Arabic expounding the meaning and philosophy of sacrifice. This episode is celebrated as one of the important events of the history of Ahmadiyya. The sermon was simultaneously written down by two of his companions and came to be known as the Khutba Ilhamiyya, the revealed or inspired sermon. Ahmadiyya literature states that during this sermon, there was a change in his voice, he appeared as if in a trance, in the grip of an unseen hand, and as if a voice from the unknown had made him its mouthpiece. After the sermon ended, Ahmad fell into prostration, followed by the rest of the congregation, as a sign of gratitude towards God.^[36]

Ahmad wrote later:

It was like a hidden fountain gushing forth and I did not know whether it was I who was speaking or an angel was speaking through my tongue. The sentences were just being uttered and every sentence was a sign of God for me.

— Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Haqeeqatul-Wahi^[37]

The Lahore controversy with Pir Meher Ali Shah[link]

Pir Meher Ali Shah of Golra Sharif is recognised by some as the person at the forefront in striving to bring Ghulam Ahmad and his movement down.^{[citation needed]} He penned the book on the "apostasy" of Ahmad titled Sayf-e-Chishtia.^{[citation needed]} Meher Ali was one of the spiritual leaders whom Ghulam Ahmad had challenged collectively to a "prayer duel". On 20 July 1900, Ghulam Ahmad issued a poster in which he proposed a gathering at Lahore to hold a written contest in Arabic^{[citation needed]} consisting of writing a commentary on forty verses (selected by ballot) of the Qur'an after invoking divine assistance.

According to the poster, the commentaries were to be written within seven hours and in the presence of witnesses, without the assistance of a book or any person. An hour was to be given for preparation. The commentaries were to span at least twenty pages, purely in Arabic. After their completion and signatures by the contestants, they were to be read out to three learned persons for adjudication, nominated and seen to by Meher Ali Shah. After listening to the two commentaries, the judges would pronounce on solemn triple oath which one was superior and written "with Divine endorsement".^[38]

Pir Meher Ali Shah accepted the challenge to such a contest, provided that first an oral debate take place between him and Ghulam Ahmad on the issue of his claims. Ghulam Ahmad refused to debate. Ahmad's followers claim that he had categorically vowed in Anjam-e-Atham not to engage in any more debates, as he judged them ineffective at convincing the religious clergy to reform (the reason why he had challenged Meher Ali Shah to such a decisive contest in the first place and not to a debate); rather, he would invoke God for divine intervention by holding such contests or "prayer duels", which he called Ejazi-Muqabala, or "miraculous contest", between him and his opponents, primarily Christian missionaries and Muslim scholars and divines.^[25]

This remains a point of contention between the followers of Ghulam Ahmad and those of Pir Meher Ali Shah. According to the followers of Meher Ali Shah, he travelled to Lahore, as per Ghulam Ahmad's proposal, where a large gathering of scholars and laymen had collected, and according to followers of Ghulam Ahmad, did so without notice. Ghulam Ahmad did not show up. Ahmadis argue that the condition of oral debate proposed by Meher Ali Shah was an indirect refusal of Ghulam Ahmad's challenge and a deliberate attempt to trap him, for if he had accepted, he would have broken his promise with God by engaging in debates, but if he had declined, it would have been assumed that Meher Ali Shah was victorious and Ghulam Ahmad had withdrawn. Followers of Meher Ali Shah contend that he accepted the challenge even without the condition of oral debate, but Ghulam Ahmad failed to turn up.^[38]

Ghulam Ahmad later issued another poster describing his beliefs and requesting a written response from the Pir.^{[citation needed]} Later, he published an advertisement proposing a battle of written commentary on the opening chapter of the Quran to settle their dispute. The two commentaries would be printed and published in book form within seventy days. A price of Rs.500 would be paid to Mehr Ali Shah if his commentary was adjudged by three scholars to be superior or equal to that of Ghulam Ahmad.^[38] The party failing to write and publish the proposed commentary within the stated period would be regarded as a liar, and no further proof for that purpose would be needed. Ghulam Ahmad published his planned commentary under the title Ijaz-ul-Masih (Miracle of the Massiah).

As per the challenge, Per Meher Ali Shah was to write a commentary on the opening chapter of the Quran in Arabic. However, instead, Per Mehr Ali wrote a book in Urdu named Saif-e-Chishtiyyi.^[39]

Slogan[link]

Challenge to John Alexander Dowie[link]

In 1899, Scottish-born American clergyman John Alexander Dowie laid claim to be the forerunner of the second coming of Christ. Ghulam Ahmad exchanged a series of letters with him between 1903 and 1907. Ghulam Ahmad challenged him to a prayer duel, where both would call upon God to expose the other as a false prophet. Ghulam Ahmad stated:

The best way to determine whether Dowie's God is true or ours, is that Mr. Dowie should stop making prophecies about the destruction of all Muslims. Instead he should keep me alone in his mind and pray that if one of us is fabricating a lie, he should die before the other.

— Ghulam Ahmad, ^[40]

Dowie declined the challenge,^[41] calling Mirza Ghulam Ahmad the "silly Mohammedan Messiah".^{[citation needed]}Ghulam Ahmad prophesied:

Though he may try hard as he can to fly from death which awaits him, yet his flight from such a contest will be nothing less than death to him; and calamity will certainly overtake his Zion, for he must bear the consequences either of the acceptance of the challenge or its refusal. He will depart this life with great sorrow and torment during my lifetime.

^{[citation needed]}

The challenge of "prayer duel" was made by Mirza in September 1902. The Dictionary of American Biography states that after having been deposed during a revolt in which his own family was involved, Dowie endeavoured to recover his authority via the law courts without success and that he may have been a victim of some form of mania, as he suffered from hallucinations during his last illness.^[42] Dowie died before Mirza, in March of 1907.

