Hazrat Sheikh Hafiz Hamid Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), son of Sheikh Fath Muhammad, was a resident of Thay Ghulam Nabi, Gurdaspur. This town was situated six miles northwest of Qadian. His color was reddish-brown, his body thin, his height middling, his beard thin. Both of his parents were companions of the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him). He served as the person in charge of Langar Khana and worked as a correspondent.
Though he called himself Kakazai by caste and he was near relatives to these people, Hazrat Hafiz Roshan Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) relates that Hazrat Khalifatul Masih I (may Allah be pleased with him) used to say that Hafiz Hamid Ali was a Syed and that his family tree matches that of the Sadaats, meaning the descendants of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), of Multan. Nonetheless, he never prided himself on being of the Sadaat, rather his pride was that he was an Ahmadi and had accepted the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) when the world knew him not (Al Hakam March 21, 1934).
Hazrat Sheikh Yaqub Ali Irfani (may Allah be pleased with him) writes that he first met Hafiz Hamid Ali in 1889, and thought nothing of him, but soon found him to be a Waliullah and a close friend who would often consult him (Al Hakam March 21, 1934). He also writes of Hafiz Hamid Ali’s (may Allah be pleased with him) arrival in Qadian in 1880 or 1881. Hafiz Hamid Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) used to be ill, so he once went to Amritsar for treatment, and en route he met the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him). The Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) told him to come to Qadian, his treatment would happen as well. Hafiz Hamid Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) says that I arrived in Qadian and within a few days my illness vanished. I felt sick upon thinking of leaving Qadian, so I preferred to remain in the company of the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him). Soon after his arrival, Hafiz Mueenuddin also arrived. While others, such as Mirza Ghulamullah, Mirza Ismail Baig, Mirza Deen Muhammad, Mian Jaan Muhammad (may Allah be pleased with them) remained in the company of the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him), Hafiz Hamid Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was the foremost among them (Irfani Hayat e Ahmad 105). Hafiz Hamid Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was a quiet man of few words who adopted the methods of worship the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) practiced.
Hafiz Hamid Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) had the opportunity to accompany the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) on many of his journeys. He traveled with the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) on October 22, 1905, from Qadian to Batala and to Amritsar and Delhi and Ludhiana (Al Hakam November 24, 1905 pg 5 Badr October 27, 1905 pg 3, & Shahid 422). He traveled with the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) when he went to Hoshiarpur in January 1886 and March 1889, in April 1889 to Aligarh, in 1891 to Ludhiana, in May 1893 to Amritsar for the famous debate with Dr. Henry Clark and Abdullah Atham, in November 1893 to Firozpur, and on September 30, 1895, to examine the items of Baba Nanak (Shahid 376, 533, Sadiq 10, Qadir 74, 152, 182).
On April 26th, 1899, Hafiz Hamid Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) asked Hafiz Muhammad Yusuf in a railway train, coming from Amritsar, as to why Ilahi Bakhsh (an opponent of the Promised Messiah (as) who claimed to receive revelation against him) did not publish his revelations. He replied that the revelations were not published because Ilahi Bakhsh did not want to offend the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) and that if he gave an undertaking in writing that he would not go to court. When Hamid Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) reached Qadian he informed the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) of it, who immediately wrote out the undertaking and told Hamid Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) to take the writing to Muhammad Yusuf at Dhariwal. (Dard 783)
He did Bai’at at the hands of the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) on March 21, 1889. He is recorded as the ninth person to take the Bai’at, and he instructed other companions to come in one by one to take the Bai’at (Shahid 344, Dard 206).
Hazrat Shaikh Zain-ul-Abideen (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that when Hafiz Hamid Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) arrived in Qadian, he would smoke a lot of hookah and would secretly go to Mirza Nizamuddin’s property to smoke hookah. These people were related to the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him), but opposed him severely. The Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) came to know of Hamid Ali’s (may Allah be pleased with him) secret, so he said, “Hamid Ali! Take this money and buy a hookah from the bazaar, and bring tobacco, and when needed, smoke in this house. Do not go near those people [as they do not follow Islam]. So Hamid Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) bought the hookah and continued to smoke. Guests also used to smoke the same hookah. After six or seven months, the Promised Messiah (as) said, “Hamid Ali! How great would it be if you left this hookah?” He responded, “Very well,” and immediately gave up hookah (Ahmad 323).
The Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) wrote his name amongst the residents of Qadian on the last page of his book Nur-ul-Quran (Ahmad 161).
The Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) praised him in Izala-e-Auham, saying that Shaikh Hamid Ali has been in my service for seven or eight years now, testifying to his consistency in prayers, and his constant companionship in travel, and presenting him as a witness to the signs of the Messiah (Ahmad 540, 541). He further writes that Hamid Ali only receives three rupees as payment for his service, and eagerly pays his Chanda out of this meager amount. Hafiz Hamid Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was an attendant of the guests of the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him), as is evident from the following narration of Hazrat Amir Khan (may Allah be pleased with him). He relates that he saw Hamid Ali in a dream about to serve dried Arabian dates to the guests. However, as he serves the dates, they become large and luscious and Hamid Ali sahib says, “these dried dates from Arabia are being served to you after being turned succulent” (Ahmad 27).
Shaikh Zain-ul-Abideen and Hafiz Hamid Ali (may Allah be pleased with them) write regarding their journey to eastern Africa that they boarded the ship which had a thousand travellers aboard. There were a few days before reaching Africa when the captain suddenly announced that the ship has been ruined in a storm and there is no hope for the ship. People should pray. Hamid Ali awoke Zain-ul-Abideen and told him why people were crying. Zain-ul-Abideen said that the ship will not sink as two companions of the Messiah are aboard. The divinely appointed one gave me glad tidings that you two brothers will go to Africa and come back in good health and having benefitted. Hamid Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said it is possible the words have another meaning, but Zain-ul-Abideen said certainly not. It will happen exactly as the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) said. After about an hour and a half later the captain announced that now they were secure and the ship was out of danger. Around the fourth day we reached eastern Africa and the ship stayed there eight days. Then it left for Zanzibar and was destroyed en route (Ahmad 350, 351, Ashab Ahmad vol 13, pg 23, 24).
Hazrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmood Ahmad, Khalifatul-Masih II (may Allah be pleased with him), writes:
A dream of the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) from December 8, 1902, is: ‘It seems that I am floating in the air. There is a big ditch, like a large circle, which extends from here to the house of Nawab Sahib from Masjid Mubarak to the house of Nawab Muhammad Ali Khan Sahib (may Allah be pleased with him). I am floating from here to there and then back. Syed Muhammad Ahsan Sahib was standing at the edge [of the ditch]. I said to him that Hazrat Isa (peace be upon him) used to walk on water, and I can float in the air. Hamid Ali is with me, and we have circled this ditch several times and have not moved our hands or feet and are floating around with ease (Al-Badr, December 12, 1902).
After the passing of the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him), Hafiz Hamid Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) remained attached to Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyyat. He received a pension, and ran a small shop in Qadian (Irfani Sirat Masih-e-Maud 338). Hazrat Khanzada Amirullah Khan (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that he saw a dream in which the Promised Messiah (as) told him to take care of Hamid Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). So he went to Jalsa Qadian and gave one rupee to Hamid Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), writing a letter to Hamid Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) explaining the instruction of the Promised Messiah (as) he had received in a dream. Hamid Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) cried upon hearing this, and said, “How bountiful and merciful are the prophets! They even care for their servant. So would he not care for his beloved sons, the Ahl-e-Bait of the Messiah (peace be upon him), who the shameless one in Lahore and his followers wrongfully attack?” (Ahmad 49).
He passed away on September 8, 1919 (Shahid 224). The Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) said, “The help Shaikh Hamid Ali Sahib has rendered me, no one else has, and he has always lived with me and he will be with me like this in Jannah” (Al Hakam March 1934). May Allah enable us to follow in the footsteps of the pious companions of the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) and raise the flag of Ahmadiyyat in all corners of the globe. Ameen!
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