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Contents Page

Announcements & Programme Three-day Centenary Convention 3

Editorial Note 5

Speakers at the Centenary of the Woking Muslim MissionHazrat Ameer Prof. Dr Abdul Karim Saeed (Pakistan)Councillor Anne Roberts, Deputy MayorDr Gerdien Jonker (Germany)The Lord Ahmad of WimbledonRt. Hon. Jonathan Lord, MPDr Taj Hargey (Oxford)Mr Ray Morgan, Chief Executive, Woking Borough CouncilDr Zahid Aziz (Nottingham)Mr Amir Aziz al-Azhari (Pakistan)

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What others have said

Brig. (R) Muslim Pervez Salamat (A Miracle at Woking)Khizar Humayun Ansari (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)Rais Ahmad Jafari (Deed-o-Shuneed)Dr Ashiq Hussain Batalvi (Chand Yadain, Chand Taassurat)Who is Who (Oxford UniversityPress)

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April 2013 Acting Editor: Nasir Ahmad B.A. LL.B. Vol. No. 7, Issue No. 9

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CELEBRATINGCELEBRATINGCELEBRATINGCELEBRATING

100 YEARS OF PROPAGATION OF ISLAM IN THE UK100 YEARS OF PROPAGATION OF ISLAM IN THE UK100 YEARS OF PROPAGATION OF ISLAM IN THE UK100 YEARS OF PROPAGATION OF ISLAM IN THE UK

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Announcements & Programme

Three-day Centenary Convention

Friday, 3rd May 2013

12:50Azaan Mr Hamaad Ahmad1:00 Prayers and Khutba Hazrat Ameer Dr A. K. Saeed

3:00 First Session: Chairman Sh. Umer Farooq, Pakistan3:10 3:20 Sh. Umer Farooq (English, 10 mins. Urdu)

3:30 3:50 Shaijkh Kasiem, Holland (English, 10 mins. Dutch)4:00 4:20 Mr Reza Ghafoerkhan, Holland (English, 10 mins. Dutch)

4:304:50 Break

4:50 Second Session: Chairman Mr Amir Aziz, Pakistan4:55 5:15 Mr Abdul Santoe, Holland (English, 10 mins. Dutch)

5:25 5:45 Dr I. Jahangiri, USA (English, 10 mins. Urdu)5:55 6:10 Mrs Galida Badoella, Suriname (English, 5 mins. Dutch)

6:15AsrPrayers

6:45 Dinner

8:15 Maghrib & Isha Prayers

8:30 ALL guests leave for hotel in Woking

-*-

Saturday 4th May 2013

10:30 Opening Prayer Hazrat Ameer Dr A. K. SaeedExtract from the poems ofHazratMirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Holy Founder of the Ahmadiyya

Movement in Islam

10:50 Chairperson: The Deputy Mayor of Woking, Councillor Anne Roberts11:05 Hazrat Ameer Speech, with summary in Urdu

11:40 Mr Jonathan Lord, MP, Woking11:50 Dr Zahid Aziz The Woking Muslim Mission in Newsreel Film Archives, with summary in Urdu

12:30 The Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon12:45 Mr Ray Morgan, Chief Executive, Woking Borough Council

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1:00ZuhrPrayer and Lunch

2:15 Opening Prayer Mr Amir Aziz2:20 Chairperson: The Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon2:22 Dr Gerdien Jonker Research Scholar, Berlin

2:52 Mr Amir Aziz Speech, with summary in Urdu

3:15 Closing Prayer

Optional Visits

3:45 The Light Box, Chobham Road, Woking, GU21 4AA4:15 Shah Jahan Mosque, Oriental Road, Woking, Surrey, GU22 7BA

5:00 Brookwood Cemetery, Cemetery Pales, Brookwood, Woking, GU24 0BL

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Sunday 5th May 2013

Early breakfast hosted at home by Azhar-ud-Din Ahmad

Guests have two options: Southall or AlpertonThere will be two vehicles: one to Southall, one to Alperton

1:00ZuhrPrayers at Alperton Hazrat AmeerThanks by representatives from variousJamaats

Closing Dua Hazrat Ameer

2:00 Lunch

3:00 ICC and AALMI Meetings for those concerned

3:00 Visitors can either go shopping in Alperton or go sightseeing in London

After the sightseeing, guests from Holland will stop at an eatingplace for supper before boarding the coach at 6:45 p.m.

The remaining guests at Alperton will have supper before leaving

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Editorial Note...

Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din The Man Who Could Do It!

This issue is devoted to the centenary of the arrival of Hazrat Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din in the United Kingdom in 1913. It

gives a glimpse of the pioneering work started and accomplished for the propagation of Islam through the WokingMuslim Mission and Literary Trust and the monthly Islamic Review. We intend to publish at least two issues ofTheHOPE Bulletin dealing with different aspects of the Khwajas personality, spirituality, and his unique line of thoughtand action in presenting Islam in the West.

The present issue only comprises the details of the three-day programme outlined for the celebration and whatsome of the leading historians and national biography compilers have said about the impact of the propagation workbased at the Shah Jehan Mosque, Woking, organised by the Khwaja. This work has been rightly regarded as amiracle.

