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Special issue commemorating the arrival of Khwaja Kamal ud Din in the UK to propagate Islam
Citation preview
May 2013
Editors:
Shahid Aziz Mustaq Ali
Contents: Page The Inspiration for the 1 Propagation of Islam
The Woking Muslim Mission 2
The Mission’s Role in the 7 Creation of Pakistan The Mission’s Work in South Africa 11 ‘Id-ul-Adha at Woking, 1932 13
Khilafat Delegation at Woking 15 Qaid-i-Azam Prays Behind 16 Lahori Ahmadi Imam
حیم حمن الر بسم ہللا الرEditor’s acknowledgement: the material, text
and photographs printed in this issue have
been reproduced almost entirely from that
available at www.wokingmuslim.org. The
au thor of the text is Dr Zahid Aziz, who is
also the creator of the said website and is
responsible for updating it. However, in
some places explanatory notes have been
added for clarification or minor corrections
implemented.
How Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Inspired the Woking
Muslim Mission
Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din was one of the leading
followers of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the
Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement in India
(d. 1908), and was inspired to undertake the
work of propagation of Islam through his influ-
ence. Many other missionaries and scholars of
the Lahore Ahmadiyya Anjuman also served in
the Woking Muslim Mission as its Imams and
Heads. A Muslim scholar associated with the
Woking Mission, Shaikh Mushir Hosain Kidwai
of Gadia, wrote in a booklet Islam in England, in
1929:
“I am far from being a follower of Mirza
Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, but I cannot but give
him credit for having fired English educated
Muslims with a missionary zeal for Islam.
Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din is one of those men who
were, so to say, reclaimed to Islam by the Mirza
sahib, and that to this extent that he gave up his
flourishing practice at the Bar and voluntarily
May
2013
Webcasting on the world’s first real-time Islamic service at
www.virtualmosque.co.uk
Hazrat Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, founder of the Woking Muslim Mission and a prominent
foll ower of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, who sat at the feet of his spiritual master to learn Islam
2
May 2013
accepted to be an exile and came to England
with the sole object of preaching Islam.”
Maulana Muhammad Ali
Maulana Muhammad Ali (d. 1951), the first
Head of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, was
a close, life-long friend of Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din,
and indeed was introduced to Hazrat Mirza
Ghulam Ahmad in 1897 through the influence of
the Khwaja. Near the end of his life he wrote a
booklet in 1949 explaining what prompted him
to devote his life to the cause of the propagation
of Islam. He wrote:
“Whoever went to him [Hazrat Mirza Ghu-
lam Ahmad] he put a spark of the fire of the love
of God in the heart of that disciple. Just like me,
the late Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din too, by sitting at
the feet of the Imam of the age, was blessed with
opening the first Islamic mission to Europe at
Woking, shedding such light on the teachings of
Islam and the life of the Holy Prophet Muham-
mad that the entire attitude of Europeans to-
wards Islam changed.
“To those people who harbour ill-feeling
against the honoured Mujaddid [Hazrat Mirza
Ghulam Ahmad], or who fail to give him the re-
spect and love due to such a servant of the faith,
I say: Has there ever been in the world a liar and
imposter who filled the hearts of his followers
with such an urge for the propagation of Islam,
and to whom Almighty Allah gave so much help
as to continue fulfilling his dreams and aspira-
tions long after his death?”
Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din himself wrote in
1914:
“It was through him [Hazrat Mirza Ghulam
Ahmad] that in 1892 I became a Muslim anew.
Not only did I become a Muslim, but through his
guidance and prayers I was able to
make amends for the sin which
had been taking me towards
Christianity by showing Christians
the right path today. It was the
most auspicious and blessed day
of my life in 1893 when I took the
pledge, at the hand of the Messiah
sent by God, to hold religion above
the world. I would give anything
for those times which I spent in
the company and service of this
spiritually perfect man, which en-
abled me to fulfill my pledge as
best as I could. How can I forget
those favours and that love which
he bestowed on me, especially on me! Even if I
spent my whole life working for the aims and
objects of the Divine mission of this Muslim
Messiah, it would be little recompense for the
continuous prayers he said for me.”
The Woking Muslim Mission
24th September 2012 is the centenary of an
event which was to place the town of Woking on
the world map, in particular the map of the
Muslim world. It would lead to Woking being
visited for the next fifty years or more by kings,
statesmen, ambassadors, generals, intellectuals,
students, business men, and other leading fig-
ures from all over the Muslim world, as well as
British aristocrats, scholars, linguists, writers
and soldiers who had embraced Islam. Woking
came to be described as “a miniature of Mecca”
in the West.
On that day in 1912, there arrived in Eng-
land from Lahore, a city in British India, a man
called Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din (1870–1932). He
was by profession a lawyer and by vocation a
lecturer and orator on the religion of Islam and
comparative religion. He came to plead a civil
HRH Prince Amir Saud at a meeting organised by the Wok ing Mus lim Mission at the Shah Jehan Mosque, Woking
May 2013
3
as a mosque open for the use of all Muslims. He
moved to the mosque as Imam in mid-August 1913
during the month of Ramadan, and opened it for
regular use for the first time, with the call to
prayer being sounded five times a day. In the house
next to the mosque, he established the Woking
Muslim Mission.
The purpose of opening the mosque was not
merely to provide a prayer venue for Muslims in
Britain. The Khwaja considered his most important
work as being to place an accurate image of Islam
before the British people, as the religion which
best fulfilled the needs of the modern times.