Encounter with the Agapemonites[link]

In September 1902, a man by the name of Rev. John Hugh Smyth-Pigott proclaimed himself the Messiah and also claimed to be God while preaching in the Church of the Ark of the Covenant in Clapton, London. This church was originally built by the Agapemonites, a religious movement founded by the Anglican priest Henry James Prince.^[43]

When the news of his claim reached India, Mufti Muhammad Sadiq, a disciple of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was informed of it and wrote to Pigott informing him of the claim of Ahmad and requesting more information about his own claim. Pigott did not reply directly, but a letter was received from his secretary along with two advertisements, one carrying the title "The Ark of Noah". When the advertisements and letter were read out in the presence of Ahmad, he replied:

Logic is respected and lasts but irrational thought loses its innovativeness in the space of a few lines. Now our Noah's Ark will overpower the false one. The Europeans used to say that false Messiahs are about to come, so first these false prophets and Messiahs stepped out in London. After this the voice of the true Messiah will reach London. It is also recorded in the Ahadith that the Anti-Christ will claim Godhead and Prophethood for himself, so this Nation has also fulfilled this manifestly. Dowie is claiming to be a Prophet in America and Pigott is claiming to be God in London and calls himself God.

— Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, 'Malfoozat, Vol.4, 11 November 1902

After having prayed about Pigott, Ahmad claimed to have seen in a dream "some books on which was written three times: Holy, Holy, Holy" followed by a revelation:

Allah is severe in retribution. They are not acting righteously.

— Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, 'Tazkirah, pg. 531

Ahmad issued an advertisement forewarning Pigott of the "Punishment that awaits him" if he did not repent of his irreverent claim, which is said to have been widely publicised in English newspapers. It is said that thenceforth, Pigott became silent and did not repeat his claim. He left London and retreated to a small village in Somerset, changed his name, seeking a life of anonymity, and was defrocked by the Anglican Church following the birth of three sons from one of his many spiritual brides. He eventually died in March 1927.^[43]

The White Minaret[link]

The White Minaret at Qadian

According to Islamic tradition, Jesus, upon his second advent, would descend with or near a White Minaret disputably to the east of Damascus or in the eastern side of Damascus.^[44] Ghulam Ahmad argued that this Hadith does not explain whether the minaret will be within the eastern side of Damascus or to the eastern side of the city. According to him, this prophecy was fulfilled with his advent in Qadian, a town situated to the east of Damascus, and the significance of the minaret symbolic. The minaret, according to him, symbolised the spread of the "light of Islam", its message reaching far and wide, and the "supremacy of Islam", which was to tower up as it were like a minaret in the time of the promised one. The prophecy is also believed to be pointing to an age of enlightenment and one where there are numerous facilities for communication and transport, thereby making conveyance and proselytising easier. This was reflective of the physical purpose that minarets were used in medieval Islamic societies, the efficient communication of the call to prayer to a wider audience in the locality.^[45] Ghulam Ahmad claimed that God had revealed to him:

Step forth, that your time has Arrived and the feet of the people of Muhammad have been firmly planted on a high tower. Holy Muhammad, the chosen one, Chief of the Prophets.

— Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, 'Tadhkirah, pg. 444

In 1903, Ahmad laid the foundation of a minaret to commemorate the prophecy. This, according to him, will represent the physical as well as spiritual aspects of Islam with a light and a clock fixed on its top symbolising the "light of Islam" spreading far and wide and "so man will recognize his time", and a Muezzin to give the call to prayer five times a day symbolising an invitation to Islam. The construction of this minaret was completed in 1916 and has since become a symbol and distinctive mark in Ahmadiyyat.

Heavenly Graveyard[link]

Ahmad mentioned the establishment of a "Heavenly Graveyard" (Bahishti Maqbara)^[46] under divine commandment in his booklet Al-Wasiyyat (The Will). It is stated that in a spiritual vision, Ahmad was shown a plot of land called "Bahishti Maqbara", containing the graves of such members of his community who are destined to be in heaven. In order to fulfill this vision, Ahmad donated a parcel of his land in Qadian for those members of the community who fulfilled certain conditions:^[47]

• Whoever desires to be buried in this graveyard should contribute towards the expenses of its maintenance according to his capacity.
• Whoever desires to be buried therein should make a testamentary disposition that one tenth of his property shall, under direction of the Movement, be devoted to the propagation of Islam, and carrying out the teachings of the Quran. It will be open to every righteous person whose faith is perfect to provide for this purpose in his will more than one tenth, but it shall not be less.
• Whoever shall lead a righteous life and abstain from all that is prohibited and shall not do anything that amounts to association of something with God or to innovation in the faith. He should be a true and sincere Muslim. (Al-Wasiyyat, pp. 16–19)

Over time, the cemetery in Qadian has expanded, while another one was established in Rabwah, Pakistan, after the partition of India. Established under the direction Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad, the second Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the cemetery in Rabwah has over 10,000 graves.^[48]

Last journey[link]

Towards the end of 1907 and early 1908, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claimed to have received numerous revelations informing him of his imminent death. In April 1908, he travelled to Lahore with his family and companions. Here, he gave many lectures. A banquet was arranged for dignitaries where Ghulam Ahmad, upon request, spoke for some two hours explaining his claims, teachings and speaking in refutation of objections raised against his person; here, he preached reconciliation between Hindus and Muslims. He completed writing his last work, entitled Message of Peace,^[49] a day before his death.^[50]

Death[link]

While he was in Lahore at the home of Dr. Syed Muhammad Hussain (who was also his physician), Mirza Ghulam Ahmad fell ill from excessive weakness.^[51] His body was subsequently taken to Qadian and buried there.^[52][53] A few years before his death, Ahmad claimed to have received several prophecies relating to his upcoming death.^[54] '

Marriages and children[link]

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad with his son, Mirza Sharif Ahmad

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad married twice. His first wife was his paternal cousin Hurmat Bibi. Later, they separated and lived separately for a long time. At the time of his second marriage, Hurmat Bibi gave him the permission to live with the second wife and decided against a divorce.

