Qadian was established in 1530 by Mirza Hadi Baig, a religious scholar dedicated to Islam and the first Qazi in the area. Mirza Hadi Baig was from a royal household of Mirza of the Mughal Empire. He migrated from Samarkand and settled in Punjab where he was granted a vast tract of land comprising 80 villages by the emperor Babur. Because of his religious beliefs, he named the center of the 80 villages Islam Pur Qazi and governed from there. Over time, the name of the town changed to Qazi Maji, then Qadi, and eventually it became known as 'Qadian'.
A remote and unknown town, Qadian emerged as a centre of religious learning in 1889, when Mirza Ghulam Ahmad established the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.[3] In 1891 it became the venue for the Community's annual gatherings. Qadian remained the administrative headquarters and capital of the Ahmadiyya Caliphate until the partition of India in 1947, when much of the Community migrated to Pakistan. Following the partition, Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad, the second Khalifa of the Community, carefully oversaw the safe migration of Ahmadis from Qadian to the newly founded state, instructing 313 men, including two of his own sons, to stay in Qadian and guard the sites holy to Ahmadis, conferring upon them the title darveshān-i qādiyān (the dervishes of Qadian) and eventually moving the headquarters to Rabwah, Pakistan.[4]
Qadian has a population of 23,632.[7] Males constituted 54% of the population and females 46%. Qadian has an average literacy rate of 75%, slightly higher than the national average of 74.04%: male literacy is 78%, and female literacy is 70%. 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.[8]
Languages
Most of the residents of Qadian are speakers of the Punjabi language. A significant minority, about a 1/10 of the population, also speak the Urdu language. In areas like Mohallah Ahmadiyya, Urdu signs are a common sight.
Languages by the number of speakers in Qadian according to the 2011 Census of India
Hinduism is the largest religion in Qadian, with significant populations of the adherents of Sikhism and Islam.[9]
The table below shows the population of different religious groups in Qadian city and their gender ratio, as of 2011 census.
Population by religious groups in Qadian city, 2011 census[10]
Religion
Total
Female
Male
Gender ratio
Hindu
12,263
5,764
6,499
886
Sikh
7,431
3,599
3,832
939
Muslim
3,065
1,312
1,753
748
Christian
788
375
413
907
Jain
2
0
2
--
Other religions
13
6
7
857
Not stated
70
27
43
627
Total
23,632
11,083
12,549
883
Islam
Today in Qadian, there are 11 mosques belonging to the Ahmadiyya community most of which date before the partition. Initially the majority of the mosques were based on the Urdu neighbourhood names (with the exception of Aqsa Mosque and Mubarak Mosque), but many have been renamed, following their renovation in 2012.[11]
Further, three mosques existed prior to the partition, but have since been occupied, namely:[11]
Darul Fazl Mosque
Darus Sa'at Mosque
Starhousry Factory Mosque
Outside of Qadian, in the neighbouring areas, an additional four mosques of Kahlwan and Nangal Bagbana exist, namely:[11]
Name
Year
Area
Tahir Mosque
1997
Nangal
Basharat Mosque
Pre-partition
Mehdi Mosque
2004
Kahlwan
Mahmood Mosque
2012
Transport
Railway
Qadian is connected through its railway station, which was built back in November 1928.[12] It is located in the Darul Barakat area and served by the 'Mela special line', a 55-kilometer track, linking it to Amritsar via Batala,[13] with a proposed Qadian-Beas Line which was sanctioned back in 2011.[14]
^ abc"قادیان دارالامان کی چند مساجد کا تعارف" [A brief introduction of some mosques in Qadian]. Daily Alfazl Online (in Urdu). 30 December 2022. Retrieved 14 September 2023.