Lead ing Muslims in the Indian subcontinent
con sidered this as an utterly mad and foolhardy
venture, doomed to failure. How could Islam be
acceptable in Britain, the country which domi-
nated the world with its most advanced civiliza-
tion, based on Christianity and science, while Mus-
lims were con sidered to be mere barbarians fol-
lowing a primitive faith unacceptable by any mod-
ern standards? How could the British, with their
mighty rule over a large part of the Muslim world,
including the country from where the Khwaja
came, take spiritual guidance from someone
be longing to their subject races who was promot-
ing his inferior religion? Yet the Khwaja was con-
vinced that, if the real and true Islam was pre-
sented in Britain, refuting its prevalent, distorted
image, people would become sympathetic to it,
and many of them would succumb to its appeal
and attraction. He derived this conviction, drive
and energy from his contact with his spiritual
mentor, the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement,
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (d. 1908).
Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din launched the monthly
Islamic Review in February 1913, which remained
in publication till around 1970. Besides contain-
ing articles on religious issues, it published news
relating to Muslims in Britain and thus its archives
are a unique chronicle of the history of Islam and
Muslims in this country during those years.
With Woking as his base, Khwaja Kamal-ud-
Din went around Britain giving lectures on Islam.
His activities were reported in national news-
pa pers as well as local papers such as the Surrey
Advertiser and the Woking News and Mail. The Brit-
ish Pathe news organisation filmed more than a
case before the Privy Council in London, the high-
est court of appeal for Indian cases at the time.
However, his plan beyond that was to present
Is lam in this country on public platforms and
cor rect the very serious misconceptions about
Is lam and Muslims, under which the people of
Britain and its religious and political leaders were
labouring. He soon came to know of the existence
of the mosque at Woking. It had been built in 1889
by Dr G.W. Leitner, a European scholar and linguist
who had helped in India in the establishment of
the University of the Punjab. The mosque was part
of his proposed Oriental Institute, which never
came to fruition. The cost of the construction of
the mosque was largely donated by Begum Shah
Jehan, the Muslim lady ruler of the state of Bhopal
in India, and the cost of the land by the ruler of the
Muslim state of Hyderabad Deccan.
From 1889, past the death of Dr Leitner in
1899, to the year 1913, the mosque was opened
only on special occasions and was generally
dere lict and disused. Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, while
considering where to base his missionary activi-
ties, first visited the mosque in January 1913. In
the summer of 1913, with the help of two promi-
nent Indian Muslims who held high official posi-
tions (Sir Abbas Ali Baig and the Right Honourable
Syed Ameer Ali), the Khwaja had a trust created to
take charge of the property and its status declared
Maulana Aftab-ud-Din (l, in turban) and HRH
Prince Faisal of Saudi Arabia at a meeting
4
May 2013
dozen occasions at the mosque between 1914
and 1958, which can be viewed on its website.
Soon the Khwaja gained many British con-
verts to his faith, among them people of high
education and some titled persons. The most
famous of them was a peer of the realm and dis-
tinguished civil engineer, Lord Headley, who,
after accepting Islam in November 1913,
worked tirelessly to help the cause of the
Wok ing Mission till his death in 1935.
Numerous books on Islam were published
from Woking, many of them written by Khwaja
Kamal-ud-Din himself. In 1917 the monumental
and voluminous English translation of the Quran
with extensive commentary, by Maulana Mu-
hammad Ali of Lahore, the first such work by a
Muslim available in the West, was published
from the Woking Mosque.
The Woking Mosque and Mission became
the national centre of Islamic activity in Britain.
Its Imam was regarded by the government as
the de facto head of the Muslim community of
the UK. The Eid prayers at Woking were, till the
mid-1960s, a national event for Muslims of
Brit ain. It became commonplace for visiting
dig nitaries of international fame from the
Mus lim world to call at the Woking Mosque.
Kings, princes, presidents, sultans, generals,
statesmen, political leaders, ambassadors, high
govern- ment officials, writers and intellectuals
from Muslim countries came to Woking to visit
the mosque and attend functions organised by
the Mission.
A Muslim, observing the Eid-ul-Adha gather-
ing at Woking, a festival which takes place on the
occasion of the great Pilgrimage to Mecca, wrote
in 1930: “Almost all Muslim nations in the world
are represented in the gardens of the Mosque,
prostrating themselves before their God and
magnifying the Most High, even as they magnify
Him at Mecca on this sacred occasion. Woking is
the only town in the world which becomes on
such days a replica in miniature of the Ancient
House of God in Arabia.”
Initially working with the barest of help,
Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din arranged for staffing of
the mission from India. The missionary and ad-
ministrative staff which came from the Indian
subcontinent had, like the Khwaja, to make great
sacrifices. The journey to England took at least
three weeks by sea and rail. Here they were
faced with an entirely unfamiliar environment,
May 2013
5
suffering hardships and deprived of all the
cul tural and social facilities for Muslims which
only started becoming available here in the
1960s. They left families behind, and the normal
means of communication with home was by let-
ter. Peo ple today cannot conceive that coming to
the UK in those days was not an alluring pros-
pect. It was the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement
which made the sacrifices to provide the staff
and the finances for the running of the Woking
Muslim Mission.
Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din concluded his first
visit to Britain in August 1914, returning again
in 1916. He made four or five visits in all. At the
end of his third visit, in June 1923, he
accompa nied Lord Headley to the pilgrimage at
Mecca, a journey widely covered in the press
here and in the Middle East. On the way, they
passed through Egypt, where public meetings
were held in Lord Headley’s honour. They paid a
call upon Field-Marshall Lord Allenby, the Brit-
ish representative in Egypt, who sent a report
about their visit to the Foreign Secretary in Lon-
don, Lord Curzon, these two men being famous
in British history.