Children[link]

With his first wife, Hurmat Bibi, he had two sons:

1. Mirza Sultan Ahmad (1853–1931)
2. Mirza Fazal Ahmad (1855–1904)

With his second wife, Nusrat Jehan Begum, he had ten children:

Five children died young:

1. Ismat (1886–1891)
2. Bashir (1887–1888)
3. Shaukat (1891–1892)
4. Mirza Mubarik Ahmad (1899–1907)
5. Amtul Naseer (1903–1903)

Five children lived longer:

1. Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad (1889–1965)
2. Mirza Bashir Ahmad (1893–1963)
3. Mirza Sharif Ahmad (1895–1961)
4. (Nawab) Mubarika Begum (1897–1977)
5. (Nawab) Sahiba Amtul Hafeez Begum (1904–1987)

Legacy[link]

One of the main sources of dispute during his lifetime and continuing since then is Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's use of the terms Nabi ("prophet") and Rasool ("messenger") when referring to himself. Muslims consider the prophet Muhammad to be the last of the prophets^[55] and believe that Ahmad's use of these terms is a violation of not only the rudimentary concept of the finality of prophethood, but the Qur'an itself.^[56] His followers fall into two camps in this regards. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community believe in a literal interpretation of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's prophethood (with some qualifications)^[57] and is currently headed by Ahmad's fifth Caliph, or successor, carrying the title of Khalifatul Masih, an institution believed to have been established soon after Ahmad's death. The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement believe in an allegorical interpretation of these two terms and is administered by a body of people called the Anjuman Ishat-e-Islam ("movement for the propagation of Islam"), headed by an Emir.^[58] This, among other reasons, caused a split in the movement soon after Ahmad's death.

Followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad are considered non-Muslims in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and have faced relentless persecution of various types over the years.^[59] In 1974, the Pakistani parliament amended the Pakistani constitution to declare Ahmadis as non-Muslims for purposes of the constitution of the Islamic Republic.^[60] In 1984, a series of changes in the Pakistan Penal Code sections relating to blasphemy were made, which, in essence, made it illegal for Ahmadis to preach their creed, leading to arrests and prosecutions. However, no one has been executed yet, even though it is allowed under the law.

In 2007, the Ahmadiyya were banned from practising their faith openly in the state of Belarus and given a similar status to other banned religious groups in the country.^[61]

Relative to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, some mainstream Muslim opinion towards the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement has been more accepting,^[62] with the Lahore Ahmadiyya literature finding easier compatibility with Orthodox Muslims^[63][64] and some Orthodox Muslim scholars considering the members of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement as Muslims.^[62]

A number of modern Muslim scholars and Muslim intellectuals seem to conform to the idea of peaceful Jihad as a struggle for reform through civil means, in accordance with Mirza Ghulam Ahmed's standpoint on the issue. Furthermore, some Islamic scholars have opined that Jesus has died (Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's assertion) or expressed their own confusion on this matter,^[65][66][67] though the majority orthodox position of most Muslims with regard to this issue has not changed.

Views[link]

Different scholars had different views on him.

• Maulvi Muhammad Hussein of Batala who was a significant leader of Ahl-e-Hadith sect. He was one of his key opponents and his fellow from youth on the writing of Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya that in his journal.^[68][69]

The writer of this book from the practicaland theoretical observation of followers and enemies is religiously on the path of Sharia of Muhammad and is verily truthful.

• Maulvi Sirajuddin, who is father of Zafar Ali Khan in his newspaper Zamindar on the death of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad wrote.^[70]

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(1860–1861) had lived in Sialkot. He will be of age 22 and 23. We are an eye witness to say that he was pious and saint in his youth.

• Molvi Noor Mohammad Naqshbandi had his praised contributions for Islam and against Christians.^[71]

Criticism[link]

This section has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. It may contain original research. Tagged since September 2010. It may contain previously unpublished synthesis of published material that conveys ideas not attributable to the original sources. Tagged since September 2010. It contains weasel words: vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. Tagged since September 2010.

Due to the nature of his claims and teachings, he had been a subject of criticism throughout his life and has been ever since his death. He and his movement are still regarded by most Muslim scholars as kuffar (unbelievers) and as guilty for an attempted schism in Islam.^[72]

Ahmadis believe that Mirza Ghulahm Ahmad's writings are taken completely out of context by critics. For example, critics may show parts of writing that support their view, but fail to show the parts of writing that contradict their view.

Relationship with the British[link]

Many orthodox Muslims feel that Ghulam Ahmad was aided in his mission by the British government, whose stated policy of "divide and rule" was expressed in their approval of Ahmad's introducing a dissident faction within Islam.^[73] Ghulam Ahmad is criticised by the orthodox Muslims for his support of the British Government in India and maintain that he and his associates went on publishing in favour of British control and even tried to convince Muslims in other Muslim countries that a British government would be in their favour. It is alleged that he had collaborated with the British against Muslims.^[74] They give reference to one of his books in which he said:

[…] The service that has been rendered on my part, in favour of the English government is that I have published fifty thousand books, magazines and posters and distributed them in this and other Islamic countries […] It is as a result of my endeavors that thousands of people have given up thoughts of Jihad which had been propounded by ill-witted mullahs and embedded in the minds of the people. I can rightly feel proud of this that no other Muslim in British India can equal me in this respect […]

— ^[75]

His followers reject this criticism and point out that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was constantly engaged in controversies with the British missionaries. Western historians have recorded this effort as one of the features of Ahmad's legacy.^[76] Francis Robinson states:

At their most extreme religious strategies for dealing with the Christian presence might involve attacking Christian revelation at its heart, as did the Punjabi Muslim, Ghulam Ahmad (d. 1908), who founded the Ahmadiyya missionary sect.

His followers also say that Ahmad openly supported the British government in India, and therefore, his critics' consideration of this being tantamount to "conspiring" with the British is baseless.^[77] They further argue that his open support for the British was on account of the religious freedom the British extended to the Muslims, as opposed to the preceding Sikh rule in Punjab wherein Muslims were persecuted and their religious freedom curtailed,^[78] and that one of the reasons for his expression of loyalty towards the British was due to him being repeatedly presented as a threat and danger to the government with rebellious intent by his opponents such as Maulvi Muhammad Hussein, who warned the government in the following words:^[79]

His deception is proved by the fact that in his heart he considers it lawful to put an end to the authority of a non-Muslim government and to plunder its belongings […] Therefore, it would not be proper on the part of the Government to rely on him and it would be necessary to be aware of him, otherwise such harm might be suffered at the hands of this Mahdi of Qadian as was experienced at the hands of the Sudanese Mahdi.