The Khwajas brilliant intellectual and penetrating speeches and impressive writings have much to do in working themiracle. His inspiring personality infused his colleagues with an amazing sense of commitment and dedication to

take forward the mission started by him all alone, as he wrote in a letter to his spiritual mentor and well-knownscholar of the Quran, Hazrat Maulana Nur-ud-Din. The English translation of the Urdu letter published in Badr, 19June 1913, runs as follows:

My isolation is not only distressing but it also hampers the work. I wish someone else would take care ofthe magazine, leaving me free to travel and visit various places for propagation work. I have opened a way.Letters have started coming from America. There are Muslims in the Philippines, about whomcorrespondence is continuing. But this is becoming an entire department. God have mercy! I am by myselfthe editor, manager, article writer, clerk, deliverer of the Friday sermon, lecturer, missionary, porter. MayAllah have mercy on my helplessness, destitution, inability. My Lord, leave me not alone, and You are theBest of inheritors! [The Quran, 21:89].

A faraway seeker of prayer Kamal-ud-Din

Let us quote an incident about the Khwaja which shows what the real secret behind his success was and what anindomitable willpower he had to conquer:

Shortly after he came to Woking, word spread that an Indian had come to convert the English to Islam aridiculous idea. A retired military officer who had spent some years in India came to know of this strangeman and decided to pay him a visit. He arrived at the Mosque and found the Khwaja seated in a poorlyfurnished office. What have you come for? enquired the Colonel. To make you a Muslim, was the promptreply. Well then, come and let us fight it out if you make a Muslim out of me. ... he promptly took off hiscoat and faced his opponent saying, Come along, here you are, if this is the only way to convince you. TheColonel thereupon came forward and shook the Khwaja by the hand and proclaimed, You are the man to

do it. I just wanted to test the stuff you are made of.

The subsequent success of the Woking Mosque shows that he was indeed the man to do it. The Colonelsoon afterwards embraced Islam. (A Miracle at Woking, p. 26)

This issue and the following one are to reminisce and pay humble tribute to Saint Kamal of Woking who fulfilledthe dream of a highly qualified and devoted Jew to establish a centre to bring around the followers of the threegreat religions of the world Judaism, Christianity and Islam to their Universal concept of the Unity of God.

*****

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A brief introduction

Speakers at the Centenary of the Woking Muslim Mission

Hazrat Ameer Prof. Dr Abdul Karim SaeedMRCP(UK), FRCP(London), FCPS (Pakistan)

Hazrat Ameer Prof. Dr Abdul Karim Saeed, the Head of the LahoreAhmadiyya Movement, graduated as a doctor from King Edward MedicalCollege Lahore in 1968. Hazrat Ameer started his medical career in MayoHospital, Lahore, and later moved to New Zealand, followed by the UK,where he obtained Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP)in 1979. He moved back to Pakistan in April 1981 and took up a teachingassignment at Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad. He was promoted asProfessor of Medicine in 1987 and appointed Head of the Department ofMedicine in 1991. In 2001, he was selected to become Principal of the

College, but his appointment was cancelled by the Government underpressure from the religious lobby for obvious reasons. Hazrat Ameer alsohas the distinction of being conferred the Fellowship of the Royal Colleges

of Physicians (FRCP), London (1994) and Fellowship of the College of Physicians and Surgeons (FCPS),Pakistan in 2001.

He is also serving as a member/chairman of a large number of professional committees andprogrammes. He has been a regular contributor to international and local professional publicationsand has travelled widely to attend conferences and conventions.

Hazrat Ameer was elected a member of the Mujlis-e-Mutamideen [General Council of Trustees of theLahore Ahmadiyya Movement] in 1992.

He is fond of poetry and has expressed, in his English poems, deep sentiments relating to spiritualelevation of the self and the message of the Ahmadiyya Movement and the hard times it has beenthrough.

On 3rd November 2002, Hazrat Ameer was unanimously elected as the fifthAmeerand President ofthe Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement (Lahore Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat-i Islam, Pakistan).

So far, he has undertaken several tours of the branches of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement inIndonesia, Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Trinidad, Guyana, Suriname, UK, Holland, Canada, the USA,and Germany.

He is an active participant of international conferences of the Universal Peace Federation and is akeen promoter of peace and interfaith integration and has so far attended four internationalconferences of this international association held in Seoul (South Korea), Madrid (Spain), Paris(France), and Stockholm (Sweden).

***

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Councillor Anne RobertsDeputy Mayor, Byfleet

Born in the West Country, Councillor Anne Roberts worked for three years in Londonfor the BBC before embarking on a six-year round world trip to Canada, NewZealand, Australia and South Africa. During this time she found employment with air

and shipping lines and followed it with four years as a holiday representative on theContinent. Ms Roberts returned to the UK and became manager of a travel agency inWoking for 20 years, and more recently assists part-time as a travel consultant inEgham.

She was elected to the Woking Borough Council in 2004 and is now in her 10th yearas a Councillor for Byfleet. She looks forward to meeting people of all walks of lifeand serving residents of the Borough in her capacity as Deputy Mayor.

