Early Years and Education
Nooruddin considered his mother to be his first teacher. He used to say that he was fed love of Quran through his mother's milk. He went to a local school for his early education. His father Hafiz Ghulam Rasul, a devoted Muslim and parent placed great emphasis on his children's education. Nooruddin recalled his father's love for knowledge, a fact which is recorded by his official biographer, Abdul Qadir Saudagar Mal.
My father had great interest in education of his children. There was a Hindu scholar named Madan Chand who contracted leprosy. People made him a home away from town. My father sent my brother to him to study. People asked, why are you destroying life of such a handsome boy? My father replied, If after gaining as much knowledge as Madan Chand, he becomes a leper, I will not mind that. You should be such a father to your children. If he (my father) was alive today, he would have sent me to America (for studies).
He spoke Punjabi as his mother tongue, but once hearing a soldier speaking Urdu, he fell in love with language and learnt it by reading Shah Waliullah's books.
Nooruddin's eldest brother, Sultan Ahmad, was a learned person who owned a printing press in Lahore. Once when Nooruddeen was 12 years old, he accompanied his brother to Lahore, where he fell ill and was successfully treated by Hakeem Ghulam Dastgir of Said Mitha. Impressed by his manner and his renown, Nooruddeen became eager to study medicine; but his brother persuaded him to study Persian and arranged for him to be taught by a famous Persian teacher, Munshi Muhammad Qasim Kashmiri.
Nooruddin learnt his Persian in Lahore, where he stayed for two years. His brother then taught him basic Arabic. In 1857 a traveling bookseller came to Bhera from Calcutta. He urged Nooruddin to learn the translation of the Quran and presented him with a printed copy of five of the principal chapters of the Book together with their Urdu translation. Shortly after, a merchant from Bombay urged him to read two Urdu books, Taqviatul Iman and Mashariqul Anwar, which were commentaries (Tafsir) on the Quran.
After a few years, he went back to Lahore and started studying medicine with famous Hakeem Allah Deen of Gumti Bazaar. This turned out to be a short stay and the study was postponed.
Nooruddin was then sent to Rawalpindi to study at Normal School in Rawalpindi. He was 17 when he joined the school. He graduated with a Diploma at the age of 21. He was a brilliant pupil and due to his qualities he was appointed the headmaster to a school in Pind Dadan Khan at the young age of 21.
It was probably Rawalpindi where he had his first contact with Christian missionaries. He recalled later that during his stay at Rawalpindi.
When I was in Rawalpindi, there was a bungalow belonging to an Englishman, Alexander, next to our house. Once someone took me there and he gave me two beautifully printed books, Meezanul Haq and Tareeqatul Hayat. I read them intently. Although I was still a child, I had great love of Quran even then. I found both those books vile. In those days, I did not even know what the Holy Spirit was.
Read more about this topic: Hakeem Noor-ud-Din
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