— Ishaatus Sunnah, Vol. VI, 1893

It is also pointed out by them that some prominent mainstream Muslim leaders of the time had also openly expressed similar sentiments for the British rule for the same reasons.^[80] Such leaders included Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Maulvi Muhammad Hussain Batalvi, Deputy Nazir Ahmad and members of Anjuman Himayat-i-Islam.^[81] Furthermore, the famous founders of the Muslim League had also expressed similar sentiments of loyalty to the British Government at around the same time as Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.^[82] In summary, the followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad contend that his views towards the British rulers at the time were the same as those of numerous other well-regarded Muslim leaders of the same time.^[83]

Termination of Jihad[link]

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's critics^[who?] allege that he had terminated Jihad, which is an important Islamic requirement, to appease the British. His followers,^[who?] however, argue that he never terminated Jihad, in the broader sense of the word, but only forbade using Jihad as a pretext to fight against a government that gives freedom of religion. An official British government report of 1901 states:

It is also interesting to notice that there is at the present time in Northern India a religious teacher of the name of Ghulam Ahmed who claims to be the Mahdi or Messiah expected by Muhammadans and Christians alike, and has obtained a considerable number of followers in the United Provinces, the Punjab and Sind. He »repudiates the doctrine of Jihád with the sword«, and regards as absolutely unlawful wars undertaken for the propagation of religion.

— Report on the Census of India, 1901, page 373^[84]

Ahmad wrote:

Behold! I have come to you people with a directive that henceforth jihad with the sword has come to an end but jihad for the purification of your souls still remains. This injunction is not from me but rather it is the will of God.

— British Government and Jihad, pg. 15^[85]

According to Ahmad this age did not require defending Islam by the sword but that the Jihad of this age was to be carried out by preaching and defending Islam by speech and by the pen. In another place he writes:

The Jihad of this age is to strive in upholding the word of Islam, to refute the objections of the opponents, to propagate the excellences of the Islamic faith, and to proclaim the truth of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, throughout the world. This is Jihad till God Almighty brings about other conditions in the world.

— ^[86]

Plagiarism[link]

Ghulam Ahmad has been accused^{[by whom?]} of plagiarising, and altering the words of Arab linguists to appear as his own. He claimed that his book Hujjatullah [Convincing Proof from God] was of superior Arabic. However, his critics allege that several sentences and paragraphs in this text are taken directly without alteration, from Maqamat al-Hariri, the best known poetry collection of the Arabic scholar and poet Al-Hariri of Basra.^{[citation needed]} For this reason, his claim to divine instruction in Arabic is not accepted in Islamic Orthodoxy^{[citation needed]}. Ahmadis, however, claim^{[citation needed]} that the alleged instances of plagiarism are not true because Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had deliberately inserted the writings of Al-Hariri with his own and then openly declared that he had done as such as a challenge to his critics to compare and separate the two. His followers claim that as clearly stated by him in the beginning of his book Hujjatullah^[87] it was only after his use of Arabic was labelled inadequate, ungrammatical and 'unchaste' by his opponents that Ghulam Ahmad deliberately amalgamated his own writings with that of Al-Hariri's in order to expose his adversaries; whom he called upon to distinguish between his writings and that of Al-Hariri’s. Ghulam Ahmad stated:

Thus the method which will free the people from his deception is that we present to him paragraphs from our writing and some other paragraphs from the writings of a great Arab writer while concealing the names of the authors, and then call upon him to tell us which paragraph out of this is ours and which is theirs, if you are truthful. Then if he recognises my sayings and theirs and distinguishes between them as between a shell and its kernel, then we shall give him fifty rupees as a reward.

— Hujjatulla, pg. 4–5

Disrespect of Jesus[link]

Following are few excerpts from his writings, based on which Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is accused of disrespecting Jesus.

(Jesus) had the habit of uttering obscenities and frequently using foul language. (Zamima Anjam-e-Atham, Roohani Khazain , Vol 11, p.289 )

It should be remembered that he (Jesus) had also to some extent the habit of lying. (Zamima Anjam Atham, Roohani Khazain Vol 11, p.289)

A cunning and wicked (person) who had the soul of the Messiah from head to toe. (Zamimah Anjam Atham, Roohani Khazain Vol 11, p. 289)

What is your opinion about the character of the Messiah? (it is that Jesus ) was an Alcoholic and Gluttonous person, neither Abstinent nor a Pious Worshipper, nor a Truth seeker. He was a Proud and a Self- conceited Claimant of Divinity. ((Nur-ul-Quran, Roohani Khazain Vol 9 p.387)

The root cause of all the damage that alcohol consumption has had on the Europeans was that Jesus used to drink alcohol, perhaps because of some disease or an old habit. (Kashti-e-Nooh, Roohani Khazain vol 19 p.71)

Once a friend advised me that opium is good for diabetes so there is no harm in taking opium for the purpose of treatment. I replied , thank you very much for your sympathetic advice. But if I get into the habit taking opium I am afraid the people will mock that the first Messiah (Jesus) was an alcoholic and the second a drug addict. (Kashti-e-Nooh, Roohani Khazain vol 19 p.434)

Ahmadiyya Muslims believe that this allegation is wrong, and that this allegation is raised without properly considering the context. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad said

We inform our readers that our belief concerning Jesus is extremely noble. We most sincerely believe that he was a true prophet of Allah, and He loved him. As the Holy Qur’an tells us, we hold firm faith that he most sincerely believed in our lord and master prophet Muhammad Mustafa (may peace and blessings of Allah be on him) for his salvation, and that he was one of the hundreds of obedient servants of the Law of Moses. Therefore, we hold a great esteem for him in

accordance with his exalted status.

(Nur-ul-Qur’an, Part 2, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 9, p. 374.)

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad responded to allegations as follows:

“You say that I have, as if, insulted Hadrat Masih (the Messiah) to some extent by using an abusive word with reference to him. This is a misunderstanding of yours. I believe Hadrat Masih to be a true prophet, a chosen one and beloved servant of God. What I said in retaliation was in keeping with your own faith. Hence it is you, not me, who stand accused of the accusation

that you level at me

(Jange Muqadas page 170)

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad also said

“When we are deeply hurt and unjustified attacks of all kinds are made on our Holy Prophet Muhammad, only then,as a warning, we retaliate in kind on the basis of their (Christians’) own authentic books. … they ought to point out in my writings any thing which I have written as a retaliatory response and it is not found in the Gospels. After all it is not possible for me, that on hearing the insult of the Holy Prophet, I remain silent. (Malfuzat, Vol. 9, page 479, edition 1961)

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad published a poster on 20 December 1895, and explained his position as follows:

