Nooruddin

This page is about the foremost and closest disciple of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad al-Qaidani.

People say that all the scholars of his time rejected Mirza Ghulam Ahmad’s claim of being the Mujaddid and the Mahdi.

What is conveniently ommitted is that those scholars who accepted Mirza Ghulam Ahamd automatically get brandished as non-scholars for their acceptance of his claim – its simple really.

Non-Ahmadi Muslims would never accept that a scholar would accept the claim of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad al-Qadiani, and on the off chance that someone does, well, he’s not really a scholar then is he(!??)

Academic excellence!!

I have started to translate the biography of Hadhrat Maulana Hakeem Maulvi Noor-ul-Din, Khalifatul Masih al-Awwal (the first Khalifa of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad al-Qadiani) and will post certain intersting anecdotes and excerpts here, if Allah so wills.

4 comments

Comments feed for this article

17 January, 2008 at 10:20 am

Islam is Love

Assalamu Alaikum Warahmat Allahi Ta’ala Wabarakatuh,

In the great personage of Hadhrat Maulvi Noor-ud-Din the world was blessed with an immense fountain of knowledge. The following extract offers a brief introduction into this sphere of Hadhrat Maulvi Noor-ud-Din’s life.

Quote:

Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih al-Awwal’s (ra) Intellectual excellence

From early childhood, he had an intellectual inclination of mind. He was always found to be engaged in reading.

At an early age when he had not even learnt to read, he had acquired a sense of appreciation for books and pictures. The attractive cover of a book would prompt him to make it part of his collection. It was at the age of sixteen that he concentrated his attention to learn the translation of the Holy Qur’an. It was in 1857 while people were merely interested in different vocations, he developed a specific taste for the Holy Qur’an. And it was this abiding interest in learning that brought him to Lahore and later took him to many parts of India. During these travels, he often had to face hardship, but his quest for knowledge was so genuine that it made him bear all these hardships. When he left for the Holy Land to perform Hajj, his quest for deeper learning of Hadith and the Fiqah made him stay for more than a year. The tale of his quest for learning and knowledge is long. In pursuit of his learning, he would not hesitate to go and seek any teacher or any scholar. This enabled him to build up a remarkable and resourceful library. His library often had rare manuscripts. In cases where books were not available, he would arrange to have them copied. Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih I (ra) spent a considerable sum of money in getting copies of the rare books from the libraries of Bhopal and Egypt.

It is stated in Hayaat-i-Noor (p. 243) that the value of his library was in excess of hundreds of thousand of rupees (and that was at the end of 19th century). The library had about thirty thousand books. Some top Indian Muslim scholars of standing like Sir Syed Ahmad, Maulana Shibli No‘amani and Maulana Abul Kalaam Azad, had at one time or another borrowed books from his library (Al-Hakam, March 13, 1900). Once a Turkish tourist came to Qadian and he was amazed to see such a big personal library. Writing in a book, Tabarrukaat-i-Azad (some pieces of blessings of Azad), Maulana Abul Kalaam Azad revealed that there were in India two copies of a rare book, one was with Hakeem Noorud-Deen and the other with Syed Ali Balgraami.

Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih I (ra) had spent every moment of his life either in acquisition of knowledge or of rare books. Once writing a letter to Syed Muhammad Suleman Chishti Qadri, he reflected his true passion: “Sir, this humbleself is immensely interested in one particular book of Shah Waliullah Dehlvi. I have been able to collect some parts of it from various sources, including some from Syed Muhammad Hussain, Prime Minister of Patiala, Maulavi Abdul Aziz of Ludhiana, Syed Ahmad Wali of Delhi, and I still have not been able to complete the whole book. Syed Noorul Hassan Khan in a letter informed me that Hadhrat Maulana Shah Suleman Phulwari had the complete book and, therefore, through this humble petition I request you to help me in completing this book. If there is someone in Hudhoor’s service, who could copy it, or Hudhoor may send it to me in trust so that I could copy it myself, or Hudhoor may make any other suggestion so that I can complete this book. Additionally, if Hudhoor had any copy of Insaan-i-Kaamil by Abdul Karim Jhelmi, I am also in need of that book.”

Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih al-Awwal’s (ra) Personal Library
The level of his intellectual stature can be gauged from the fact that all the contemporary authors and writers would invariably consult him before getting their works into print. Haafiz Abdur Rehman Amritsari wrote a book; Kitaab-al-Sarf (a book on etymology of Arabic words) and then he sent the manuscript to Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih I (ra) for his advice and the author mentioned this fact in the preface to the book (Al-Fazl, December 6, 1950):

Once a Judge of Federal Court of India, Sir Shah Suleman, was in need of a rare book on Spain. He made efforts in all directions – the India library, the bookstores and, finally, he found it in the library of Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih I (ra). One can assess the intellectual calibre of Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih I (ra) from the fact that he was able to complete the reading of a book of six to seven hundred pages in a single night. His library was not merely a status symbol, he had read each and every book that he had in his library. The proof of this is that he had made marginal notes on each and every the book, which he had read.

The author of Mujaddid-i-A‘azam (Part II, p. 738) writes about his fondness of books:

‘Hadhrat Maulana Noor-ud-Deen had a remarkable fondness of books and was a voracious reader. He would spend thousands and thousands of rupees to collect all books on Islam, whether in Arabic, in Persian or in Urdu. In addition to the books that he acquired from various Indian cities, he bought books from Arabia, Egypt, Tunis, Morocco, Turkey, Holland and Germany. He would not hesitate to spend any amount in order to get a book of his interest. It was his rule that once the book he intended to purchase was in his hand; he would read it first before depositing in his library.’

Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), the Promised Messiah, wrote about the extensive library of Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih I (ra) in his books, Fath-i-Islam and Al-Balaagh. Writing in his book, Fath-i-Islam (p. 53, marginal note), Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) says:

‘Hadhrat Maulavi Sahib had a command of Fiqh, the Hadith and the commentary of the Holy Qur’an and is well versed in philosophy and old and new learning. In the field of medicine, he was an effective physician. And, he had a library of rare books, including books from Arabia, Egypt and Syria.’

In his book, Al-Balaagh, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) mentioned a list of rare books owned by Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih I (ra), which covered almost all departments of Islamic knowledge and learning. As a matter of fact, and to be honest, it is very difficult to correctly assess the true personality of a person, who was an embodiment of learning and knowledge of that time. His personality and his style of writing were well reflected in his outstanding book, Noor-ud-Deen, which he wrote to demolish piece by piece the arguments adduced by the author of Tarke Islam. Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih I (ra), in his polite and simple style, rejected all the attacks on Islam, its founder and the Holy Book revealed to Muhammad (saw). A true and correct assessment of his personality can only be
made by a person of his stature alone.

[Syed Hasanat Ahmad. Hakeen Noor-ud-Deen; The Way of the Righteous. Pg.182.]

21 January, 2008 at 3:25 pm

Islam is Love

On the evening of 16 August 1902, after the evening prayer, the Promised Messiah, Sayyidna Mirza Ghulam Ahmad al-Qadiani (as), as was his practice, sat down with his companions, for general conversation and discussion

[Hadhrat Maulana Nur-ud-din Sahib (ra) stated that he had received a letter from someone in London who had written to him that he should come to London to see whether it was the Christians who had attained paradise, or the Muslims?

The Promised Messiah (as) said:

In spiritual matters it is not given to every one to derive the correct conclusions. Some people go to London and see that there is much freedom there. The habit of drinking alcohol is so widespread that shops selling alcohol stretch for miles. There is no difference between adultery and non-adultery. Is this paradise? This is not what is meant by paradise. You see, a human being has a wife and he has a relationship with her. Birds and animals also have such relationships. But God has endowed the human being with the capacity for purity and cleanliness and for knowledge and comprehension and as a result of the senses and the capacities with which the human being has been endowed, he derives greater enjoyment from the relationship with his partner than do the animals. The animals do not have similar senses and comprehension and, hence, they do not hold their partners in any special regard, like the dog, for instance.

So, if human beings with all their capacities cannot attain enjoyment (through legitimate relationship) and instead live their lives like animals, what then is the difference between them and the animals? God has stated that paradise is for the believers and this has been stated because true enjoyment from the pleasurable things of this world can only develop when there is true righteousness accompanying it. He who abandons righteousness and frees himself from the barriers of that which is permitted and that which is not permitted , such a person falls from his true status and comes down to the level of animals.

The truth is that the key to paradise is righteousness. How can a person who has no trust in God, find true enjoyment? It is sometimes observed that when people who have no trust in God, have money stolen from them .the shock of this is so great that they lose their ability to speak. And look at these, so called, dwellers of paradise who commit suicide in such large numbers and they do this at the slightest thing. This shows how weak of heart and lacking in inner strength they really are, that they do not have the capacity to bear sorrow. Those who do not possess the capacity to bear sorrow and to confront difficulties, do not have the means of true enjoyment . The righteous person has enjoyment in his heart and possesses an everlasting pleasure . You see, if a person has a relationship or friendship with another person, how happy he is to see that friend. How much greater enjoyment a person would derive if he had a relationship with God! But he who does not have a relationship with God, what hope can he have? And paradise begins with hope.

