Early Life
Mirza Nasir Ahmad was born in Qadian, India on November 16, 1909. His early education was both religious and secular. By the age of thirteen, with guidance from his father Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad, Nasir Ahmad had committed all 114 chapters of the Qur’an to memory, making him a Hafiz. His father placed great emphasis on the acquisition of religious education. In pursuit of that goal, Nasir Ahmad was enrolled at the Madrassa Ahmadiyya, Qadian, graduated with honors in July 1929. After graduation, he went through his post-secondary education and by 1934, obtained his Bachelor of Arts Degree from the Government College, Lahore.
On August 5, 1934, Nasir Ahmad married Sayyidah Mansoora Begum, a granddaughter of the Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and eldest daughter of Nawab Muhammad Ali Khan of Malerkotla, India. Within a month of getting married, Nasir Ahmad left India and proceeded for postgraduate studies to England.
In England, he obtained Masters of Arts degree in Egyptology from Balliol College University of Oxford. He impressed his college professors as a very well-behaved and deep-thinking student. During a subsequent visit to England, he met one of his former professors who welcomed him to his residence. The professor told other members of the Community that he had seen signs of leadership in Nasir Ahmad and was certain that one day, he would be a leader.
In November 1938, he returned to the town of his birth, Qadian, where he was appointed a professor at Jamia Ahmadiyya, the missionary theological training college of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. In 1939, he was appointed principal where he remained for five years. From May 1944 to November 1965, he was principal of the Talim-ul-Islam College, first in Qadian, then after partition, in Rabwah, Pakistan.
During the anti-Ahmadiyya riots in 1953, Nasir Ahmad was imprisoned briefly but released on May 28, 1953. Upon his release, he served in various other offices of the community, until being elected as Khalifatul Masih after the demise of his father, Khalifatul Masih II.
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