During the two World Wars, the Woking
Muslim Mission extended its support to Britain,
in the same way as the British public did. During
the First World War, Kitchener’s famous appeal
“Your King & Country Need You” was published
in The Islamic Review. In 1914, the Imam of the
Woking Mosque was invited by the War Office to
approve a site for a Muslim cemetery for the
burial of soldiers who died here after being
wounded in the battlefields of France and
Bel gium. The Imam suggested that the cemetery
should be better located in Woking. The War
Office accepted his suggestion, and as a result a
cemetery was established within Brookwood,
which also came to be used as a general Muslim
cemetery.
When the Second World War began, the
Imam of the Woking Mosque declared in his Eid
sermon in November 1939: “Muslims are or-
dered [in the Quran] to sacrifice their lives not
only to save their own mosques but the religious
houses of other peoples as well. … [T]he very
fact that synagogues have been pulled down in
Ger many upon the slightest pretext makes it
obligatory upon us Muslims to throw our weight
into the cause of the Allies.”
A Muslim convert, First World War veteran
and Woking resident by the name of Major J.W.B.
Farmer (1897–1966), MBE, MC, who was also a
trustee of the Woking Mosque, was awarded the
MBE after the Second World War “in recognition
of Meritorious Service in the Home Guard” in
Surrey.
The Woking Mission also supported various
just Muslim causes around the world and
brought them to the notice of the public and
press in this country. As early as 1917 it publi-
cised the case for justice in Palestine. The best
minds from all over the Muslim world used to
meet at the Woking Mosque, where they used to
hold discussions on problems facing their
coun tries. The campaign for an independent
Muslim homeland on the Indian subcontinent,
with the proposed name of Pakistan, started
from a meeting of students at the Woking
Mosque in 1932.
Lord Headley (r) and Hazrat Khwaja
Kamal-ud-Din
6
May 2013
Various Muslim UK national organisations
also either had their birth at the Woking Mission
or sought assistance from the Mission in their
early days. The first public meeting of the
‘British Muslim Society’ was held at the Woking
Mosque on 20th December 1914. The first ever
‘Congress of Muslims living in the UK’ was a
gathering called by the Woking Mission, and it
was held as a two-day event on 25–26 June
1952 at the Woking Mosque.
The Central London Mosque in Regent’s
Park owes its origin to the Woking Muslim Mis-
sion. The plan to build a mosque in Central Lon-
don was proposed by Lord Headley during the
First World War. This was followed up in the
1930s by the creation of a Trust, collection of
funds, purchase of land, and even laying of the
foundation stone in West Kensington, near
Olympia. This Trust, whose original members
were headed by Lord Headley and Khwaja
Ka mal-ud-Din, was later incorporated into the
Trust that controls the Central London Mosque
in Regent’s Park today.
In this article, we must also note the general
picture of Islam as presented from the Woking
Muslim Mission. The distinctive features of
Is lam as emphasised through this Mission’s
work are that:
The beliefs and practices of Islam are sim-
ple and rational, and to be understood in the
light of knowledge and reason. There are no dog-
mas, mysteries or rituals imposed upon a believer.
The teachings of Islam are broadminded and
tolerant. Islam accepts others’ religions as being
originally revealed by God, acknowledges good in
people of other faiths, grants complete freedom of
religion to all, and urges friendship between faiths.
In Islam there is no priesthood which con-
trols the way to God.
Islam creates a universal brotherhood of peo-
ple of all countries, races, colours, classes and cul-
tures, disregarding all such distinctions.
Islam is not tied to the local culture of any
Muslim country.
It is a religion of unity, whose followers
should be united by its fundamental teachings, but
who respect one another’s differences.
Legacy of the Woking Muslim Mission
During the 1960s Muslim migrants, mostly from
Pakistan, arrived in the UK and settled in various
towns and cities, forming communities of increas-
ing size. Muslim religious centres and mosques be-
gan to spring up around the country, catering to the
religious and cultural needs of their local Muslim
communities. The Woking Mosque too went into
the hands of other management who turned it to
the use of the local Muslim population. From
around 1968 onwards, Woking ceased to be the
national centre for Muslims of the UK and to serve
its international role for the Muslim world. The
Woking Muslim Mission no longer operated.
The passage of time since then, however, has
proved that the picture of Islam as presented by the
Woking Mission is needed more than ever before in
order to solve the problems of the Muslims in the
UK and to improve their standing in the country
and their relationship with the wider community.
Islam as preached from the Woking Mission was
the very opposite of the religious extremism, isola-
tion and separatism from general society, and
wholesale rejection of all modern ideas, which are
the attitudes, rightly or wrongly, associated with
Muslims living in the UK today. The Woking Mission
did not teach that Muslims should become an in-
ward-looking community, living in isolation and
regarding the outside society as a threat. Instead of
this, Muslims must communicate and interact with
Dr Abdullah (front row, in turban) and Maulana S M Tufail (next to him) with a group
of Muslims and non-Muslims
May 2013
7
the wider society, explain their faith to others
sympathetically, respond to criticism in a digni-
fied manner, present to others the best they can
offer from their values, and accept from others
the best they have to offer. In responding to
of fence or grievances, whether real or per-
ceived, Muslims must be temperate and abstain
from violence.
The Woking Mission also showed how
Mus lims could be true to Islam and yet fit into
British society and life. For this they must cor-
rect some of their own religious notions which
are not justified by Islam, and they must bring
about reform of certain Muslim cultural and so-
cial practices which are not part of the religion
of Islam but merely local customs in some
places in the Muslim world which are now prov-
ing harmful.
