Hadrat al-Haj Maulana Hafiz Hakeem Noor-ud-Deen (1841-

1914), may Allah be pleased with him, was the first Khalifah of

the Promised Messiah-Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as. He was

elected to this blessed office unanimously by the Community on

27 May 1908, shortly after the demise of the Promised Messiah as.

Hadrat Maulana Hakeem Noor-ud-Deen ra was born in

Bhera, India and was the 34th direct male descendant of Hadrat

'Umar ibn al-Khattab ra, the second Khalifah of the Holy Prophet

Muhammad sas. He started studying the Holy Quran at an early

age and travelled far and wide in pursuit of knowledge, including

Makkah and Madinah. He mastered Arabic and Hebrew, Islamic

jurisprudence and philosophy, commentaries on the Holy Quran,

and Persian poetry. In addition to his international renown as an

Islamic scholar, he was an accomplished physician serving as the

Royal Physician of the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir.

Like so many renowned scholars of the time, he immediately

recognized and accepted the Promised Messiah as, who wrote the

following about him: