Hakeem Noor-ud-Deen – Khalifatul Masih I – The Way of the Righteous — Page 143
Hakeem Noor-ud-Deen The Way of the Righteous 142 Qadian in droves, in hundreds and thousands. On March 14, 1914, the Jama ‘ at elected Sahibzada Hadhrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad ra as the Second Caliph who led the funeral prayer for Hadhrat Maulana Hakeem Noor-ud-Deen, Khalifatul Masih I ra at about 6:15 p. m. He was buried at the side of his master, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as in Bahishti Maqbara. Warm Tributes Paid All Over India The papers of the Jama ‘ at like Al-Fazl , Al-Badr , Review of Religions , understandably paid warm tributes. But papers that did not belong to the Jama ‘ at most surprisingly paid homage to a personality who had dominated the Indian religious and spiritual scene for about a decade. These papers, often critical of the Ahmadiyya Movement and its beliefs, were most outspoken. The Daily Zamindaar , a top paper of Lahore in those days, said: The newswire services all over India had conveyed the news of the sad demise of Maulavi Hakeem Noor-ud-Deen, which was received by Muslims in general with dismay and, Ahmadis, in particular, with a great deal of grief and sorrow. He was an outstanding scholar and a great savant. . . . It is said that it is after a century a remarkable savant emerges on the scene and Maulana Hakeem Noor-ud-Deen was one of them. Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar, an outstanding scholar himself and a high profile political leader, writes in the Daily Hamdard ( History of Ahmadiyya , v. 4, p. 560): He was the top man of the Ahmadiyya Firqa (denomination) and a high-class scholar and an outstanding physician. Maulana Abul Kalaam Azad, who had once been the president of All India Congress and was a great Indian leader and religious