Ark of Noah

Brief background

By way of setting the context, it was in the year 1902 that the British Government in India made extensive arrangements for plague vaccination in the province of Punjab—in pre-partition India—bringing in many doctors from England for that specific purpose. The idea was to vaccinate the entire population of Punjab simultaneously and thereby to eradicate the killer disease. The plague vaccination furnished only partial immunity against the disease and that, too, only for a period of three to six months.

Nevertheless, since the incidence of disease among the vaccinated population was significantly less than in the non-vaccinated population, the Government deemed this preventive measure beneficial, and made plans to extensively vaccinate the populace.

The scheme was launched in October 1902, and the government announced that every government employee and every loyal citizen should get vaccinated themselves and should urge others to get vaccinated as well.

It was under those circumstances that Hazrat Mirza wrote the book titled Kishti-e-Nuh, and published it on October 5, 1902.

The title page of the magazine bore the inscription: “The magazine Heavenly Vaccination, regarding the plague, prepared for my organization.” (More details here.)

Further details

Should you be interested in more—and this book is but one of the many that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad wrote—a great place to explore more is his biography, entitled The Great Reformer.

Akram Ahmad

December, 2006