***

Dr Gerdien JonkerPh.D. (Berlin)

Dr Gerdien Jonker is a scholar in the History and Ethnography of Religion. She studied inAmsterdam and Paris (cole pratique des hautes tudes) History of Religion, Cuneiformand Hebrew. With The Topography of Remembrance, The Dead, Tradition and CollectiveMemory in Mesopotamia, she obtained her Ph.D. at Groningen University. She iscurrently affiliated to the Erlanger Centre for Islam and Law in Europe (EZIRE) at theUniversity of Erlangen-Nuremberg.

In 2011 Dr Jonker started research on the history of the Ahmadiyya Mission in Berlin,

Germany, generally known as the Berlin Muslim Mission. She spent a lot of time andhard work and was able to reconstruct the library of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Mosque inWilmersdorf, Berlin. She was particularly impressed by the way the late Dr S. M. Abdullah, who was the Imamof the Mosque before the start of World War II, categorised the books and journals received by the Mosquefrom all over Europe.

We are grateful to Dr Jonker for helping us in obtaining scanned images of all the missing issues of the monthlyMoslemisch Revue, which was published by the Berlin Muslim Mission. All such issues have been uploadedonto our website www.Lahore.Ahmadiyya.org under the section Berlin Muslim Mission.

Dr Jonker is author of several research works published in English and German and is presently writing a bookentitled Propagation of Islam in Europe. The Lahore Ahmadiyya Quest to Modernise Islam , which she hopes to

complete in 2014.

Research projects

o 1994-1996: The Hour of the Women: Mourning and Memory in Migration (Research Council of the BerlinSenat)

o 1996: Religion from the Outside (Fellow am Rutgers University, New Jersey)o 1996-2000: Institutionalizing Islam in Germany (Thyssen Foundation)o 2001-2003: Communication Structures of Muslim Communities in Europe (German Research Council)

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o 2001-2003: Institutionalizing Islam in Europe (EU Fifth Framework)o 2004-2005: Living together post 9/11 (Thyssen Foundation/European Social Scientists)o 2005 -2011: The Production of Knowledge on Muslim History and Culture for German Schools (Aga Khan

Foundation)o Since 2012: History of the Ahmadiyya Mission in Europe (EZIRE)Fields of Publication and Expertise

o Ethnographic Studies on Turkish Muslim Minorities (Sleymanci, Nurcu, Milli Grsh)o Communication Structures in Muslim Communitieso Historical Representations of Muslims in European Textbookso Collective Memoryo Death and Mourningo Jews and Muslims

***

The Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Tariq Mahmood Ahmad is a British Pakistani businessman and a Conservative Memberof the House of Lords.

In 1991, he entered Natwests Graduate Management programme, eventually workingas Head of Marketing, Sponsorship and Branding. In 2000 he went to work for AllianceBernstein. In 2004 he joined Sucden Financial, where he serves on the ExecutiveCommittee and as Director of Marketing, Strategy and Research. He is an Associate ofthe Institute of Financial Services and a member of the Institute of Directors.

From 2001 to 2006, he served as School Governor of the Wimbledon Park Primary School.

He joined the Conservative Party in 1994. In 2002 he was elected as Councillor in Wimbledon. He contestedCroydon North for the party in 2005. From 2008 to 2010, he served as Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party.

On January 13, 2011 he was made a peer by Queen Elizabeth II and he formally joined the House of Lords onJanuary 17.

***

The Right Honourable Jonathan LordConservative MP for Woking

Jonathan Lord was educated at Shrewsbury School, attended Kent School, Connecticut, USA(scholarship), and read History at Merton College, Oxford, where he was President of theOxford University Conservative Association.

He is a former Director of Saatchi & Saatchi.

He was selected as the Parliamentary Candidate for Woking at an Open Primary in September2009, and has an outstanding record of political and campaigning success in this part of Surrey.

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He was Chairman of the neighbouring Guildford Conservative Association for the past four years, and was AnneMiltons Campaign Manager in Guildford in 2005 when the seat was wrested back from the LibDems in one ofthe headline results of election night.

He led the fight to save the Woking Courthouse and has been active in pushing for a better postal service inWoking.

He supports the Conservative administration on the Woking Borough Council and believes its policies ofkeeping council tax low while maintaining all frontline services and grants to voluntary groups are the rightones for Woking. Being MP for the Woking Borough, Jonathan Lord also represents the Guildford wards ofNormandy and Pirbright, which are parts of the Woking Constituency.

A successful campaigner over several years to Save the Royal Surrey, Jonathan Lord helped to organise thehugely successful rally in Guildford High Street attended by several thousand people. He is a strong supporterof a more independent future for the main local hospitals. He is delighted that the Royal Surrey has achievedFoundation status and wishes the same outcome for St Peters.

Elected a Surrey County Councillor in June 2009, he keeps a close eye on local health and hospital issues as an

active member of Surreys Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

He also led the recent campaign that thwarted an energy companys plans to drill for gas on a beautiful part ofthe Surrey countryside.

***

Dr Taj HargeyChairman, Muslim Education Centre, Oxford

Dr Taj Hargey was born in South Africa. He is currently the chairman of the MuslimEducation Centre of Oxford (MECO) and a liberal Imam who has researched the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at length and taught at several American Universities.

