Heavenly Graveyard

This is a cemetery founded on land owned by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in Qadian. Impressed by elderly British philanthropists donating their estate to charity and to missionary organisations, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad set up the [Wasiyyat] scheme to encourage his followers to bequeath parts of their estate to the various causes of the community.

In return, those whose will was valid would be buried in this cemetery. At that time, it was understood that this was to be the only cemetery.

After the partition of India, the Ahmadiyya moved to Rabwah in the newly formed Pakistan. A new graveyard was procured there and the understanding was that bodie of the people buried there would one day be exhumed and taken to the original graveyard in Qadian.

The graveyard is well-maintained, and in Rabwah there was another 'common' graveyard right next to the Heavenly Graveyard that was not at all maintained and did not even have a fence. Since both of these were located right on the main land route through the city and visible to all travellers, a famous story arose that the Qadianis had built a Heaven and Hell in Rabwah.

After the migration of Ahmadis to various countries, similar graveyards have sprung up and as of this writing, the general understanding is that no one will be exhumed and taken back, and all these graveyards are here to stay.