Fazl-e-Umar — Page 67
Fazle Umar 67 “At the time there was no limit to my amazement and I was very surprised and was thinking deeply about it but I could not make head nor tail of it. Finally, by the grace of God, this incident was solved for me and I understood what wisdom lay within it…” From a young age, Hadhrat Sahibzada Sahib was an excellent shot. Hakeem Deen Mohammad sahib [ra] , who had played with Huzur in his childhood states: “He was a very good shot with the air gun. It was so good that Huzur was able to shoot down hornets sitting on top of mangos one by one. He would often hunt small birds and doves. We would be with him and would proceed to slaughter them in the name of Allah as we went along. When he was older, he took rifles with him and everyone knows he shot wild ducks on the river Byaas. ” 40 A dv IC E O n T H E C HOIC E OF P R E y Hunting helped him to develop in many different ways. There is a large amount of cognitive development as one focuses greater attention on fundamentals and strategies to hit a target. It helped him concentrate on his surroundings and it was his habit to learn from small incidents. Hadhrat Sahibzada Sahib also learned because he was in the habit of relating the details of the hunt to the household. Hence, where they deemed appropriate, Hadhrat Amma Jan and the Promised Messiah [as] gave advice, which was always full of wisdom and sagacity. At one time Hadhrat Sahibzada Sahib went out shooting and returned with a parrot. The general Muslim public in India and Pakistan considers the flesh of the parrot unlawful and many scholars disapprove of eating it but do not consider it unlawful. However, as far as the Shariah is concerned no proof can be found of it being considered unlawful nor does it disapprove of eating it. Certainly, our dispo- sition definitely testifies that this animal is not for consumption. Instead of delving