The website www.wokingmuslim.org, man-
aged by the writer of this article, is devoted to
compiling all the available information and re-
cords, in the form of printed material, photo-
graphs, newsreel film clips, about the history
and activities of the Woking Muslim Mission.
The Woking Muslim Mis sion’s Role in the Creation of Pakistan
by Khwaja Salahuddin Ahmad
(Editor’s note: Most people in India and
Paki stan believe that the Muslim League, a
politi cal party of the Muslims of the Indian sub-
continent was established to win freedom for the
Muslims living there. In fact, it was created to
make the Mus lims of India loyal to their British
rulers. It was the Congress, a secular political
party, which first demanded independence for
India. There were some Muslims who were
wor ried that, once the British left, the Muslims
would be overwhelmed by the Hindu majority
and wanted a separate homeland to be created
for Muslims. Chaudhry Rehmat Ali was one such
person. This article shows that he got his spark of
inspiration about how to put his idea into prac-
tice in the Drawing Room of the Mission House.
The following article originally appeared in The
Light & Islamic Review, vol. 74, no. 4, July–
August 1997, pages 5–8,on the occasion of the
50th anniversary of the birth of Pakistan.)
(Introduction: The writer [Khwaja Salahuddin
Ahmad] is the son of the late Khwaja Kamal-ud-
din, Founder of the Woking Muslim Mission, and
was a student in England at the time when
Ch. Rehmat Ali reached those shores in connec-
tion with his studies, brimming over with the
idea of an independent homeland of Muslims in
Northern In dia, that was put before the nation
by Allama Iqbal in his famous Allahabad address
before the All-India Muslim League in 1930. He
was, however, just toying with this big idea,
which took the first concrete shape accidentally
at one of the Sunday meetings of the Muslims at
the Woking Mosque, which Ch. Rehmat Ali, like
so many other Muslim students in England,
came to attend. In the following article Mr Sala-
huddin Ahmad, a personal participant in how
the Paki stan idea took definite shape, throws
light on some of the missing links in the story.
Footnote by the Editor of the website (1997):
Khwaja Ka mal-ud-Din, as he himself has acknowl-
edged, received all his inspiration, urge and faith to
do this work from Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.
Maulana Yakub Khan (sitting, first left); Hazrat Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din (sitting, centre);
Mr Marmaduke Pickthall, the famous translator of the Holy Quran into English (next to the Khwaja)
8
May 2013
His purpose, as he explains, is to put the record
straight while most of those who collaborated
with Ch. Rehmat Ali are still alive and would be
in a position to endorse his story.)
AN ARTICLE under the caption The Forgotten
Hero appeared in the Pakistan Day Supplement
of the Pakistan Times last August [1965]. The
writer Mr M. Anwar, writing about Ch. Rehmat
Ali, recorded therein some important facts
which will no doubt be most useful for future
generations when records of events which led
up to the establishment of
Pakistan are placed in their
proper and true perspec-
tive. …
Some controversy in the
correspondence columns of
the Pakistan Times ensued
after the publication of Mr.
Anwar’s article referred to
above. In one of the letters
someone even said that the
people who originally
worked with Ch. Rehmat Ali
in England were dead long ago. I felt like contra-
dicting that at that time but refrained from do-
ing so. Since then a number of my friends who
also know the actual facts, but themselves lack
the authority of one who was present at those
meetings have insisted that a record of those
meetings should be made and that it was neces-
sary that this should be recorded in the lifetime
of those who took part in one or more of those
meetings.
I, because of my particular connection with
the Woking Muslim Mission, was an active
par ticipant in all the meetings that finally re-
sulted in Ch. Rehmat Ali taking up the difficult
task of fulfilling the Mission that he was des-
tined for. Fortunately, by the grace of Allah,
seven of us are still alive. All of the seven are
well established in their own fields. Those
peo ple fill the gap in the sequence of events and
answer the question why Ch. Rehmat Ali, an
ar dent follower of Allama Iqbal, should have
begun this movement in 1933 after a sojourn in
Cambridge and not earlier, particularly when he
was in his own country?
First meeting at Woking It was in the summer of 1932, it may have been
June or July, that Ch. Rehmat Ali, who was then at
Cambridge, came to Woking on a Sunday. Sunday at
Woking is a day on which a small gathering of Brit-
ish Muslims come into contact with their brothers
in Islam from other parts of the world. There is al-
ways a lecture in the afternoon by the Imam in the
Mosque and this is followed by prayers and then a
sojourn to the Woking Muslim Centre adjoining the
Mosque, where discussions on
religion continue till late in the
evening. Ch. Rehmat Ali had on
one such Sunday come earlier
to lunch by invitation from the
Imam Maulana Abdul Majid so
as to spend the day with us.
With Ch. Rehmat Ali, even be-
fore we sat down to lunch, the
only topic of conversation was
Allama Iqbal. He certainly had
intimate contact with the Al-
lama and as a true disciple he
had nothing but love and veneration for that great
scholar. It was during these all-absorbing talks
about the great poet that he began to lay great
stress on the Allama’s one ardent wish that the ar-
eas predominantly populated by Muslims in India
should become the homelands of the Muslims and
Ch. Rehmat Ali repeatedly stressed that in this
alone lay the solution for the future of the Muslims
in India.
It appeared, however, that no Muslim luminar-
ies had given much thought to the practical imple-
mentation of the dream, and therefore so far it was
only an idea, a topic for discussion, and the danger
now was that having remained an idea for so long it
might remain just an idea. It seemed to all of us
quite tragic that one of the greatest thinkers of the
world had given expression to his feelings and so
far it had not gone beyond the stage of being a topic
for a drawing-room discussion, particularly when
the destiny of a hundred million Muslims in the
subcontinent was at stake. The danger was that it
might only remain an idea.
At this stage Maulana Abdul Majid said: “Why
Hazrat Maulana Sadr-ud-Din with a group
May 2013
9
do our people only talk, why don’t they do
something? If Allama Iqbal has a message for his
people, so far as he is concerned he has done his
duty and if you are convinced that therein alone
lies the solution, then why not do something
about it?”
On Ch. Rehmat Ali’s query as to
what could be done, Maulana Majid
pointed to the photo of my father,
Khwaja Kamal-ud-din, on one of
the walls, adding:
“Do what he did. He had an idea
in which he believed. He had seen
with sorrow the 600 million Mus-
lims of the world in restless slum-
ber, seeping with Western influ-
ence, submerging under a defeated
outlook and gradually losing sight
of their own past heritage. With his
faith abounding in the supreme
teachings of the Holy Quran and the
Holy Prophet, he decided to unfurl
the standard of Islam in the heart
of Christendom, and challenge Trinity on its
own soil. He was convinced that the supreme
message of Islam had to be revived from the
West. He opened this centre and started The
Islamic Review which he sent to the Muslim in-
telligentsia of the world.”
Continuing the story as to how one man’s
dream and determined effort led to the unfold-
ing on British soil of the flag of Islam at Woking,
the Imam Abdul Majid went on to say:
“Maulana Mohammad Ali Johar came here to
see him on one such Sunday with a number of
friends. During their talk Maulana Mohammad
Ali suddenly got up and said: ‘Khwaja, I want to
see your library, your Islamic Review is so full of
Islamic theology that it must be very extensive, I
am interested to see it.’ Khwaja Sahib could only
smile and followed him to the next room. But
there was no library and the Maulana enquired
where was the library? To this Khwaja Sahib
replied by removing from the shelf a copy of the
Holy Quran, saying, ‘This is my library.’ The
Khwaja worked relentlessly, like a reaper, sow-
ing seeds as fast as he could and to let the seed-
lings flourish on soils all ready in crying need of
revival. There is no doubt the seeds did take root,
people from all parts of the Muslim world wherever
he went, wanted to hear him personally and re-
ceived him with open hearts. So, why don’t you fol-
low his example and if there is something vital in
this idea for the Muslims, it would take
root, shall we say, in about ten years
time?”
Ch. Rehmat Ali was visibly impressed and
silently reflected within his mind. His
feelings were stirred. After a while he
spoke out: “Something definite must in-
deed be done.” But to give it shape, he
added, and for him to take the initiative,
he would need the help of workers. This
part of the work was not for the Imam
and I therefore volunteered to take this
on myself. I suggested another meeting
the following Sunday at Woking, to which
I promised to invite some friends of
mine.
Shaikh Mohammad Jamil, Bar-at-Law, son
of the late K.B. Shaikh Noor Illahi Sahib,
with Khan Mohammad Aslam Khattak,
son of the late Khan Bahadar Kuli Khan, both of
them studying for their MA (Hons) at Oxford, were
then staying at 4 Hook Road, Surbiton, a town 20
miles from Wok ing. Both were affectionately dis-
posed towards me and by their nature could be de-
pended upon to stand for anything worthy of a sup-
port. Before Ch. Rehmat Ali left Woking that day it
was settled by phone that both of them would come
the following Sunday at lunch time. Ch. Rehmat Ali
went back from Woking by the evening train, a de-
termined and dedicated man, to give the idea a
practical shape. On this particular Sunday there
was also present a professor from Kashmir with his
family. I do not recollect his name. It was his first
visit to the Mosque. So intense was his interest in
this matter that he came again the following Sun-
day and then again to the third and final meeting at
Surbiton.
Second meeting at Woking The second meeting which took place on the fol-
lowing Sunday again at the Woking Mosque was an
important one because we were now assembled
not to consider the feasibility of the idea but to give
it an immediate and practical shape. At this second
The first issue of The Islamic Review
10
May 2013
meeting, the people present were: Maulana Ab-
dul Majid, Ch. Rehmat Ali, a gentleman who was
later also associated with him in his work,
whose name I do not remember, Shaikh
Mohammad Jamil, Khan Mohammad Aslam
Khattak, the professor from Kashmir and myself.
There was one other gentleman known to all of
us, but whose name need not to be mentioned.
Both Shaikh Jamil and Aslam Khattak were
very happy that some initiative to propel such a
movement was being taken and were prepared
to give their full support. They pointed out how-
ever that Muslim students in England, although
full of fervour and generosity for anything of
national interest, being in a foreign country,
were not only dispersed all over but also had
very limited time and means for anything else
but their studies. They felt that the mantle for
carrying this movement through to the end
must fall on Ch. Rehmat Ali himself.
The following decisions were taken at this
meeting:
(1) That the movement should be begun by
Ch. Rehmat Ali from Cambridge.
(2) That he should start issuing a monthly
pamphlet to give publicity and projection to this
movement whenever possible. I had shown the
meeting a copy of our Woking Muslim Mission
Gazette which had a map of the world on top of
the opening page with a minaret at Woking in
England and suggested that the pamphlet could
similarly have only a map of India in white,
while the areas that were to be separated for
Muslims were to be green. This illustration on
top would speak for itself and convey the mes-
sage pointedly.
(3) That it was agreed that I would give him
the addresses of the subscribers of The Islamic
Review, who consisting as they did largely of the
Muslim intelligentsia throughout India, would
be the appropriate people to send this pamphlet
to.
