The Jamaat’s First Hospital

The recent inauguration of Nasir Hospital in Guatemala (on 23 October 2018) marks another project by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat for the service of humanity. 

We thought it was about time to take our readers back to the very first hospital built by the Jamaat.

Noor Hospital was the first to be built by the Jamaat. The foundations of this project were laid in the time of Hazrat Hakim Maulvi Nuruddin, Khalifatul Masih I^ra when Hazrat Mir Nasir Nawab^ra (father-in-law of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad^as) dedicated his life for the service of the Jamaat. 

He was given the responsibility of running an “old home” for the weak and frail who had nowhere to live. This facility was without any allocated premises and medical staff was very difficult to get hold of when they were required to visit a patient. Hazrat Mir Sahib^ra thought of having an allocated building for the facility that had been working in temporary, makeshift facilities. He requested Hazrat Khalifatul Masih I^ra that he launch a fundraising scheme for this noble purpose. Writing back to Hazrat Mir Sahib^ra, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih I^ra not only launched a scheme, but also donated an amount for this cause and promised to pay another 260 rupees. The project was of establishing a hospital to cater for both male and female patients.

With the approval of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih I^ra, Hazrat Mir Nasir Nawab^ra published an announcement in the Badr of 24 January 1909 stating that in view of the growing need for amenities in Qadian, four types of buildings were urgently required, for which, he announced, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih I^ra had not only given approval, but had also donated 260 rupees. The four buildings he intended to build were:

1. A mosque near the boarding house (It was this mosque that would later be known as the Noor Mosque that housed the election of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih II in 1914) 

2. A male hospital (later to be known as Noor Hospital)

3. A female hospital to be named Ummul Mominin Ward 

4. A care home by the name of “Dar-ul-Zu‘afa” to house the old and frail

The estimate for the cost of these four buildings was given at around twenty thousand rupees in total. Hazrat Mir Nasir Nawab^ra, despite old age, travelled across the length and breadth of the Indian subcontinent. His tireless efforts proved fruitful and all four facilities were later established through the funds that he had raised. The female hospital (the Ummul Mominin Ward) was not established separately but was incorporated in the Noor Hospital that catered for both.

Allah has a certain point of time destined for everything to happen. The hospital, named Noor Hospital in memory of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih I^ra, was inaugurated in September 1917 in the time of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih II^ra. This building was situated in the Dar-ul-Uloom area of Qadian. It later moved, with the same name of Noor Hospital, to its current location of Dar-ul-Fatuh, Qadian.

Although Hazrat Mir Nasir Nawab^ra carried out extensive journeys throughout India, the funds collected could still not suffice for the building of the facility. The annual report of Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya for the year 1917-1918 mentions the ongoing work of the hospital:

“The hospital in Dar-ul-Uloom has been built by donations that Hazrat Mir Nasir Nawab Sahib collected. But the Anjuman has to provide a grant and some furniture, while the roof of the main hall is yet to be placed. We hope that the accounts department will not forget this project in their appeal.”

This hospital – established so painstakingly and with so much limited resources – is now, by the grace of Allah, a hospital that caters for thousands of residents of not only Qadian but from the neighbouring towns and cities as well. It has all major departments that a hospital is expected to have. The standard of cleanliness, the professional qualifications of the medical and paramedical staff are of better level than even most of the state-run hospitals, and even most of the private ones in the whole country. The Noor Hospital held its centennial celebrations in October 2017 and was attended by dignitaries and local residents.

Such were the financial constraints when the first hospital was founded by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. But this goes to show how concerned the community has always been with regard to providing health facilities to mankind, regardless of faith, colour or creed. 

The reports of the Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya, right from 1908-1909 (the first report published by the Anjuman after the inception of Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyya) show that there was always a fund for a “Shifa Khana” (clinic) and reports had it that hundreds of patients were being seen by doctors and medicines were being dispensed. 

Fast forward a hundred years and what we have now is many hospitals of the community, rubbing shoulders with the best hospitals of their respective countries, and busy serving mankind.