Hazrat Maulvi Nooruddin - Khalifatul-Masih I — Page 1
Hadrat Maulw i Nur-ud-D i n ra — Khalifatul Masih I BACKGROUND 1 I BACKGROUND Hadrat Maulaw i N u r-ud-D i n ra was born at Bhera, in the district of Shahpur, Punjab, in 1841. He was the youngest of seven brothers and two sisters. He was the 34th in direct male lineal descent from Hadrat ‘Umar ra , second Successor of the Holy Prophet sa of Islam sa. He was thus a Quraish i , H a sham i , F a r u q i. His father, Ha fi z Ghul a m Ras u l, and at least ten of his immediate male ancestors had committed the Holy Quran to memory. His mother, N u r Bakht, was an A‘w a n, belonging to a village a few miles from Bhera. She taught the small children of the neighbourhood the translation of the Holy Quran in Punjabi and instructed them in elementary primers on Muslim jurisprudence. Her youngest child was also similarly instructed by her. In later life he often said that he had heard the Quran recited by his mother while he was in her womb and had imbibed love of the Quran with his mother’s milk. She was also his first teacher. His father too was a great lover of the Quran. He was well off and spent large sums of money in procuring copies of the Quran from as far as Bombay and distributing them free. He was an affectionate, generous and indulgent parent. He set high goals for his children and encouraged them at every step. His distinguished youngest son once observed later, ‘My father was so ambitious for us that had he lived at this time he would have sent me to the United States of America in search of knowledge. ’