(4) That large quantities of the pamphlet
should be in readiness for distribution at our
Eid Festival and Milad-un-Nabi functions ar-
ranged at Woking.
(5) That it was agreed that I would give the
addresses of Muslims in England, whose contact is
maintained by the Mission for purposes of invita-
tion to religious functions.
The meeting continued till late in the evening,
the last trains for their journeys back to their
homes had to be caught by some of the partici-
pants. It was therefore thought that a third meeting
was again necessary (1) to evolve a name for the
Muslim areas, (2) to give it a formal shape, (3) that
since the matter was now a political issue and had
already reached the stage of political party we
should hold the next meeting the following Sunday
at 4, Hook Road, Surbiton, with Shaikh Mohammad
Jamil and K. M. Aslam Khan as hosts.
Third meeting in Surbiton
At this third meeting, the people in the previous
meetings with the exception of Maulana Abdul
Ma jid were present but with the addition of Khwaja
Abdur Rahim, Bar-at-Law, and Mr Inayaullah.
Khwaja Rahim suggests the name At this meeting Ch. Rehmat Ali was formally en-
trusted with the work of the movement. This
meet ing is important because it was at this meeting
that after a great deal of discussion, Khwaja Abdul
Ra him suggested the name of Pakistan. This was
accepted by all of us spontaneously instead of
His Highness Prince Azam Jan Bahadur
of Berar laying the foundation stone of the
London Nizamiah Mosque at Mornington
Avenue, West Kensington, London on Friday,
June 4th 1937. The mosque was never built and
the project was replaced by the current
mosque at Regent’s Park.
May 2013
11
alter natives such as Muslimabad, Islamabad, etc.
The name was not chosen because it contained
the first letters of names of areas that were to be
in Pakistan. The name was accepted because
pak, meaning pakeesgi or purity, is a first neces-
sity before our approach to God. In Islam, pak is
cleanliness in its purest form. It is cleanliness
distinct from the ‘Non-pak’ cleanliness under-
stood by the Hindus with their cow worship
ma nia. The name Pakistan had an invitation to
be free from all un-Godliness and a place where
they could humble themselves before Allah in all
humility, should He bless us with such a place,
and try their best to contribute a better practice
in fulfilment of their faith.
The meeting ended. Thereafter the burden,
the work and its success were all the achieve-
ments of Ch. Rehmat Ali. Wherever it was possi-
ble to send that pamphlet, he sent it. Wherever
it was possible to distribute it, he was there with
his friend and assistant to do it. He little knew
that like John the Baptist he was heralding the
coming of another, who finally in all his gran-
deur came, took up the standard and planted it
in the soil which he with his clarion call claimed
as Pakistan and succeeded where others had
failed to give Solidarity, Unity and Faith to a peo-
ple clamouring for a place which they could call
their own Pak homeland.
Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din and Lord Headley Visit South Africa in 1926: Reports in The Moslem
Outlook, Cape Town
The Moslem Outlook, describing itself as “The only
Weekly Mouthpiece of the Muslim community in
South Africa”, published the following news item
about the forthcoming arrival of Khwaja Kamal-ud-
Din and Lord Headley in its issue for February 20th,
1926 (vol. II, No. 55) on the front page.
Muslims of Africa Welcome
Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din and
Lord Headley
A RED-LETTER DAY IN MUSLIM AFRICAN HISTORY
GREAT RECEPTION PREPARED FOR
MONDAY NEXT
Monday 22nd February, 1926 will ever be remem-
bered by Muslims of South Africa. That day will wit-
ness the landing on South African shores of Al-Haj
El Farooq (Lord Headley) and Al-Haj the Khwaja
Kamal-ud-Din, B.A., Ll.B., world renowned Imam of
the Woking Mosque, England. Great and sincere
will be the welcome extended to our distinguished
guests by Muslims of this country. From far and
near have we received messages from our brethren
expressing their joy that the first Muslim Mission to
The Muslim Society of Great Britain celebrating the Birthday of the Holy Prophet Muhammad
at the Hotel Metropole, London WC2. Sir Muhammad Akbar Hydari was in the Chair.
12
May 2013
South Africa has become a reality. From all cen-
tres in the Union – and even from far across our
South African borders – have we received com-
munications from representative Muslim com-
munities expressing the wish that our distin-
guished guests pay them a visit, and thus reveal
once more the real and loving brotherhood that
exists among Muslims. Islam is not a dormant
force in Africa, it is pulsating with life in its most
intensive form. That spirit will, we are sure, be
evidenced on Monday next.
RADIO MESSAGE TO MOSLEM OUTLOOK READERS
Just as we went to press we received from Al-
Haj Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din and Lord Headley a
radio message to the effect that they heartily
desired to thank their co-religionists for the
welcome that will be extended to them on their
arrival in South Africa on Monday next.
WHAT MUSLIMS IN EAST AFRICA DESIRE
“The Moslem Outlook, the excellent Muslim or-
gan of Africa issued from Cape Town gives us to
understand that a Mission consisting of Khwaja
Kamal-ud-Din of Woking fame and Al-Haj Lord
Headley is expected to visit South Africa for reli-
gious preaching. Some local enthusiasts insist
that they should also visit Tanganyika on their
way back just as other Indian missionaries did
sometime ago, notably Mr. Chamupati of Guru-
kul. The Anjuman Islamia of this place is in cor-
respondence with Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din’s mis-
sion.” — The African Comrade.
