Firstly, lets turn to Tadhkirah:
1893
I saw that this man [Maulavi Muhammad Husain] will acknowledge my being a believer before his death and I saw that he had given up calling me Kafir [disbeliever] and had repented of this position. I saw all this in a dream and I am hoping that my Lord will make it come true356 . [Hujjatul-Islam, p. 19, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 6, p. 59]
356 Note by Hadrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad(ra): In 1914, twenty years after this prophecy, Maulavi Muhammad Husain had the following testimony recorded in the court of Magistrate Grade 1, in the District of Gujranwala, with reference to different sects of Islam:
All these sects believe the Holy Qur’an to be the Word of God. Like the Qur’an, all these sects also believe in hadith. A new sect, Ahmadi, started a short time ago ever since Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian made his claim to be the Massiah and Mahdi. This sect also believes equally in the Qur’an and hadith.… My sect certainly does not consider any of the above mentioned sects to be kafir [disbelievers]. [For details see al-Fadl, vol. 1, no. 35, February 11, 1914, p. 3]
[Tadhkirah, pg.305]
There is some explanation given in the book, The Great Reformer:
Some people at the time interpreted the prophecy to mean that Maulvi Batalvi would openly become a disciple of Hazrat Mirza. This, however, was an erroneous interpretation because the second part of the prophecy qualified what was stated in the first part. The words “as if” clearly indicated that Maulvi Batalvi’s reassessment of Hazrat Mirza as a believer would be in the form of a cessation of accusatory charges of infidelity and a halt to all such future actions. The prophecy was fulfilled precisely in this manner. After the death of Hazrat Mirza and during the period of Maulana Nur-ud-Din’s leadership, Maulvi Batalvi gave a sworn statement in the court of Judge Lala Devki Nandan of Gujranwala District that the followers of Hazrat Mirza were Muslims. This clearly showed that he had recanted his former position of calling Hazrat Mirza’s followers unbelievers. [The Great Reformer, Vol. 1, pg 456]
More information regarding this topic is given in chapter 104 of the book.
Everyone was astonished to read this announcement, including Hazrat Mirza’s own disciples. Was it ever possible that such a dangerous and hardened enemy, who was the architect of the entire opposition, would ever abandon calling Hazrat Mirza an infidel, retract his decree of heresy and consider him a believer? Maulvi Batalvi, too, laughed at the absurdity of this announcement, which only spurred him on to greater opposition. He intensified feeding misinformation to the government and resorted to all means possible to oppose Hazrat Mirza even to the extent of secretly participating in assassination plans. However, Hazrat Mirza repeatedly stated that one day, Maulvi Batalvi would abandon the charge of heresy. This led some of Hazrat Mirza’s disciples to ask him: “Then should we consider him our friend and not our opponent?” Hazrat Mirza replied: “Dealings with a person are conducted according to the current position. What will happen in the future should be left to God.”8
8 Once the prophecy about Maulvi Batalvi was under discussion and Hazrat Mirza said, “There is no doubt that I have forcefully claimed that he will return (to the right course) and Allah has fated it as such. Actually, Muhammad Hussain was a shrewed person but I could see from the beginning that he was self-conceited. Hence, Allah desired to purge him in this way; this is an emetic for him…” Hazrat Mirza further stated, “Allah knows best but he has at least done one (good) thing; he wrote the review of Barahin Ahmadiyya with great sincerity because at the time, his condition was such that he would sometimes pick up my shoes, dust them and put them in front of me. Once he took me inside his house so that it may be blessed and once he insisted on pouring water for my ablution. In short, he used to show great sincerity. Several times he expressed the intention to come and live in Qadian but I advised him that this was not the right time. Then he faced this trial. It would not be strange if God brings him to a good end because of this sincerity.” A brother asked, “What should we consider him now?” He replied, “The present decisions have to be made on the current situation. He is an enemy of this Movement. See, as long as a life-germ stays as such, it is called a life-germ although it can become a person. As it changes states, its name also changes and it becomes a clot (alaqa), a lump of flesh (mudghah) etc. and finally becomes a person at the appointed time. The same applies to him. At present he is an opponent and an enemy of this Movement, and this is how he should be considered.” – Al Hakam, January 17, 1903.