A diverse group of forward-looking Muslim academics, entrepreneurs, professionals,retirees, students, and other Oxford residents have joined hands to set up a voluntaryphilanthropic association, the Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford (MECO), with theobjective of addressing the present and future needs of the community. In view of Oxfordsprominence as a centre of learning and its growing Muslim population, practical steps needto be undertaken now to ensure sustained progress and direction in the decades ahead.

For these reasons, MECO is dedicated to the establishment of a distinctive, progressive and pluralistic Muslimcentre in Oxford. This British institution, while conforming to the original Islamic teachings of the Holy Quran,

will be multi-cultural, non-sexist and inter-denominational in concept and character. It is a home for everyonewho shares its inclusive, modern and enlightened vision and values. MECOs multi-purpose centre will fosteropen-mindedness, tolerance and social cohesion for British Muslims by encouraging their effective integrationinto the UK mainstream. Apart from its role as a haven for thinking Muslims, this institution will generate aspirit of debate and inquiry and pioneer a vibrant and inspirational Islam that is rooted in and relevant to 21stcentury Britain.

***

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Mr Ray Morgan, OBE, CPFAChief Executive, Woking Borough Council

Ray Morgan has had a career in the public sector for over 30 years. He is a member ofthe Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy and was awarded an OBE in2007 for his services to Local Government.

He joined Woking Borough Council as Director in 1989 and since that time haschampioned may key initiatives and been instrumental in the development of many ofthe authoritys key strategies namely: Asset Management; Equalities and Diversity;Implementation of Electronic Government; Partnership Development; WasteManagement and Councils Climate Change Strategy.

Ray Morgan is Principal Advisor to, and a Director of the Thameswey Group ofcompanies producing both energy and housing projects. For his work on ClimateChange Strategy the Woking Borough Council gained in 2001 the Queens Award forEnterprise. Ray was appointed Chief Executive in April 2006.

***

Dr Zahid AzizEditor, The Light, UK Edition

Dr Zahid Aziz graduated with a B.Sc. degree in Mathematics from Imperial College, London,and has a Ph.D. from the University of Manchester. He has worked at the University ofNottingham for 34 years in software support for scientific computation.

Dr Aziz has translated and produced several books for the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement.Among these are books of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, including Shahadat-ul-Quran(Testimony of the Holy Quran), Al-Wasiyya (The Will), Ayk Ghalati Ka Izala (Correction of an

Error), and Kitab-ul-Bariyya jointly with Hazrat Ameer Dr Asghar Hameed. He also revisedolder translations ofFath-i Islam (Victory of Islam) and Paigham Sulah (Message of Peace).

He was the main interpreter and translator in the South Africa civil court case for the Ahmadiexpert witness Maulana Hafiz Sher Muhammad during 1984/85 in the Supreme Court (CapeDivision) of South Africa. Subsequently, he compiled the book The Ahmadiyya Case, consisting

of the details of this case. Other books by Maulana Hafiz Sher Muhammad Dr Aziz has translated include The Death ofJesus, and Sir Muhammad Iqbal and the Ahmadiyya Movement.

Jointly with his mother Mrs Akhtar Aziz, he translated into English the Urdu biography of Maulana Muhammad Ali(Mujahid-i Kabir)under the titleA Mighty Striving. Recently, he produced the second, revised and enlarged edition of thistranslation.

In 2007 he wrote the book Islam, Peace and Tolerance, which has proved very useful and popular in showing that Islamdoes not preach violence and hatred against non-Muslims, but rather peaceful co-existence with them. It has beentranslated into Urdu, Dutch and Indonesian languages.

His most significant and major publication, which appeared in 2011, was the revised edition of the English Translation andCommentary of the Holy Quran by Maulana Muhammad Ali. In this revision, he has carefully and cautiously updatedcertain aspects of the language of the translation to make it more easily readable by a modern readership. The footnoteshave been abridged to reduce the volume of the book. Around 1991-92, he expanded the index in the English Translation

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and Commentary of the Holy Quran by Maulana Muhammad Ali. It was increased by a vast amount, perhaps by 50%, overthe original index.

Dr Zahid Aziz, working jointly with Mr Selim Ahmed, thoroughly revised Volume 2 of the second edition of Muhammad inWorld Scriptures by Maulana Abdul Haq Vidyarthi, dealing with prophecies about the Holy Prophet Muhammad containedin the Bible. They also re-typeset this volume, including re-typesetting the Hebrew and Greek quotations given in it. Thiswas published as Volume 1 of the new edition. Again, he and Mr Selim Ahmed published a book, Allah, The Unique Name

of God, consisting of material taken from Volume 1 of the second edition of Muhammad in World Scriptures by MaulanaAbdul Haq Vidyarthi, relating to names of God in various languages and religions, showing the uniqueness of the nameAllah.

From 1992 to 2009 he was editor, first, ofThe Light & Islamic Review, published from Ohio, and then The Light, UK edition.

He created and maintains the website www.wokingmuslim.org, which aims to publish online all the historical sourcematerial relating to the Woking Muslim Mission, in a properly organised, annotated and cross-referenced form. He hascarried out considerable research into this material and translated a large amount of original Urdu source matter intoEnglish which had not seen the light of day since it was first published, some of it dating back more than a century.