“Everywhere in my writing I (referring to Christ) have meant the supposed Jesus of the Christians; and the humble servant of God, ‘Isa bin Maryam , who was a prophet of God and who is mentioned in the Holy Qur’an is certainly never intended in my harsh comments. I adopted this path after constantly listening to the abuses of padres for the last forty years. Some ignorant mullahs—who should better be called blind and sightless— excuse the padres and say that they, the poor, helpless fellows, do not utter a word (against the Holy Prophet), nor are they in the least disrespectful to him. But it must be borne in mind that in reality it is the padres who are in the forefront in displaying contempt, hurling insults and shouting abuses. I have a stockpile of books by those padres who have filled their writings with hundreds of abuses. Any mullah who wishes should come and see for himself. And let it be remembered that if in future any padre, shunning the ways of abuse, speaks politely, I, too, shall be polite with him. At present they themselves are responsible for the attacks on their Jesus for under no circumstances they refrain from abuse and vituperation. We are sick of listening to them.” (Nur-ul-Qur’an, Part 2, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 9, page 375)

^[88][89]

See also[link]

• Yuz Asaf
• Mohammadi Begum
• List of founders of religious traditions
• List of people who have claimed to be Jesus
• Khalifatul Masih
• People claiming to be the Mahdi
• Seal of the prophets

Literature[link]

• Yohanan Friedmann, Prophecy Continuous – Aspects of Ahmadi Religious Thought and Its Medieval Background; Oxford University Press (2003) ISBN 965-264-014-X
• Jesus in India, Ahmadiyya Muslim Foreign Mission Department, 1978, ISBN 978-1-85372-723-8; Original Masih Hindustan Mein, Oriental & Religious Publications Ltd., Rabwah (Online)
• The Essence of Islam, Islam International Publications, Ltd.; 2nd edition (2004), ISBN 1-85372-765-2
• Teachings of Islam, Kessinger Publishing (August 2003), ISBN 978-0-7661-7614-0
• The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam, The London Mosque Publishing, 1979
• Iain Adamson: Ahmad, The Guided One, Islam International Publications, 2000
• S. R. Valentine, 'Islam & the Ahmadiyya Jama'at', Hurst & Co, London/New York, 2008

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mirza Ghulam Ahmad

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Mirza Ghulam Ahmad

• Official Website of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community
• Official Website of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement
• Complete List of the Works of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
• Islam-Ahmadiyya specifically caters to an Arabic-speaking audience. Like Al Islam itself, Islam-Ahmadiyya is home to a wide variety of content including books, articles and multimedia content.
• How To Distinguish Between A True Prophet And A False Prophet – Truthfulness of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani (as) according to Holy Qur'an.

v t e Ahmadiyya topics Beliefs and practices Five Pillars of Islam Six articles of faith Qur'an Hadith Sunnah Distinct views Prophethood Jesus Jihad Evolution Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Prophecies Claims Writings Death Literature Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam Jesus in India Noor-ul-Haq Victory of Islam Malfoozat Tafseer-e-Kabeer Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Successors of the Messiah: I II III IV V Jalsa Salana Mosques MTA International Miscellaneous Persecution Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Category:Ahmadiyya Portal:Ahmadiyya

Shaikh Ghulam Ahmad (23 May 1923 – 20 September 2003) was a Pakistan Air Force engineer officer, fighter pilot and military engineer who formed Resources Company Limited, a holding company that promotes resource development in Pakistan. He was Managing Director and former chairman of Pakistan Chrome Mines Ltd., the largest and oldest chrome mining company in Pakistan.^[1]

He wrote Unique and Everliving, a biography of prophet Muhammad. The book was written over a period of five years. The book is published by Ferozeson's Ltd., a book publisher in Pakistan.^[2][3]

Life and Education[link]

He was born in the city of Poonch, in Poonch District of Kashmir, on 23 May 1923. He was educated in Poonch at a school where his father, Shaikh Ghulam Rasul, was the headmaster. He migrated to Pakistan, from Kashmir along with his family. Before partition of India, his father was Head Master of High School in Poonch, while his younger brother Ghulam Rabani graduated in law from Aligarh University. Shaikh Ghulam Rabani, migrated to Pakistan and was appointed as a district court Judge. Later Shaikh Ghulam Rabani joined the Pakistan Foreign Service and served as Pakistans' Ambassador to numerous countries in Asia and North Africa including, Tunisia, North Korea and Romania. He married to Jamila Begum at Rehara, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan on 11 May 1949. He had three sons and two daughters, he received a B.Sc (honours) degree in Physics and a Masters in Statistics from the University of Punjab in Lahore. He received a Postgraduate Diploma in Natural Resource Development ITC, Delft, Holland and completed postgraduate studies for a Ph. D in Civil Engineering at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado.

His grand father fought along with Tipu Sultan against the British East India Company. While his father Shaikh Ghulam Rasul was the head master of the Middle School in Poonch and Rawalakot. His father-in law fought against the Nazis in North Africa and Europe.

Family[link]

Mr. Ahmad had three sons and two daughters, His daughter Dr. Rehana Kausar MD was the first woman doctor from Rawalakot. His other daughter is also a Doctor while his three sons are engineers. His youngest son was a US Army officer and later a metallurgical and Petroleum Engineer. His grandson, a Captain was awarded the Purple Heart for his military service as a United States Army Officer in Iraq.

He had three brothers, Shaikh Ghulam Rabbani, was the Ambassador of Pakistan to North Korea, Tunisia and Romania. Shaikh Gilani Kamran, was a Professor of English Literature at Government College Lahore and an author who wrote over 35 books and his youngest brother Saeed Ahmad was a Pakistani Businessman.

Military career[link]

Ghulam Ahmad Royal Indian Air Force

Ghulam Ahmad
Ft.Lt. Ghulam Ahmad flew Hawker Hurricanes during World War II as an Royal Indian Air Force fighter pilot.
Allegiance	British India  Pakistan
Service/branch	Indian Air Force  Pakistan Air Force
Years of service	1947-1948
Rank	Flight Lieutenant
Unit	No. 1 Squadron, Indian Air Force No. 9 Squadron Griffins, P. A. F.
Battles/wars	World War II Burma Campaign Indo-Pakistani War of 1947
Other work	Educationist, Military advisor, and an environmental scientist

He joined the Royal Indian Air Force as a Fighter Pilot in the No. 1 Squadron, Indian Air Force. He fought against the Japanese Imperial Army in Burma during World War II, flying in a Hawker Hurricane fighter plane.