All things of this world suffer change and alteration. Various tribulations come one's way. Illnesses attack. Sometimes one's children die. In short, some difficulty or other, some pain, some sorrow is there. This world is a place of troubles and these things prevent one from sleeping with ease. The more one's circle of relations widens, the more the sphere of difficulties and tribulations widens. As the circle of relationships becomes enlarged through different stages, these troubles can make fifty sorrows out of one. If a person is alone, he will have less worries but when he has a wife, children, parents, sisters, brothers and other relations, then the slightest trouble becomes a problem for him. Given the totality of these relationships, one could only find happiness if no one (from his circle of relationships) became ill or suffered any problem or difficulty. The thought that wealth brings happiness is also incorrect. Happiness does not come with wealth by itself. If one's health is not good or, for example, one suffers from a poor stomach, would that be a life of paradise? So, we learn from this that wealth is not the source of happiness. The truth is that the person who has a relationship with God, he is the one who, in every respect, enjoys a life in paradise (a life of true happiness). This is because God is omnipotent and He has the power to keep away from a person all manner of difficulties as well as the power to protect him against suffering caused by financial problems. Should such problems ever arise, then God grants the capacity to face them with courage and strength.

Patience is a great thing which does not allow deep sadness to come near even in times of great difficulties and tribulations. There are some rich people who during the period of ease and enjoyment become extremely proud and full of self importance but at the slightest trouble they cry out loud like children. We do not know of anyone who has not been affected by some accident and whose relations have not suffered some sorrow. Whose life is one of paradise? Only of that person upon whom there is God's blessing. That is why it is a big mistake when, seeing someone dressed in white, people say such a person is heavenly. If you were to ask such people they will tell you about the many tribulations they have had to confront. Just observing someone's clothes, or seeing them riding in buggies or drinking alcohol and assuming (that they are happy and living in paradise) is incorrect. Other than that, a life of complete freedom is in itself a life of hell. What could be more of a life of hell than one in which there is no respect for God and no relationship with God. A dog can eat something dead or he can act badly (he is free to do so) -- Will this be a life of paradise? Likewise, a person who eats dead things and commits acts of shamelessness, who knows no distinction between wealth that is legitimately and that which is illicitly, this would be an accursed life which bears no resemblance to a life of paradise.

It is true that a life of paradise is one (in which one is safeguarded against all ills) but it is only for those who trust in God completely and thus in accordance with the promise vouchsafed by God in the verse 'And He (Allah) takes care of the righteous', (Ch. 7, v. 197), i.e. they come under God's protection and care. On the other hand, the days of a person distanced from God are spent in fear and wishful thoughts. He cannot be happy. In short, life is nothing but to safeguard oneself against bad deeds and to trust in God because he who places his trust in God before a trouble confronts him, he it is who is helped by God in time of trouble. He who sleeps before trouble strikes him, is destroyed at the time of trouble.
God is not in need of anything from anyone. When places such as Bicaneer suffered from drought, people there went so far as to eat children. This happened because they did not live their lives belonging to someone. Had they lived for God, the children would not have suffered this fate. It is clear from the Hadith (the traditions of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw)) and from the Holy Qur'an as well as from the previous Holy Books that the bad deeds of the parents sometimes bring calamity for the children. The verse of the Holy Qur'an 'He cared not for the consequences thereof' (Ch. 91,v. 16), points to this that those who spend their lives carelessly, God too becomes careless about them. You see, a servant who does not greet his master for a few days, causes his master displeasure. So, why should God care for him who breaks his ties with Him. (It is with this in view that) God states that He destroys them and does not care for their progeny either. From this it can be understood that when a righteous person dies, having done good in his life, God cares even for his progeny as can be seen from the verse (of the Holy Qur'an, stating that) 'Their father had been a righteous person' (Ch. 18,v. 83). For the righteousness and capability of this father, God made such great prophets as Moses (as) and Khizr (as) perform labour, to mend the wall which now belonged to his sons. What great status must such a person have (in God's sight)! God covered up the real situation of the sons by not mentioning any details about them because it would divert from the praise of their father and also because God covered up (the details of the sons) for the sake of their father.

In short, true joy is a provision from God which is not given to those who remain outside the pale of obedience to God.