Another website managed by him is www.ahmadiyya.org (or www.Lahore.ahmadiyya.org) containing a huge amount ofinformation and discussion about the work of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, and providing many of its printed

publications online.

A feature of this website is the facility, programmed by Dr Zahid Aziz himself, to find where any word or expression occursin the English translation of the Holy Quran by Maulana Muhammad Ali. The output gives a list of all such verses in Englishwith the option to display the Arabic text as well. You can, for example, search for all verses which contain both the wordsAbraham and Noah. Forgotten which verses contain both the word Moses and the word mother? Just carry out asearch, using the instructions provided.

***

Amir Aziz Al-Azhari, M.A.General Secretary, Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement

Amir Aziz obtained a Masters degree from Islamia University of Bahawalpur.

He joined Beacon House School System, a prestigious educational network in Pakistanand a well-known institution in Asia, and was a distinguished teacher and a StudentsAdvisor for foreign students going for further studies abroad. He served the institutionfrom 1992-2004, then left this lucrative profession and dedicated his life for the cause ofIslam.

He attended Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt and qualified from Madrassah al-Khassah(Specialised School of Al-Azhar) in 2004-2005.In 1997 he obtained a certificate in Professional Studies (Bradford University) UK.

Mr Aziz was appointed head of the Lahore Ahmadiyya School of Education in Religions (LASER) by the Central Anjuman in2005.

He was made General Secretary of the worldwide Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement (Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat-i Islam,Lahore, Pakistan) in 2007.

Has been on extensive tours of Holland, Germany, United Kingdom, Trinidad, Guyana, Suriname, India, Australia, Fiji andIndonesia, during which he was interviewed by the local radio and TV stations in Suriname, Guyana and Trinidad.

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A Miracle at Woking

students study in a missionary institution, the Khwaja even considered accepting Christianity. However, he was destinedto play a counter role, that of propagating Islam to the Christian West.

In early 1912, the Khwaja lost his wife. To overcome his grief he embarked upon a tour of India, giving lectures on Islam.While at Bombay he was approached by a certain gentleman who persuaded him to go to England to pursue a legal casebefore the Privy Counsel in London. Khwaja Sahib saw this as an opportunity not only to follow the legal matter but also toplead the cause of Islam in the West he was a missionary at heart. People tried to dissuade him, some even ridiculed

him. The outward circumstances did not appear favourable; still, he was full of hope and zeal. At that time Europe was notonly politically dominant, but Muslim countries all over the world had come under the sway of its intellectual control. IfIslam was to be saved, its banner must be raised in the heart of Christendom.

Arrival in England

On his arrival in London the Khwaja settled in Kingston. SpeakersCorner in Hyde Park provided him with the platform for his firstlecture on Islam. He also started taking part in meetings of Britishtheological societies. The work continued to progress slowly until aprovidential opportunity came along: Khwaja Kamal-ud-Dindiscovered the existence of the Mosque in Woking. He and his friendSheikh Nur Ahmad paid a visit.

The Mosque was almost deserted and seemed in a state of decaywhen they arrived. They found a copy of the Quran lying in a cornerand fell down in prostration, in tears and deeply moved. Afterspending a few hours the Khwaja suggested to his friend that theyshould return home. His friend refused, saying that he could not leavea House of God in such a desolate state. He was so persistent thatboth decided to stay on. When the heirs of Dr Leitner found thetrespassers living in the house adjacent (Sir Salar Jang Memorial Hall)they tried to have them evicted as they had plans to build anindustrial unit on the premises. The Khwaja maintained that themosque was a consecrated building and could not be used for anyother purpose.

At this stage Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din approached Sir Mirza Abbas AliBeg, who was at that time the Muslim advisory member of theCouncil of the Secretary of State for India. Together they found themeans to satisfy the demand of Dr Leitners heirs. Sir Abbas foundedthe Woking Mosque Trust and acquired funds for its maintenance. Heinvited the Khwaja to take charge of the Mosque and later helped him in starting the Woking Muslim Mission & LiteraryTrust.

Khwajas first visit to Woking

After Khwaja Kamal-ud-Dins first visit to the Woking Mosque, he sent a report in Urdu to the Head of the AhmadiyyaMovement, Maulana Nur-ud-Din. The report as translated is reproduced below:

Woking is a place thirty miles away from London. Dr Leitner, who had been Registrar of the Punjab University and theFounder and first Principal of the Oriental College (Lahore), collected funds from some of the Muslims, promising to builda Mosque in England.

Woking would probably be his [Leitners] birth place. He selected this place and bought a large amount of land, uponwhich he constructed a vast residential house, a room for keeping mementos from the East, and a small mosque to oneside, which is in fact a room, five yards square. There is a very beautiful dome over it, on top of which is affixed a crescent.It has a high pulpit and a rihal[low stand] on which is placed a three-volumed copy of the Quran in large print, having theHussaini commentary in the margin.

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In the Mihrab [niche for the Imam] the SurahFatihah is inscribed in Arabic. Some small plaques with the Divine names onthem are on the walls. There are three or four prayer mats in the Mosque. In one corner of the Mosque there is someequipment for performing the Wudu and the other is a small enclosure for the Imam. In front of the Mosque there is alarge, open courtyard, within which is a fountain occupying an area one, or one and a half, yards square. All around thecourtyard is a wire fence and trees have been planted.

