Intro
Also known as Khan Bahadur Sheikh Abdullah Pleader was originally named as Thakur Das and born into a hindu family, he has been described as a Brahmin, not to be confused with the Reverend G.L. Thakur Das. The number one authority on his life and times is his own daughter, who wrote, “”A Woman of Substance: The Memoirs of Begum Khurshid Mirza”“, (1918-1989), who was a famous film star in British India before the partition, her screen name was Renuka Devi. See pages 1–30. She explains how she would call her father as Papa Mian. She also explains how Maulvi Noorudin seems to have gotten him to convert to Islam in the 1889 era while Noorudin worked in Poonch. In 1889, he was at Ludhiana during MGA’s first bait ceremony and agreed and signed the bait form. Later on, Noorudin paid for him to complete his education at Aligarh, later on in the 1895–1899 era. It is worth noting that the whole story of Hazrat Eisa’s grave in Kashmir is based on the account of Molvi Abdullah Wakeel. Which he immediately protested to in his book.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1874
He was born on June 21st, 1874 into a Hindu family, his grandfather was Mehta Mast Ram, who was a jagirdar, or a large-land owner in english, he was a major rich person of Poonch, he was born in a small village called Bhantani. He had two sons, Mohar Singh and Gur Mukh Singh. Gur Mukh Singh was the father of Thakur Das aka Shaikh Abdullah. His father and uncle may have converted to Sikhism, hence their names. Nowadays, 90% of the inhabitants of Poonch are Muslim.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1883
His hindu family allowed him to travel to Poonch, where Maulvi Noroudin was working and Noorudin taught him, he was barely 9-10 years old(((see “”A Woman of Substance: The Memoirs of Begum Khurshid Mirza”“, (1918-1989)))). Maulvi Abdul Karim Sialkoti was another top student of Maulvi Noorudin in this era.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1887—Summer
At just 13 years old, during the summer of 1887 he went home. However, instead of returning to Jammu, Noorudin had him go to Lahore and enroll in the Government High School, which was located in the haveli of Raja Dyhan Singh. Nooruddin had already told the management of the college that this 14-year old kid was coming(((see “”A Woman of Substance: The Memoirs of Begum Khurshid Mirza”“, (1918-1989)))). He thus lived in Lahore until his schooling was done, which was roughly 1892.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1888
At just 14 years old, he attended the Muhammadan Educational Conference in Lahore with Maulvi Noorudin which was organized by the famous Sir Syed Ahmad Khan of Aligarh(((see “”A Woman of Substance: The Memoirs of Begum Khurshid Mirza”“, (1918-1989)))).
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1889–March
Noorudin forcibly takes Shaikh Abdullah to Ludhiana where MGA is having his famous bait ceremony. He gets into the bait of MGA (((see “”A Woman of Substance: The Memoirs of Begum Khurshid Mirza”“, (1918-1989)))). His daughter writes that it was 1890 when he officially signed the bait form.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1891
After graduating from highschool in Lahore, he went home to his village Bhantani. His family wanted him to marry a Hindu girl, and he hadn’t told them that he converted to Islam via Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. He refuses to get married and instead catches a train to Aligarh and enrolls in the Muslim-Anglo-Oriental College (MAO) with a letter of recommendation from Maulvi Noorudin . He slept at the train station upon arrival and then found his way to the MAO, wherein he met an old colleague of his from Lahore, Zafar Ali Khan. He registered at the school and wrote Maulvi Noorudin as his guardian (((see “”A Woman of Substance: The Memoirs of Begum Khurshid Mirza”“, (1918-1989)))).
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1893
He gets sick and travels to Simla. He seems to have broken traveled to Qadian and broken his bait with MGA (((see “”A Woman of Substance: The Memoirs of Begum Khurshid Mirza”“, (1918-1989)))).
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1896
He is not mentioned in the famous list of 313 Ahmadi’s in 1896. Meanwhile, at Aligarh, Shiakh Abdullah won the Cambridge prize as the best speaker/debater at the college (((see “”A Woman of Substance: The Memoirs of Begum Khurshid Mirza”“, (1918-1989)))).
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1898
MGA and his team of writers publishes an edited letter from Maulvi Abdullah to MGA in terms of the Yuz Asaf grave. This letter was published in MGA’s 1898 book, “Raz i Haqiqat” in english as “A Hidden Truth”.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1900
At age 25-26, he totally graduates from the Aligarh college with a law degree and sets up a law-firm and starts making lots of money. He is advised that he should probably marry soon, his friend Bashir Mirza over hears this conversation and mentions his 3 younger sisters and dad Mirza Ibrahim Beg.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1901
In the winter, he travels to Delhi and makes a formal marriage proposal to Mirza Ibrahim Beg about his daughter.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1902
In February of 1902, he is married to Waheed (popularly known as Ala Bi). At the All India Muhammad Education Conference in Delhi he was elected as secretary of the female education section(((see “”A Woman of Substance: The Memoirs of Begum Khurshid Mirza”“, (1918-1989)))). They had many children together:
Daughter–Rashid Jahan–Born in roughly 1906
Daughter—Begum Khatun Jahan
Daughter–Mumtaz Jahan
Son—Mohsin
Son–Saeed
Daughter—Mirza Khurshid Begum—1918–1989. She would emphatically call her father as Papa Mian for the rest of her life.}
Daughter—Birji
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1904
He officially starts the Female Education Association (((see “”A Woman of Substance: The Memoirs of Begum Khurshid Mirza”“, (1918-1989)))). He starts his newspaper, “Risala Khatun”, which in english would be “Women’s magazine”, it last until 1914.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1906
The Aligarh Girls school had been setup by Shaikh Abdullah and his wife(((see “”A Woman of Substance: The Memoirs of Begum Khurshid Mirza”“, (1918-1989)))).