S.A. PRESS ON THE MUSLIM MISSION
The majority of South African newspapers have
informed their readers concerning the forth-
coming visit of our distinguished guests. Several of
our contemporaries commented on the fact and
here we reproduce the opinion of the leading Jo-
hannesburg daily The Star:
“South Africa is a long way behind America in
receiving public lecturers from the rest of the
world, but the latest announcement in this respect
is very interesting indeed. A telegram from Cape
Town published yesterday says that Lord Headley,
‘the well-known British Muslim peer’ (the only one
as a matter of fact) is coming out on the Balmoral,
accompanied by a Muslim dignitary from Woking
Mosque, to speak at various places in the Union.
“Lord Headley is a firm believer in immor tality.
Apart from a claim he makes to have seen his own
father after the latter’s death, he rea sons from the
scientific view that matter is indestructible, going
on to say that: ‘This being the case, is it conceivable
that the human mind, heart, soul and intelligence –
which together form the grandest creation we
know anything about, and which control and direct
matter – should alone be singled out for total
de struction? Is it at all likely that indestructibility
should be confined to the grosser forms of
crea tion?’”
On page 2 of the same issue of The Moslem Outlook,
the text of the welcome addresses to be presented to
Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din and Lord Headley are pub-
lished as follows.
South African Muslims’ Appreciation of Notable Service
ELOQUENT ADDRESSES TO
AL-HAJ KHWAJA KA MAL-UD-DIN
& LORD HEADLEY
The following are the draft copies of the addresses,
which we are privileged to publish, and which will
be presented to Al-Haj El Farooq (Lord Headley)
and Al-Haj Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din on Monday next,
at 8 p.m., in the City Hall, Cape Town.
To AL-HAJ KHWAJA KAMAL-UD-DIN, B.A., LL.B.
DEAR SIR AND RESPECTED BROTHER IN ISLAM
On behalf of the Muslim community in South Africa,
we, the undersigned, desire to extend to you a
hearty welcome on this your first visit to South
Hazrat Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din with early converts
May 2013
13
Af rica.
We are deeply conscious, as indeed is the
whole Muslim World, of the untiring energy and
zeal with which you have laboured in the cause
of Islam particularly as head of the Islamic Mis-
sion at Woking, in England.
Your erudition and genial disposition, com-
bined with a deep sense of modesty and sincer-
ity of purpose, have contributed in no small
measure to the spread of enlightenment con-
cerning the fundamental truth of Islam in the
West. Your lucid writings have indeed borne
good fruit, and it is our earnest prayer that Allah
may bless you abundantly as you continue your
labours in the noble cause. Happy indeed are we
to bear testimony to the fact that, as a worthy
son of Islam, you have dedicated your life to the
propagation of Islam in the West.
May your ministrations continue with
Al lah’s blessing, to be productive of good.
In conclusion we express the hope that your
sojourn in this land may be a happy one and
that you will return to Woking with renewed
energy to labour for the noble cause you have at
heart.
To THE RT. HON. LORD HEADLEY (AL-HAJ EL FAROOQ)
May it please Your Lordship, as a respected
Brother in Islam, to accept this address as a to-
ken of esteem and goodwill from the Muslim
community of South Africa.
We, the undersigned, desire to extend to
Your Lordship a hearty welcome on this your
first visit to South Africa.
We have learnt to recognise in you a Muslim
imbued with the spirit of high ideals. As President
of the British Muslim Society you have rendered, at
great personal sacrifice, glowing service to Islam in
the West. The whole Islamic world appreciates
highly your valuable writings that so truly breathe
the spirit of toleration.
It is our earnest prayer that your life may prove
an enduring testimony that Islam, contrary to West-
ern opinion, is an elevating and ennobling force
that seeks to manifest the potentiality of brother-
hood founded on lasting and triumphant religious
ideals. May you long be spared to serve the cause
which we know you have at heart.
We hope that your sojourn in this country will
prove a pleasant one and that you will carry away
with you a firmer conviction of the unity that ob-
tains in Islam.
Report of ‘Id-ul-Adha at Wok ing,16th April 1932
Published in The Sunday Times
Prayers led by English Muslim, William
Bashyr-Pickard
From The Islamic Review, August 1932
The report of this ‘Id-ul-Adha was published in The
Sunday Times, 17th April 1932, and is reproduced
below from The Islamic Review, August 1932, pages
248–249.
THE EID-UL-AZHA AT WOKING
It is raining hard, and brightness pierces through
heavy leaden skies, and from the sloping top of a
large marquee, pegged out on a sodden field, to-day
drip rivulets of water.
And yet inside are over four hundred of the
most happy and contented people I have ever seen.
Indians, Malayans, Persians, Arabs, Afghans and
Moroccans mingle with French and English, their
racial differences forgotten in their common faith of
Islam.
The marquee is erected near the blue and gold
Shah Jehan Mosque, whose whited dome can be
seen from the railway line, and has been needed
The children of the L And SW Railway orphanage
(Woking) entertained by the Woking Muslim Mission
14
May 2013
because the Mosque is far too small for the cele-
bration of Eid-ul-Azha. One of the most sacred
Muslim festivals, it is held yearly to commemo-
rate God’s restraining of Abraham when he at-
tempted to make a sacrifice of his son Ishmael.
Coverings had been spread over the grass
under the marquee, and stoves were dotted
about to bring a little physical warmth to the
damp atmosphere, which had no effect on the
good spirits and fellowship of the worshippers.
Before and after the service they laughed
and chatted together, often breaking off to give
the double heart embrace of their faith. Young
students kept darting about, eager to meet and
embrace each other, and older members, to
whom they showed a respect that was marked
by affection but not awe.
The officiating Imam, Aftab-ud-din Ahmad,
had issued the invitations, but he smilingly
stood aside for an English Muslim, Mr. William B.