In this non-Muslim land, this is truly a scene having all the attributes of an Islamic mosque, and if its builder has not donejustice to the amount of money he collected in the name of the mosque, then seeing this mosque a lover of Islam canforget all the injustice.

A few yards from this Mosque is a small rest house known as the Sir Salar Jang Memorial Hall, where a traveller ispermitted to stay for a day or so. Apart from the courtyard of the Mosque, there are a few more acres of land attached tothe Mosque.

After the death of Dr Leitner all this property attached to the Mosque came into personal use. But his heirs after mucheffort ensured that the Mosque, courtyard, the memorial hall and some acres of land were separated and became a trustalong with the mosque. The remainder of the property and residential houses, which had been built as private property inthe first place, remained in private hands.

You, Sir [Maulana Nur-ud-Din], had referred to this Mosque in a letter, and here too there is movement.

After last Friday prayers, I and Chaudhry Muhammad Zafarullah Khan went to Woking, reaching there at 5 p.m. Here thesun sets at 4.10 p.m. and even the Ishaa prayer is at 6 p.m.

Aerial view of the Shah ehan Mos ue

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Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din

From the station we hired a carriage and reached our destination.

There a polite young man agreed to show us the Mosque. The courtyard and the Mosque were locked. Upon my enquiry itwas discovered that for years no Muslim had come here or prayed. O Allah! only 30 miles from Woking is London wherethere are hundreds of Muslims full of national spirit, day and night. But no one came to see the Mosque. Please dont

judge 30 miles according to India. Here we travel 15, 20, 30 miles in the course of ordinary, daily business in half an hourto three quarters of an hour.

Anyhow, all the sadness I felt towards Dr Leitner for manyyears vanished upon seeing the Mosque. We entered theMosque and upon opening the Quran anywhere the passagethat appeared was by a fortunate coincidence. Reading it, weprayed for Dr Leitner because the verse that appeared on theright hand page and here I copy the whole of that passagebecause the text was in large letters and it occupied theentire page was as follows. The page also begins at thispoint:

Certainly the first house appointed for men is one at Bakkah[an alternative name for Mecca], blessed and a guidance for

the nations. In it are clear signs: the place of Abraham; andwhoever enters it is safe; and pilgrimage is a duty which menowe to Allah, whoever can find a way to it. And whoeverdisbelieves, surely Allah is above need of the worlds. [Ch. 3,vv. 96-97]

Glory be to Allah! Today after full four months, in a non-Muslim land, I saw a Mosque of God, and then a Quran in it.Moreover, this verse appearing from the Quran as acoincidence! I was out of control with joy. I said to the Englishgentleman that I wish to say prayers if he could wait. He wentoutside and we prayed as a Jamaat. My voice is loud in any

case, but now I recited the Quran even more loudly, the dome echoing with the recitation of the Quran after many years.In the first rakah I recited the prayer of Abraham: and when Abraham said: My Lord, make this town secure ... [14: 35],to the end. I felt so much pleasure that my own voice and its echo was enough to make me exuberant. I made a lengthyprostration, crying and pleading to be given the opportunity for the preaching and the propagation of Islam, and prayingthat the mosque may become a place for the dawn of the light of Islam. This Mosque, in a non-Muslim land, is truly thefirst house appointed for men. What a wonder if God were to make it an Islamic centre.

In the second rakah I recited SurahIkhlas (ch. 112) several times. Thus our prayer came to an end.

Although the journey cost us 9 rupees, the solace and joy we felt outweighed this cost very greatly.

May Allah be gracious and let the wisdom of the Promised Messiah be fulfilled soon through a lowly servant of his.Amen.

KAMAL-UD-DIN

Before leaving the Mosque the Khwaja made a final prostration and made a prayer, which ran as follows:

O Creator of Nations and All Powerful God, Thou madest Mecca the holiest place in the East and didst bringnations in multitudes to that city, Make this Mosque, I pray thee, in like manner the Mecca in the West.

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Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din & Lord Headley

The secret of Khwajas success

The secret of Khwaja Kamal-ud-Dins success in his venture to propagate Islam in the West could be put down to hisindomitable willpower to conquer. Optimism was the keynote of his success; he never at any time doubted the progress ofhis venture. All this is probably best illustrated by a small incident in the early days of his mission. Shortly after he came toWoking, word spread that an Indian had come to convert the English to Islam a ridiculous idea. A retired military officerwho had spent some years in India came to know of this strange man and decided to pay him a visit. He arrived at theMosque and found the Khwaja seated in a poorly furnished office. What have you come for? enquired the Colonel. To

make you a Muslim, was the prompt reply. Well then, come and let us fight it out; if you make a Muslim out of me. TheKhwaja was no pugilist but he promptly took off his coat and faced his opponent saying, Come along, here you are, if thisis the only way to convince you. The Colonel thereupon came forward and shook the Khwaja by the hand and proclaimed,You are the man to do it. I just wanted to test the stuff you are made of. The subsequent success of the Woking Mosqueshows indeed that he was the man to do it. The Colonel soon afterwards embraced Islam.