Ground Subject Cup RIAF

Academic career[link]

He was selected for the Forest Service after World War II and trained at the Forest Research Institute at Dehradun, India. After partition of India and Pakistan he joined the Pakistan Forest Service, becoming the Chief Conservator of Forests and Director of the Aerial Survey Project in Peshawar, Pakistan, where he surveyed the North-West Frontier Province for a Natural Resources Survey from 1965-1969. He introduced hybrid poplars in Pakistan, including Azad Kashmir, and especially Rawalakot, changing the living conditions of the rural population.

He supervised an aerial survey of the Indus River Basin for the development of natural resources. He emigrated to United States in August 1971 to complete a PhD in Civil Engineering at Colorado State University. After retiring from the Pakistani Forest Service, Ahmad joined the Colorado Department of Military Affairs, where he helped to draft the Emergency Response Plan for the State of Colorado. From 1983 until 1999 he was the Managing Director of Pakistan Chrome Mines Ltd.

Philanthropy[link]

He gave scholarships for education to residents of Poonch District. He died on September 20, 2003, at the age of 80 in New Jersey.

He was buried at his favourite place on earth, his apple orchard in Rawalakot, Azad Kashmir. His family, especially his daughter Dr. Rehana Kausar, continues giving scholarships for academic excellence, in Mr. Ahmad's name, for students studying science in Rawalakot, Azad Kashmir.

See also[link]

• List of Kashmiris

References[link]

The Scarlet Pimpernel
1908 edition
Author(s)	Baroness Emmuska Orczy
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Adventure, Historical novel
Publisher	Hutchinson
Publication date	1905
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	319 pp
ISBN	NA
Preceded by	The First Sir Percy
Followed by	Sir Percy Leads the Band

The Scarlet Pimpernel is a play and adventure novel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, set during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution. The story is a precursor to the "disguised superhero" tales such as Zorro and Batman.

The play was produced and adapted by Julia Neilson and Fred Terry. It first opened on 15 October 1903 at Nottingham’s Theatre Royal; it was not a success. Terry, however, had confidence in the play and, with a rewritten last act, took it to London where it opened at the New Theatre on 5 January 1905. The premiere of the London production was enthusiastically received by the audience, but critics considered the play 'old-fashioned.' In spite of negative reviews, the play became a popular success, running 122 performances and enjoying numerous revivals. The Scarlet Pimpernel became a favourite of London audiences, playing more than 2,000 performances and becoming one of the most popular shows staged in England to that date.^{[citation needed]}

The novel was published soon after the play's opening and was an immediate success. Orczy gained a following of readers in Britain and throughout the world. The popularity of the novel encouraged her to write a number of sequels for her "reckless daredevil" over the next 35 years. The play was performed to great acclaim in France, Italy, Germany and Spain, while the novel was translated into 16 languages. Subsequently, the story has been adapted for television, film, a musical and other media.

The international success of The Scarlet Pimpernel allowed Orczy and her husband to live out their lives in luxury. Over the years, they lived on an estate in Kent, a bustling London home and an opulent villa in Monte Carlo. Orczy wrote in her autobiography, Links in the Chain of Life:

I have so often been asked the question: "But how did you come to think of The Scarlet Pimpernel?" And my answer has always been: "It was God's will that I should." And to you moderns, who perhaps do not believe as I do, I will say, "In the chain of my life, there were so many links, all of which tended towards bringing me to the fulfillment of my destiny."

Plot[link]

The Scarlet Pimpernel is set in 1792, during the early stages of the French Revolution. Marguerite St. Just, a beautiful French actress, is the wife of wealthy English fop Sir Percy Blakeney, a baronet. Before their marriage, Marguerite took revenge upon the Marquis de St. Cyr, who had ordered her brother to be beaten for his romantic interest in the Marquis' daughter, with the unintended consequence of the Marquis and his sons being sent to the guillotine. When Percy found out, he became estranged from his wife. Marguerite, for her part, became disillusioned with Percy's shallow, dandyish lifestyle.

Meanwhile, the "League of the Scarlet Pimpernel", a secret society of 20 English aristocrats, "one to command, and nineteen to obey", is engaged in rescuing their French counterparts from the daily executions (see Reign of Terror). Their leader, the mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel, takes his nickname from the drawing of a small red flower with which he signs his messages. Despite being the talk of London society, only his followers and possibly the Prince of Wales know the Pimpernel's true identity. Like many others, Marguerite is entranced by the Pimpernel's daring exploits.

At a ball attended by the Blakeneys, Percy's verse about the "elusive Pimpernel" makes the rounds and amuses the other guests. Meanwhile, Marguerite is blackmailed by the wily new French envoy to England, Citizen Chauvelin. Chauvelin's agents have stolen a letter incriminating her beloved brother Armand, proving that he is in league with the Pimpernel. Chauvelin offers to trade Armand's life for her help against the Pimpernel. Contemptuous of her seemingly witless and unloving husband, Marguerite does not go to him for help or advice. Instead, she passes along information which enables Chauvelin to learn the Pimpernel's true identity.

Later that night, Marguerite finally tells her husband of the terrible danger threatening her brother and pleads for his assistance. Percy promises to save him. After Percy unexpectedly leaves for France, Marguerite discovers to her horror that he is the Pimpernel. He had hidden behind the persona of a dull, slow-witted fop in order to deceive the world. He had not told Marguerite because of his worry that she might betray him, as she had the Marquis de St. Cyr. Desperate to save her husband, she decides to pursue Percy to France to warn him that Chauvelin knows his identity and his purpose. She persuades Sir Andrew Ffoulkes to accompany her, but because of the tide and the weather, neither they nor Chavelin can leave immediately.

At Calais, Percy openly approaches Chauvelin in a decrepit inn (the Chat gris), whose owner is in Percy's pay. Despite Chauvelin's best efforts, the Englishman manages to escape by throwing pepper in Chavelin's face. Through a bold plan executed right under Chauvelin's nose, Percy rescues Marguerite's brother Armand and the Comte de Tournay, the father of a schoolfriend of Marguerite's. Marguerite pursues Percy right to the very end, resolute that she must either warn him or share his fate. Percy, heavily disguised, is captured by Chauvelin, but he does not recognise him, and he is enabled to escape.