[The original Urdu transcript of this discourse is contained in Malfoozat, Vol. 3]

19 March, 2008 at 6:24 pm

haider

ive got question for you

you think of him so great then …..

you think would he be in this day and age would be of rabwi jamat or of lahori jamat

as by my research you guys are divided into 2
im not sure if you are ahmadi or not

20 March, 2008 at 3:24 am

muslimsunrise

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله تعالى و بركاته
Peace be upon you and the Mercy of Allah and His Blessings

Yes I do think Hadrat Khalifatul Masih al-Awwal Hakeem Maulana Nooruddin (ra) was a great scholar, exegete, disciple, mureed of Sayyidna Mirza Ghulam Ahmad al-Qadiani (as), and then a great scholar, exegete and leader of the Ahmadiyyah Silsilah (order).

His views on the actions and intentions of the ‘lahori’ branch of the community are well-documented. His first address, after being unanimously agreed upon by the followers of Sayyidna Mirza Ghulam Ahmad al-Qadiani as his successor (khalifa) and the Imam of the Jama’ah, clearly states that he was firm in his resolve to carry out the duties of khilafah as envisaged by him. This role, of the ‘khalifah’, according to another later recorded address of his, included more than leading the prayers, pronouncing the ‘nikah’, and oratory of the Friday Khutbah.

On the contrary, those who were attempting to absolve the khalifah of his powers, namely those who first accepted his khilafah (successorship) and then later broke away (the anjuman/lahori group) stated very clearly that leading the prayers, pronouncing the ‘nikah’, and oratory of the Friday Khutbah and a few other functions are to be the remit of the Imam of the Jama’at al-Ahmadiyyah, and everything else of importance is to be decided by the Anjuman committee.

Therefore, whether Hadrat Khalifatul Masih al-Awwal Hakeem Maulana Nooruddin (ra) would be of the Ahmadi jama’ah or the Lahori Jama’ah is an invalid question – because his statements and addresses and friday khutbaat are all strongly against the models of spiritual leadership that were proposed by the Lahori Jama’ah, and Hadrat Khalifatul Masih al-Awwal Hakeem Maulana Nooruddin (ra) was firmly of the Ahmadi Jama’ah – and his opinions were very much what the opinions of the Ahmadiyyah Jama’ah are today.

Although the Jama’at al-Ahmadiyyah al-Islamiyyah are today divided into two main groups, they are not divided on the status of Sayyidna Mirza Ghulam Ahmad al-Qadiani (as) as the Mujaddid (divinely appointed Reformer) of the 14th Century, the Masih al-Mau’ud (Promised Messiah) and the Imam Mahdi (the Promised Mahdi).

The only differences with regards to the claims of Sayyidna Mirza Ghulam Ahmad al-Qadiani (as) are as regards his claim to Nubuwwat (prophecy/prophethood) and to what extent or in which sense this was claimed by him.

And the only difference with regards to what came after the death of Sayyidna Mirza Ghulam Ahmad al-Qadiani (as) is regarding his successorship and what form that would take.

The Ahmadiyyah Jama’ah take the view, in accordance with a sound hadith of our Noble Prophet (saw), as well as that held by Hadrat Khalifatul Masih al-Awwal Hakeem Maulana Nooruddin (ra), that the successorship would take the form of “khilafat ‘ala minhaj al-nabuwwah” (“Khilafat on the precepts/pattern of [that which takes place after] Prophethood”) and thus in the form of the Khilafah which exists to this day in the Ahmadiyyah J
Jama’ah.

The Lahori Jama’ah take the view that the Anjuman (committee) Ahmadiyyah, a committee composed of elders and scholars initially identified by Sayyidna Mirza Ghulam Ahmad al-Qadiani (as) prior to his death to assist the Khalifah/Imam as to the administrative aspects of the organisation of the Jama’ah, should take over the role of the Khalifah and that they should run the day-to-day affairs of the Jama’ah whereas the Khalifa should merelt do acts such as give the sermons, lead the prayers and pronounce and annul marriages, etc.

و الله اعلم
And Allah knows best

والسلام عليكم و رحمة الله تعالى و بركاته
Peace be upon you and the Mercy of Allah and His Blessings

MuslimSunrise

	sedemir on Khatam al-Nabuwwah
	Rehan Qayoom on Hikm al-Ahmadi: The Hikm (Wisd…
	muslimsunrise on The Arabic works of Sayyidna H…
	tariq on The Arabic works of Sayyidna H…
	Shahid on The Arabic works of Sayyidna H…

Nooruddin

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

Archives

Ahmadi-lovers

Blogroll

Categories

Pages

4 comments