[The Great Reformer Vol 1. pg 799-800]
More information was also presented on what Muhammad Husain Batalvi said in court:
Towards the end of Hazrat Mirza’s life, Maulvi Batalvi softened somewhat, and the intensity of his opposition declined. Some people thought he was tired but, in fact, he was having a change of heart. He had seen that despite his best efforts to oppose Hazrat Mirza, God was granting Hazrat Mirza success and his Movement was growing continuously. Maulvi Batalvi, on the other hand, was facing failure and disappointment on all sides. Hazrat Mirza’s reputation was growing exponentially while Maulvi Batalvi’s considerable reputation at the start of his campaign against Hazrat Mirza had totally eroded, and disgrace and humiliation had embraced him on all sides. The final act of this change of heart came in the year 1913, after Hazrat Mirza had passed away and Maulana Nur-udDin was the head of the movement.
A lawsuit was filed in the court of Lala Devki Nandan, Civil Judge First Class, Gujranwala in 1913, which was identified as case #300, Ms. Kareem Bibi daughter of Muhammad-ud-Din Lohar (Plaintiff), versus Rahmat Ullah, son of Abdullah, caste Lohar, resident of Nizamabad (Respondent). Maulvi Batalvi appeared as an expert witness and gave a statement on oath in which he declared members of the Ahmadiyya sect as Muslims and affirmed openly that they were not infidels. A portion of his statement is reproduced below. Giving evidence about the creed of his sect Ahl-e Hadith, Maulvi Batalvi said:
The first sect was Hanafi; it was followed shortly thereafter by the Maliki sect that is attributed to Imam Malik; after that was the Shafai sect and after that was the Hanbali sect that is attributed to Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. In the beginning, all the followers of Islam had the same religion and it was an era of peace with no internal contentions. There was peace in the period of the Messenger of Allah because of his presence, and after him peace prevailed because of the presence of his Companions and those who followed them. There were no major disputes to cause mutual recrimination or opposition. This period gave way to an era of selfishness and innovations and people began turning to the Imam they loved and in whom they had faith. They became his followers and the sects were established. All these sects consider the Quran to be the word of God, and like the Quran, these sects accept the Hadith.
One sect, the Ahmadiyya has been born recently since Mirza Ghulam Ahmad sahib of Qadian claimed to be the Messiah and Mahdi. This sect too accepts the Quran and the Hadith alike…our sect does not consider any of the sects mentioned above as entirely heretical.
The court’s understanding of this statement, which was reflected in the judgment, was as follows:
And likewise in the opinion of Maulvi Abdul Hakim sahib, witness for the plaintiff, members of the Ahmadiyya sect, who are followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, are infidels although in the opinion of the witness Maulvi Muhammad Hussain they are not infidels.
It is conducive to reflect on the circumstances of the case. A woman filed a suit in the court of a judge for dissolution of her marriage. The grounds were that her husband had become a member of the Ahmadiyya organization; since the scholars considered members of the Ahmadiyya movement as infidels and a Muslim woman could not remain married to an infidel, the suit requested an injunction dissolving the marriage. Scholars were called as witnesses. Maulvi Abdul Hakim testified that members of the Ahmadiyya organization were infidels but Maulvi Batalvi did not declare them as infidels. On the contrary, in unambiguous terms he stated in his sworn deposition that they were not infidels. The person, who had devoted his whole life to calling Hazrat Mirza an infidel and in fact declared even those persons as infidels who had any social contact with him or his party, now, before his death, stated on oath in court that the disciples of Hazrat Mirza were not infidels. Can there be any clearer recanting of the decree of heresy?
Further testimony about this change of heart was provided in a statement of Maulvi Umar-ud-Din. The following passage from his statement provides a good summary of the full text:
Once during the period of Maulana Nur-ud-Din sahib, Maulvi Muhammad Hussain sahib came to Simla for fundraising and asked for donations from our Ahmadiyya branch in Simla. When we refused to give him any donations, Maulvi sahib said, “Even Maulana Nur-ud-Din has given me a donation for this religious work and this work is for the welfare of the Muslims generally.”
We then inquired from Qadian and Hazrat Maulana Nur-ud-Din wrote back, “The donations should not be given individually; a collective donation from the party may be given.”