With Marguerite's love and courage amply proven, Percy's ardour is rekindled. Safely back on board their schooner, the Day Dream, the happily reconciled couple returns to England. Sir Andrew marries the Count's daughter, Suzanne.

Sequels[link]

Baroness Orczy wrote numerous sequels, none of which became as famous as The Scarlet Pimpernel. Many of the sequels revolve around French characters whom Sir Percy has met and is attempting to rescue. His followers, such as Lord Tony Dewhurst, Sir Andrew Ffoulkes, Lord Hastings and Armand St. Just (Marguerite's brother), also take their turn in major roles.

In addition to the direct sequels about Sir Percy and his league, Orczy's related books include The Laughing Cavalier (1914) and The First Sir Percy (1921), about an ancestor of the Pimpernel's; Pimpernel and Rosemary (1924), about a descendant; and The Scarlet Pimpernel Looks at the World (1933), a depiction of the 1930s world from the point of view of Sir Percy.

Some of her non-related Revolutionary-period novels reference the Scarlet Pimpernel or the League, most notably The Bronze Eagle (1915).

Members of the League[link]

• The original nine League or founder members who formed the party on August 2, 1792: Sir Andrew Ffoulkes (second in command), Lord Anthony Dewhurst, Lord Edward Hastings, Lord John Bathurst, Lord Stowmarries, Sir Edward Mackenzie, Sir Philip Glynde, Lord Saint Denys, Sir Richard Galveston
• Ten members enrolled on January, 1793: Sir Jeremiah Wallescourt, Lord Kulmstead, Lord George Fanshawe, Anthony Holte, John Hastings (Lord Edward's cousin), Lord Everingham, Sir George Vigor, Bart., The Hon. St. John Devinne, Michael Barstow of York, Armand St. Just (Marguerite's brother)
• Marguerite, Lady Blakeney, is also named as a member of the League in the book Mam'zelle Guillotine, but it is not known when she was formally enrolled.

Historical accuracy[link]

The Baroness's sympathies were plainly with the aristocracy and in truth, she was more interested in telling a good tale than in strict historical accuracy. To this end, Orczy frequently distorted real historical figures and events so they could be woven into the storylines of the books, placing the Scarlet Pimpernel and his league in the middle of the action.

In particular, the career of Chauvelin, the recurring villain of the series, is much altered; named Citizen Chauvelin in the books, in fact, Bernard-François, marquis de Chauvelin, survived the Revolutionary period to become an official under Napoleon I of France and a noted liberal Deputy under the Bourbon Restoration.

Other real life historical figures who crop up in the series include:

Scarlet Pimpernel publications[link]

Novels[link]

Anagallis arvensis, the Scarlet Pimpernel flower

• The Scarlet Pimpernel (play 1903, novel 1905)
• I Will Repay (1906)
• The Elusive Pimpernel (1908)
• Eldorado (1913)
• Lord Tony's Wife (1917)
• The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1922)
• Sir Percy Hits Back (1927)
• A Child of the Revolution (1932)
• The Way of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1933)
• Sir Percy Leads the Band (1936)
• Mam'zelle Guillotine (1940)

Collections of short stories[link]

• The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1919)
• Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1929)

Omnibus editions[link]

• The Scarlet Pimpernel etc. (1930) collection of four novels
• The Gallant Pimpernel (1939) collection of four novels
• The Scarlet Pimpernel Omnibus (1952) collection of four novels

Related books[link]

• The Laughing Cavalier (1913) (about an ancestor of the Scarlet Pimpernel)
• The First Sir Percy (1920) (about an ancestor of the Scarlet Pimpernel)
• Pimpernel and Rosemary (1924) (about a relation of the Scarlet Pimpernel)
• The Scarlet Pimpernel Looks at the World (1933)
• A Gay Adventurer A biography of Sir Percy Blakeney, Bart. (1935) (written by 'John Blakeney' pseud. (John Montagu Orczy Barstow))
• The Life and Exploits of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1938) (written by 'John Blakeney' pseud. (John Montagu Orczy Barstow) ) n.b. re-release of 'A Gay Adventurer'

Chronology[link]

Baroness Orczy did not publish her Pimpernel stories as a strict chronological series, and in fact, the settings of the books in their publication sequence can vary forward or backward in time by months or centuries. While some readers enjoy following the author's development of the Pimpernel character as it was realized, others prefer to read the stories in historical sequence. Taking into account occasional discrepancies in the dates of events (real and fictional) referred to in the stories, the following is an approximate chronological listing of Baroness Orczy's Scarlet Pimpernel novels and short stories:

Adaptations[link]

Hollywood took to the Pimpernel early and often, though most of the Pimpernel movies have been based on a melange of the original book and another Orczy novel, Eldorado. The most well-known of the Pimpernel movies is the 1934 The Scarlet Pimpernel starring Leslie Howard, considered the definitive adaptation.^{[citation needed]}

• The Scarlet Pimpernel (1917)
• The Laughing Cavalier (1917)
• The Elusive Pimpernel (1919)
• The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1928)
• The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934)
• Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1937)
• Pimpernel Smith (1941)
• Pimpernel Svensson (1950)
• The Elusive Pimpernel (1950) aka The Fighting Pimpernel — USA
• The Scarlet Pimpernel (1955–1956 British television series)
• The Scarlet Pimpernel (1960) (TV)
• Don't Lose Your Head (1966) aka Carry on Pimpernel — USA
• The Elusive Pimpernel (1969)
• The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982) (TV)
• The Scarlet Pimpernel (1987) (TV)
• The Scarlet Pimpernel (1997), a 1997 Broadway musical composed by Frank Wildhorn and written by Nan Knighton. The production starred Douglas Sills as Sir Percy Blakeney, Christine Andreas as Marguerite Blakeney, and Terrence Mann as Citizen Chauvelin.
• The Scarlet Pimpernel, two TV series of three episodes each (1999, 2000): "The Scarlet Pimpernel", "Valentin Gautier" [UK title]/"The Scarlet Pimpernel Meets Madame Guillotine" [US title], "The King's Ransom" [UK title]/"The Scarlet Pimpernel and the Kidnapped King" [US title], "Ennui", "Friends and Enemies", "A Good Name"). The BBC production, with Richard E. Grant in the title role and Martin Shaw as Chauvelin, took many liberties with the characters and plot, and was not well received by fans of the books.
• The Forecourt Pimpernel (2001) (TV)
• The Black Pimpernel (2006)
• The Scarlet Pimpernel (2010), a Broadway style Japanese adaptation, performed by the popular all-women's Takarazuka Revue in Osaka, Japan.