Bashyr-Pickard, B.A. (Cantab), and who is the
li brarian of Hertford, to conduct the prayers.
The portion of the Koran relating to Abra-
ham’s sacrifice was read, and Mr. Bashyr-Pickard
told of the brotherhood of man, without antago-
nism of race or class, which is the basis of the
Muslim relig ion.
Mr. Bashyr-Pickard (the Arabic prefix means
“one who brings good news”) is the first English
Moslem to conduct the prayers at the festival of Eid
-ul-Azha.
Many of the congregations were seated on the
ground, and some, feeling that the marquee was a
veritable mosque, had removed their shoes. Most of
the men wore European clothes, with fezes and tur-
bans. A few Eastern women, wearing saris, sat in
chairs at the back, near the many English women.
Lord Headley, who is president of the British
Maulana S M Tufail, Imam of the Woking Mosque, speaking to
Her Majesty, Queeen Elizabeth II after the Commonwealth Day service
May 2013
15
Muslim Society, wore a red fez almost as impres-
sive as the white headdress of Sir Umar Hayat
Khan, who, in a yellow tunic and white trousers,
stood near him.
Lunch was served in the marquee after the
service, and a number of young students acted
as stewards. There was no “top table” and no
place-names.
Among those present were their Excel-
lencies The Egyptian Minister, The Hedjaz
Minister and the Charge d’Affaires of Af-
ghanistan, Colonel Nawab Sir Umar Hayat
Khan, Al-Hajj EI-Farooq Lord Headley, Rt.
Rev. Bishop James, Prof. Haroun Mustafa
Leon, the merchant prince Zainul Ali Raza,
Mr. Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Mrs. Buchanan Ham-
ilton, Nawabzada F. M. Khan, Sir Bramwell
and Miss Thomas, and Mr. Habibullah Love-
grove. The members of the spiritualist com-
munity attended the function in a number
never witnessed before.
(The Sunday Times, 17th April 1932, reproduced
from The Islamic Review, August 1932, pages
248–249.)
Indian Khilafat Delegation Attends ‘Id-ul-Fitr at Woking
(Editor’s note: Towards the end of WWI the Turks
found themselves in a very difficult position because
the Allied Powers gave Greece greater importance.
The Turks appealed to other Muslims for help and in
India a movement called The Khilafat Movement
was started by Muslims. It was joined by many
prominent Hindus such as Mahatma Gandhi. The
movement also wanted to preserve what remained of
the khilafat. Eventu ally, the Turks themselves abol-
ished the khilafat and established a modern secular
state, thereby ending the system under which all
Mus lim rulers ruled in the name and with the per-
mission of the Khalifa.)
A delegation from the Khilafat Movement attended
‘Id-ul-Fitr at the Woking Mosque on Thursday, 17th
June 1920. A report of the function in The Islamic
Review states:
“There were, roughly speaking, about three
hundred people of various nationalities, including
the press representatives and photographers, who
came to take down the proceedings and photos of
the festival for the various periodicals. There were
Indian Muslims in turbans of different colours,
Sir Abdul Qadir, a leading Sunni Muslim, conducting the ‘Id-ul-Fitr service at the Woking Muslim
Mission, which was mostly financed by the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement
16
May 2013
there were Muslims from Egypt and Arabia in
red turbouches, there were Muslims from the
heart of Africa in long-flowing robes, and above
all, there were British Muslims in their English
dresses. … The most important guests were: the
Hon. Sahibzada Aftab Ahmad Khan, member of
India Council; Mr. Mohammad Ali, Head of the
Indian Khilafat Delegation, with his colleagues;
the Paramount Chief of Lagos (Africa), with his
devoted son who held the gorgeous umbrella
over his father’s head; Nawab Sarwar Ali Khan,
Chief of Kurwai, with his nephew Faiz
Mohammad Khan, Chief of Maler Kotla; Dr. H. M.
Leon, M.A., Ph.D.; Mr. Marmaduke Pickthall; Mr.
Habib-Ullah Lovegrove; Mr. Abdul Karim Lofts,
Magnetic Healer; Dr. Charles Garnett, M.A., D.D.;
and other British Muslim brothers and sisters.”
(The Islamic Review, June–July 1920, pp. 224–
225.)
After the prayers and the khutba, delivered
by the Imam, Maulvi Mustapha Khan, and the
conclusion of the religious ceremony, there was
a short speech by Mohammad Ali Jauhar:
“Mr. Mohammad Ali of the Khilafat Delega-
tion then delivered a short informal address in
keeping with the subject of the sermon. The
feelings of Muslim brotherhood, he said, were
deeply ingrained in our nature. A Muslim cannot
but feel for and sympathize with his Muslim
brother whether they be coming from the ends
of the earth. A message of prayer and devotion
was then decided upon to be sent to the Sultan
of Turkey as Khalifa of Islam, and a telegram to
be sent to the King-Emperor praying His Maj-
esty that in the revised treaty of Turkey no dis-
memberment of Turkish Empire and Jazirat-ul-
Arab may be allowed. ”
(Ibid., p. 226.)
Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam Lahore (UK)
The first Islamic Mission in the UK, established 1913 as the Woking Muslim Mission
Dar-us-Salaam, 15 Stanley Avenue, Wembley, UK, HA0 4JQ
Centre: 020 8903 2689 President: 020 8529 0898 Secretary: 01753 575313 E-mail: [email protected]
Websites: www.aaiil.org/uk | www.ahmadiyya.org | www.virtualmosque.co.uk
Donations: www.virtualmosque.co.uk/donations
The Qaid-i-Azam, M.A. Jinnah Prays
Behind an Ahmadi Imam