Hazrat Maulvi Nooruddin - Khalifatul-Masih I — Page 3
Hadrat Maulw i Nur-ud-D i n ra — Khalifatul Masih I BACKGROUND 3 occasion, when N u r-ud-D i n was about twelve years old, he accompanied his brother to Lahore, where he fell ill and was successfully treated by H ak i m Ghul a m Dastg i r of Said Mitthttha. Impressed by his manner and his renown, N u r-ud-D i n became eager to study medicine; but his brother persuaded him to study Persian and arranged for him to be taught by a famous Persian teacher, Munshi Muhammad Q a sim Kashm i r i , who instructed him so diligently and kindly that he soon acquired a fair degree of proficiency in that language. He took lessons in calligraphy from an expert calligraphist, Mirz a Imam Ward i. Both his teachers were of the Shia persuasion, so that incidentally, their pupil gained some acquaintance with Shia beliefs, doctrines and practices. On this occasion his stay in Lahore lasted for two years. On his return to Bhera he continued his Persian studies with Haji M i y an Sharfudd i n. Shortly after, his brother Maulaw i Sul ta n Ahmad also came back to Bhera and started him on a regular course of learning Arabic from him. He adopted a very simple method of teaching him which engaged his interest and won his attention, so that he began to make good progress in learning that supposedly difficult language. The Punjab had, only a few years earlier, been delivered by the British from the political confusion, misrule, tyranny, bloodshed and insecurity into which it had sunk after the death of Maharaja Ranj i t Singh in 1839. Knowledge, learning and culture were all at a low ebb. Few, even of the Muslim divines, knew the translation of the Holy Quran; and its study was not encouraged. N u r-ud-D i n’s ra interest in the study of the Holy Quran was stimulated at this time by a happy chance. A bookseller of Calcutta arrived in Bhera in