Hazrat Maulvi Nooruddin - Khalifatul-Masih I — Page 4
BACKGROUND Hadrat Maulw i Nur-ud-D i n ra — Khalifatul Masih I 4 1857 and spent a few days there as the guest of N u r- ud-D i n’s ra father. He urged N u r-ud-D i n ra to learn the translation of the Quran and presented him with a printed copy of five of the principal chapters of the Holy Book together with their Urdu translation. This proved a veritable godsend and N u r-ud-D i n ra took avidly to it. Shortly after, a merchant from Bombay urged him to study two Urdu books, Taqw i yyatul I m a n and Mash a riqul Anw a r , which were commentaries on portions of the Holy Quran. He made a thorough study of them. Thus was laid the foundation of his devotion to the Holy Book, which became the dominant passion of his life and ruled it to his last breath. About this time he visited Lahore a second time and started the study of medicine with the famous H ak i m Alah D i n of Gumt i Bazar, but his stay in Lahore was cut short and the study was postponed. In 1858, at the age of seventeen, he started studying for the diploma of education in the Normal School at Rawalpindi. The headmaster of the school, Maulaw i Sikandar ‘Al i , was so well pleased with his progress that he dispensed with his attendance in some of the regular classes. He employed the time thus saved to the best advantage in acquiring proficiency in additional subjects, with the help of private tutors. By the end of the four years’ course he had fully mastered a wide range of subjects. He did so remarkably well in the diploma examination that at the early age of twenty one he was appointed headmaster of a school in Pind D a dan Kh a n, a town a few miles from Bhera, across the river Jhelum. He held that office for four years.