Syed Abdul Lateef Shaheed From WikiAhmadiyya, the free encyclopedia on Islam and Ahmadiyyat ![]() Syed Abdul Lateef (1853-1903) or Sahibzada Abdul Latif was the Royal Islamic Scholar to Abdur Rahman Khan and Habibullah Khan, the kings of Afghanistan between the late 19th century and early 20th century. It is believed Lateef helped King Abdur Rahman Khan during the negotiation of the Durand Line Agreement with the British India in 1893. He is remembered as being among the first martyrs of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Lateef was a learned man fluent in Persian, Pashto, and Arabic. It is also claimed that he owned a large piece of land in his native Khost Province. He became the leading Islamic scholar of Afghanistan and had thousands of students across central Asia and had risen to such great prominence that he was asked to crown Habibullah Khan at his coronation in 1901. In 1889 Lateef heard of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, British India, who claimed to be the Imam Mahdi whose advent was foretold by Muhammadsa. He sent one of his students, Maulvi Abdur Rahman, to Qadian. Abdur Rahman returned after having accepted Ahmad, and having joined the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. He brought with him some books written by Ahmad. After Abdul Lateef read one such book, he too accepted Ahmad. Lateef visited Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in Qadian in 1902. On his return to Afghanistan, news reached the king of his conversion. The British Chief Engineer to the Afghan government at the time would write in 1907 of the events which followed:
Following news of Lateef's murder, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad wrote:
Following Ahmad's prophecy, several members of the King's family suddenly died before he and every single one of his successors was assassinated in turn. Finally, the dynasty came to an end in the 1970s but Afghanistan continued to be plagued by a devastating series of wars which are ongoing to this day. See also |