Hazrat Maulvi Nooruddin - Khalifatul-Masih I — Page 30
HEDJAZ INTERLUDE Hadrat Maulw i Nur-ud-D i n ra — Khalifatul Masih I 30 IV H IJ A Z INTERLUDE From Bombay Maulaw i N u r-ud-D i n ra took ship for Jiddah. On board he found five intending pilgrims who belonged to his part of the country and who looked after him and made him comfortable in every way. The overland journey from Jiddah to Mecca was performed by camel. He had heard that a supplication made on first sighting the House of Allah was always granted; so when he beheld the Kaaba from a rise when approaching Mecca, he supplicated: "Lord I am ever in need of Thy succour. I beseech Thee, therefore, that whenever I supplicate Thee, of Thy mercy grant my supplication. " He was not quite sure of any authority for the common belief in the acceptance of every supplication made on obtaining the first glimpse of the Kaaba, but his subsequent experience convinced him that his supplication made on that occasion had been granted. In Mecca he took up his residence with a pious person, somewhat advanced in age, who was known as Makhd u m, and started studying Hadith with three outstanding scholars. He studied Ab u D a ’ u d with Shaikh Muhammad Khazraj i , Muslim with Sayyid H usain and Mu’atta with Maulaw i Ra h matull a h. Of these he continued longest with Sayyid H usain, who spoke little and whose vocabulary was confined to Hadith. Maulaw i Ra h matull a h told him that he had known Sayyid H usain for twenty years and was not aware of anyone with whom he was intimate, nor could he guess how he made his living. Maulaw i N u r-