It is not by the number of converts that the achievement of Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din can be measured. To show the light ofIslam to thousands of English men and women from the highest to the lowest rungs in society is no mean achievement. Itheralded the way of Islamisation of the West. The Khwaja had a wonderful knack of presenting Islam in an appealing way,in keeping with the modern mentality and thought, and it made him very acceptable. The Christian clergy were naturallyalarmed and the Woking danger became a subject drawing the attention of the press. It was the unorthodox Islamwhich was what the Woking Imam preached. A new Mohammad whom Woking painted out of a Christian paint box.Perhaps they were right; they had a different conception of Islam and the Holy Prophet in their mind which they had been

led to believe in. The Khwaja put before them Islam in its beauty and true colours and gave them a fresh portrait of theProphet of Islam. This greatly shocked them.

No sects in Islam

No sects in Islam was another feature of the preachingsof the Khwaja he maintained that sects were the verynegation of Islam. He discerned that the West would notcare for a sect-ridden Islam in view of the many sectsand sub-sects in the Christian religion. He emphasizedthat the Muslims had magnified mere schools of thoughtinto so-called sects. In fact, there were no sects Islamwas one. The gathering of all so-called divisions of Islam

to meet and pray together at Woking could not help butcatch the fancy of the English people.Lord Headley perhaps summed up all the qualities of hisfriend the Khwaja at the time of the Khwajas death. Hisremarks were:

We today mourn the loss of one of the mostdistinguished Muslims of our time. Our brotherhas left behind a beautiful example of saintlylife spent for the benefit of others, the Muslimspirit prevailed in his great personality and wasamply evidenced by the daily life of his humbledevotion to his Maker ... There is a grandeur of

the heart and the grandeur of mind and thesemust ever arrest all the earnest attention of allwith pretensions of scientific attainments ... Ihave never heard [him] utter a word that couldbe called harsh or unforgiving. His individualitywas eminently attractive ... All the people towhom I had the privilege of introducing theKhwaja were impressed by the absence of anytrace of dogmatism or fanatical rancour. I had

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This is the first European woman who said Friday prayers behind me. Her dress today, by a happy coincidence, was khakisatin. Could this not be the first of those white birds whose wings, that is to say dress, the Hazrat [Mirza Ghulam Ahmad]saw as khaki in his vision? The wings of a bird are its dress as they cover its body.

Congratulations, Congratulations, Congratulations!

Kamal-ud-Din

Badr, 6 March 1913

**

A lady that has already announced her conversion to Islam writes to Mrs Khadev Jung:

My dear sister Mrs Khadev Jung,

I was greatly pleased at your sending your regards to me in your letter to Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din and Ithank you for the same. He told me how interested you were in his monthly paper called The IslamicReviewand in the work he was doing: really, he deserves all the encouragement we could give him.Last year when Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din had recently arrived in London, my husband met him at some

meeting and invited him in company with Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, editor ofZamindar, to our house.Since that day he was our frequent visitor and used to talk about Islam: he used to invite us to hishouse on every Friday when, after praying, he used to preach.

His logical argument in favour of Islam and his comparisons of Islam and Christianity were mostinteresting and convincing. When I was with my parents I used to go to church with them every Sundayand we used to hear the preacher who failed to rouse in me any interest for religion, and I used to takeeverything for granted without giving any serious thought. Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din has studiedChristianity and therefore he is better able to know comparisons as to what is said in the Bible ondifferent subjects and howAl-Quran treats the same subject, thereby proving that how superior Islamis to Christianity. My eyes were beginning to open in favour of Islam and gradually I found that I was

Moslem at heart. My heart went to Islam all the more by my reading every day in the newspapersabout the butchery and atrocities committed by the Christians of Balkan on the noble Turks whom Inow consider my brothers in faith.

I openly declare to be Moslem. The Islamic Reviewhas done wonders. It has been my textbook; KhwajaKamal-ud-Din has a great talent for writing, which must be a gift from God.

I can never thank him enough for the change he has brought in my soul; we consider him as a memberof our family; whenever he comes to London from Woking he stays with us.

He has made another conquest, which will have far-reaching consequences in favour of Islam. LordHeadley, an Irish peer and member of the House of Lords, he accepted Islam, so much so that he hascommenced to contribute articles in favour of Islam in TheIslamic Review.

We have intimate knowledge of Khwaja Kamal-ud-Dins doing from the time he came to London. Hestarted The Islamic Reviewat his own expense. He had about 9,000 Rupees when he came to Londonand he spent it all in his work publishing The Islamic Reviewand distributing it. Living in London is alsoexpensive but now he has no money and he is worried as to how to continue. At present he iscirculating only a thousand copies in the Western world whereas at least a hundred thousand copies

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should be given out. It would be a thousand pities and a great shame for us Moslems if his IslamicReviewwere to stop for lack of financial help.

I have been to the Woking Mosque with my husband and have prayed there on Friday. Khwaja Sahiblives in the adjoining house belonging to the Mosque, and he is living there very poorly, almost like ahermit. Moslems of India should rise to this occasion, and will you please convey my message to mysisters in India for helping him in this great work? This work should grow to gigantic proportions and

should spread through the whole world.

I shall be pleased to hear from you and I shall also keep on writing to you with true sisterly love.

