Fazl-e-Umar — Page 39
Fazle Umar 39 the Promised Messiah [as]. The following description, in his own words, uncovers this aspect of his personality: “Then came the year 1906, and Maulvi Abdul Karim [ra] fell ill. I was only seventeen years old, which is a stage of life that usually flies past in no more serious occupation than amusement and play. While Maulvi sahib lay ill we spent the day in our usual round of games. Once I took him a bowl of soup; apart from that I do not remember I ever went to enquire after his health. To my childish mind it seemed that he could not yet die: it never occurred to me that he could die before the Promised Messiah [as]. Maulvi Abdul Karim [ra] was of a rather quick temper and my only contact with him had been during some lessons of learning the alphabet. Beyond this there had not existed any bond between us. “I remember in those days we sometimes had heated debates about who was the ‘Angel’ of the ‘Right-hand’ side of the Promised Messiah [as] and who was of the left. Some of us said that Maulvi Nooruddin stood on the right, while others would say that that position belonged to Maulvi Abdul Karim. It was beyond the power of our childish minds to estimate and compare their worth and the extent of their learning but on account of the great love, I believe, with which Maulvi Nooruddin always treated me, I was one of the Nooruddinis. We of this party even ventured once to ask the question of the Promised Messiah [as] himself and he confirmed our view. “In short there had been no deep bond between Maulvi Abdul Karim [ra] and myself except that I was greatly impressed by his powerful sermons, and by the devotion and love he had for the Promised Messiah [as]. But the moment I heard the news of his death, there came a most unusual change over me. The voice that conveyed this news to me went through my being like some electric