Fazl-e-Umar — Page 45
Fazle Umar 45 is no doubt he was constrained by poor health. Apart from his eyes, he also suffered from liver complaints because of which he had to eat Mung dal or spinach leaf stock for six months at a time. He also developed an enlarged spleen. Red iodide of Mercury was massaged in the area of the spleen. It was also rubbed into his neck because he had scrofula; a form of tuberculosis affecting the lymph nodes, especially of the neck most common in children. He developed fevers that would not subside for up to six months. One can imagine the state of his education from these circumstances along with his father’s instruction to give him complete freedom with regard to school attendance! It seems his natural inclination was towards a different kind of study altogether. When he was about ten years of age, the Promised Messiah [as] on going home after he had delivered his lecture at the Jalsa Salana (Annual Gathering) of that year, asked Mian sahib if he retained any part of the lecture. In reply Hadhrat Mian sahib at once recounted a summary of the lecture, and the Promised Messiah [as] was greatly pleased to find that he had listened with such attention as to be able to give off-hand, such a good summary. 22 This incident demonstrated the kind of study in which his interest laid, and his subsequent life furnished an eloquent testimony as to his marvellous scholarship and attainment. P O OR H A n dw R I T I n G Hadhrat Mir Nasir Nawab [ra] was the maternal grandfather of Hadhrat Musleh Mau’ood [ra]. Once, he asked Hadhrat Sahibzada Sahib to write a few sentences in Urdu to check his standard. Hadhrat Musleh Mau’ood stated that his handwriting was always poor but in those days it was so poor that one could hardly read it. He states: “most of my children’s handwriting is better than mine. Only my daughter, Amtur Rashid writes like me. Her writing is so bad that we once offered her a