Parodies and media references[link]

The novel has been parodied or used as source material in a variety of media, such as films, TV, stage works, literature and games. It was parodied as a 1950 Warner Bros. cartoon short featuring Daffy Duck: "The Scarlet Pumpernickel". An action figure of the Scarlet Pumpernickel was released by DC Direct in 2006, making it one of the few — if not the only — toys produced based on the Pimpernel. The Scarlet Pimpernel was parodied extensively in the Carry On film Don't Lose Your Head which featured Sid James as the Black Fingernail who helps French aristocrats escape the guilotine while hiding behind the foppish exterior of British aristocrat Sir Rodney Ffing. It also features Jim Dale as his assistant, Lord Darcy. They must rescue preposterously effete aristocrat Charles Hawtrey from the clutches of Kenneth Williams' fiendish Citizen Camembert and his sidekick Citizen Bidet (Peter Butterworth).^[1] In The Court Jester, the baby heir to the throne has a birthmark known as "the purple pimpernel".

In 1987, the BBC sitcom Blackadder the Third included an episode, "Nob and Nobility", in which the Scarlet Pimpernel is praised by everyone except Mr. E. Blackadder, who sees nothing admirable in "filling London with a load of garlic-chewing French toffs... looking for sympathy all the time simply because their fathers had their heads cut off". The episode ends with Blackadder killing two noblemen claiming to be the Pimpernel and his partner. Prince George was about to give some money to the Pimpernel just before he died, so Blackadder claims to be the real Pimpernel in order to get the money. Other TV references include the series Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp, which had an episode entitled "The Scarlet Chimpernel". The title character has a fantasy where he is the Scarlet Pimpernel. The part of Marguerite is filled by Mata Hairi. The seventh episode of the 2007 season of the TV series Midsomer Murders, "They Seek Him Here", centers around a shooting of a remake of The Scarlet Pimpernel. Several episodes of the CBBC series ChuckleVision featured the Chuckle Brothers encountering the "Purple Pimple", aka Sir Percy, played by Barry Killerby.

In Moon Over Buffalo, the stage play by Ken Ludwig, the lead character, George, hoping to be cast by Frank Capra as the Scarlet Pimpernel. In The Desert Song, the heroic "Red Shadow" has a milquetoast alter ego modelled after The Scarlet Pimpernel.^[2] The Canadian comedy team of Wayne and Shuster created a comedy sketch in 1957 based on the Scarlet Pimpernel called "The Brown Pumpernickel" in which, instead of a red flower as his calling card, the hero would leave behind a loaf of pumpernickel.^[3][4]

Sir Percy and Marguerite are mentioned as members of an 18th century incarnation of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in the graphic novels of that title by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill and make a more significant appearance in The Black Dossier, in the accounts of both Orlando and Fanny Hill, with whom Percy and Marguerite are revealed to have been romantically involved. In the third book in the TimeWars series, The Pimpernel Plot, Sir Percy is killed in an accident at the beginning of his career as the Scarlet Pimpernel, and a time traveler must act the part of Sir Percy to preserve history. The Scarlet Pimpernel is a member of the Wold Newton family, a concept created by Philip Jose Farmer. In addition, a series of novels by Lauren Willig, beginning with The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (2005), chronicle the adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel's associates, including the Purple Gentian (alias of Lord Richard Selwick), spies in the Napoleonic era.^[5]

Steve Jackson Games published GURPS Scarlet Pimpernel, by Robert Traynor and Lisa Evans in 1991, a supplement for playing the milieu using the GURPS roleplaying game system.^[6] In the 1998 Wizards of the Coast game Guillotine, there is an action card named The Scarlet Pimpernel, which instantly ends the day after the next noble is collected.

Real-life tie-ins[link]

The Tartan Pimpernel[link]

Inspired by the title Scarlet Pimpernel, the Tartan Pimpernel was a nickname given to the Reverend Donald Caskie (1902–1983), formerly minister of the Paris congregation of the Church of Scotland, for aiding over 2,000 Allied service personnel to escape from occupied France during World War II.

The American Pimpernel[link]

Varian Fry was a 32-year-old Harvard-educated classicist and editor from New York City who helped save thousands of endangered refugees who were caught in Vichy France, helping them to escape from Nazi terror during World War II. His story is told in American Pimpernel — the Man Who Saved the Artists on Hitler's Death List.

The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican[link]

Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty was an Irish priest who saved thousands of people, British and American servicemen and Jews, during World War II while in the Vatican in Rome. His story is told in two books and a film:

• J. P. Gallagher (1968), Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican, New York: Coward-McCann
• Brian Fleming (2008), The Vatican Pimpernel: The Wartime Exploits of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, Collins Press
• The Scarlet and the Black, a 1983 made-for-TV movie starring Gregory Peck and Christopher Plummer

The Black Pimpernel[link]

Harald Edelstam (1913–1989) was a Swedish diplomat. During World War II, he earned the nickname Svarta nejlikan ("the Black Pimpernel") for helping Norwegian resistance fighters in Hjemmefronten escape from the Germans.^[7] Stationed in Chile in the 1970s, he arranged for the escape of numerous refugees from the military junta of Augusto Pinochet; this brought him into conflict with the regime, and he was eventually forced to leave the country.

This name was also given to Nelson Mandela prior to his arrest and long incarceration for his anti-apartheid activities in South Africa due to his effective use of disguises when evading capture by the police.^[8]

Raoul Wallenberg[link]

Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat, was directly inspired by the film Pimpernel Smith to begin rescuing Hungarian Jews during World War II.^[9] Wallenberg issued false passports identifying the Jews as Swedish nationals, and is credited with rescuing at least 15,000 Jews. He disappeared in Eastern Europe after the war, and is believed to have died in a Soviet prison camp.^[10]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Blakeney Manor, additional information and digital copies of all books.
• Public Domain Reading (audio rendition) in MP3 format (based on Project Gutenberg text)
• The Scarlet Pimpernel at Project Gutenberg
• The Scarlet Pimpernel ebook in Tomeraider format
• The Scarlet Pimpernel free ebook in PDF, PDB and LIT formats