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1914
Shaikh Abdullah raises enough money to open a girls hostel at Ailgarh, right next to the school. This would eventually grow into the “Women’s College of Aligarh Muslim University” (((see “”A Woman of Substance: The Memoirs of Begum Khurshid Mirza”“, (1918-1989)))). His magazine, “Risala Khatun” ceases publications.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1914–March
Noorudin dies, Maulvi Abdullah continues to send money to Noorudin’s younger widow, Sughra Begum. We are not sure where the elder widow went(((see “”A Woman of Substance: The Memoirs of Begum Khurshid Mirza”“, (1918-1989)))).
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1939
Shaikh Abdullah’s wife dies. Her name was Waheed Jahan Begum, however, she was also called, “Begum Abdullah”, in english it would be, “The wife of Abdullah”. Professor S. Bashirudin wrote her autobiography, which was called, “Life and work of Begum Abdullah, Waheed Jahan Begum, 1884–1939 (See Woman of substance, page 68). Shaikh Abdullah even wrote a book about his wife entitled, “Sawanhi-i-Umri-i-Abdullah-Begum”.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________1965–March
He dies.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________Additional data
In the two biographical works on the life of Noorudin (english) books, this data is given:
1—-“”””Khan Bahadur Sheikh Abdullah Pleader: Formerly Thakur Das, he accepted Islam at the hand of Maulana Sahib. He was from Poonch. He had been under the deep influence of Maulana
Sahib and got his education in medicine from Hakeem Sahib and, because of the patronage of Hakeem Sahib, he was able to attend the Aligarh University for higher education and, later, he did attend his education in law.””” (see HAKEEM NOOR-UD-DEEN (Khalifatul Masih I) ——— The Way of the Righteous —— By: SYED HASANAT AHMAD, online edition, https://www.alislam.org/library/books/noor-ud-deen/hakeem-noor-ud-deen.pdf. retrieved on 4-7-17, see page 150)
2—-“””Sir Syed Ahmad Khan founded an All India Muhammadan Educational Conference in 1886 in order to create an urge and thirst for advanced education among Indian Muslim youths who
were left behind in this field. Hakeem Sahib was always in support of any movement that would advance the cause of the Muslims in India and, he was therefore the first among the people
who founded the educational conference and gave financial support. During the time he was in Poonch rendering medical treatment to the son of the Rajah of Poonch, he produced another
remarkable feat. In addition to the writing of Fasl-ul-Khitaab, he converted Thakur Das, a Brahman man in his service, to Islam. Hakeem Sahib sent this young man, Thakur Das, for advanced studies to Jammu and, when he returned, he embraced Islam. Because of the support and assistance enjoyed by him, he was able to complete his education at Aligarh University and, later, he was known as Khan Bahadur Sheikh Abdullah, advocate of the
High Court.”””” (IBID, see page 72)
“””When Hadrat Khalifatul Masihra was seriously ill after his fall from a mare he saw in a dream that someone had put a rupee in his pocket. He interpreted this as meaning that a son would be born to him. The dream was fulfilled on November 18, 1913, when he was blessed with a fifth son whom he named ‘Abdullah.””” ( Hadrat Maulawi Nur-ud-Dinra Khalifatul Masih I by Muhammad Zafrulla Khan, 2006 ISLAM INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATIONS LIMITED, online edition, see page 263) (Zafrullah Khan did not give a corresponding reference).
______________________________________________________________________________________________
The Editor of the Curzon Gazette wrote:
“”””We had not only known the late Maulawi Hakim Nur-ud-Dinra personally, we were on
very intimate terms with him in Jammu for several years. We met every evening. He was
very good-hearted and benevolent. He possessed a keen sense of humour. He was tall,
handsome, fair-complexioned, and wore a thick beard. He supervised the state schools and
hospitals diligently and honestly. He enjoyed a large salary, the greater part of which he
generously devoted to the maintenance and upkeep of deserving students. Throughout his
life he provided for hundreds of poor students. Shaikh ‘Abdullah, a young Kashmiri Brahmin,
became a Muslim through his teaching. He supported him and paid for his schooling and
education till he became a lawyer and set up in practice at ‘Ali Garh. Shaikh ‘Abdullah took a
keen interest in the education of women and started the publication of the journal Khatun
from ‘Aligarh.
Thus Hakim Nur-ud-Din ra was a living example of true benevolence. He had two great passions, promotion of the welfare of indigent students and the collection of rare books. All his
large income was devoted to these two purposes. He was very humble and courteous.
He performed all his duties righteously. Those who worked under him were well pleased with
him and never had any grievance. He was an erudite divine and a great scholar; he possessed
great proficiency in Arabic. During his leisure hours he gave lessons in Bukhari and Muslim.
He had a profound understanding of the faith.””””” (IBID, see pages 309-310).
_____________________________________________________________________________________________Links and Related Essays
Ahmadiyya leadership lied about the First Bait ceremony in 1889
_____________________________________________________________________________________________Tags
#ahmadiyya #ahmadiyyatrueislam #ahmadiapartheid #Ahmadiyyat #rabwah #qadian #meetthekhalifa #muslimsforpeace #ahmadiyyafactcheckblog #nolifewithoutkhalifa #AhmadiMosqueattack #AhmadiyyaPersecution #Mosqueattack #trueislam
8 Pingback