I remain,Yours sincerely,VIOLET EBRAHIM

*

Mrs Khadev Jung sent this letter to the Comrade (Delhi) for publication together with a sum of Rs. 250 as her firstinstallment towards helping Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din. She has made her first appeal to the Mussalmans of India to assist the

Khwaja in his noble work and we are glad to learn that her appeal has been answered by others.

The Islamic Review

But there is no blame on you if ye make a mistake. (What counts is) the intention of your heart (33: 5).

Soon after Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din began his association with the Mosque, he felt the need to spread the religion of Islam inthe West. He considered that it would greatly help him in this mission if he could publish suitable articles on religioussubjects and send these to various newspapers. The Khwaja submitted several, but they were returned with thanksbecause publishers did not consider them to be of enough public interest.

Khwaja Sahib was not disheartened by the response he got. He saw that the only other course would be to start amagazine or newspaper of his own and requested that the Ahmadiyya authorities consider the feasibility of MaulanaMuhammad Ali coming to England to start an English edition ofThe Review of Religions. This was found not to be possible

as the Maulana was fully occupied with the translation of the Holy Quran into English, and to move the author to Englandwould be too expensive for the organisation.

Khwaja Sahib came to a special arrangement with a monthly magazine in England: they would give some space in theirjournal if, in turn, the Khwaja would help them in expanding their readership and increasing the sale of certain specialissues. The cost of this arrangement was about Rs. 1,500. He hoped that this outlay could be met if each member of thecommunity (Ahmadiyya) bought one issue. This arrangement, however, was not followed through.

Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din planned to start a magazine of his own. He introduced this idea to the Ahmadiyya leader by saying:

My brief stay has shown me that the world here [in Europe] is so alienated from religion that people are notinterested in any matter pertaining to religion. A magazine devoted purely to theological subjects will probablynot be read by anyone even if its free, let alone people would buy it. It was decided that a small part or section of

it should be devoted to topics including ethics, morality, economics, education and politics.

It was agreed that although the real object of the publication would be religious, other subjects should beaccepted and studied from an Islamic perspective in order to draw outside interest.

Khwaja Sahib requested that the organisation in India make him a grant of Rs. 2,000 to cover the cost of printing, postageand other expenses. He planned to initially distribute 1,000 free copies in Europe. Although he thought that manythousands of copies should be distributed free in order to have any effect, a continuing and sustained effort would benecessary to produce any lasting results.

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In February 1913 Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din came out with the first edition of his magazine. It was called Muslim India andIslamic Review. This first edition contained some of the discussions the founder had had with Bishops and Christianscholars of divinity, where they admitted the weakness of their point. This issue also featured an article entitled Islam andthe World, where a Mr Parkinson spoke of a crying need of the Muslim world to have a periodical in the English languagepublished from London and also translated into other languages of the Islamic world.

The original name of the Islamic Reviewas first published in February 1913 was Muslim India and Islamic Review. In 1921

it was shortened to Islamic Review.

In 1967 the name of the magazine was once again changed from just Islamic Reviewto Islamic Review and Arab Affairs. Itwas felt that the Arab world was passing through an extremely critical period and the journal should reflect these matters.Publication of the journal from the Mosque was stopped due to its takeover.

Between the First and Second World Wars

The same religion has He established for you on that which He enjoined on Noah that which We have sent byinspiration to thee (Mohammad) and that which We enjoined on Abraham, Moses and Jesus Namely thatwe should remain steadfast in Religion and make no divisions therein (42: 13).

The Shahjahan Mosque continued to perform the ritual prayers in the period between the First and Second World Wars. Aconsiderable effort was made by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din and his successors in spreading the cause of Islam. Over two

thousand conversions to the faith took place. A lot of these were from the gentry, some even having connections withroyalty.

The two Eids were occasions when the Mosque was very well attended. A special marquee would be erected on the lawnin front of the Memorial Hall and a congregation of about three hundred would gather and offer prayers behind the Imam.Usually this man was not the regular Imam but a specially invited dignitary like Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, SheikhHafiz Wahba, William Bashir Pickard, and Sir Abdul Qadir. The prayer was followed by a khutba (sermon) in Englishconcluded with the usual Arabic.

The gathering consisted of Muslims from all corners of the globe. Nationals included Indians, Iranians, Arabs, Egyptians,Nigerians, Americans, and others. Many were in their national attire, providing a very colourful assembly. On theconclusion of the prayer the devotees would shake hands and embrace one and all there being no distinction of colour,

caste, creed or social status. The congregation was then provided with lunch before returning home.

Due to the low numbers attending the Friday prayers, a special lecture was to be arranged for the Sunday afternoon (Zuhr)prayer at the Mosque when the assistant Imam, or other invited speaker, would address the congregation on some aspectof Islam or other subject of topical interest. A question and answer session would follow. The Imam himself would bedoing a similar session at the Prayer House in London.

The Muslim Society of Great Britain, London, was inaugurated under the presidency of Lord Headley. The Society wouldarrange a number of lectures on Islam so as to make the religion more widely known. Special functions would be held tocelebrate the Holy Prophets birthday, usually at a leading hotel. The occasion would normally conclude with thedistribution of religious literature followed by some entertainment and light refreshments.

Arabic classes for the teaching of the Prayer and the Quran were held for the children of new converts and other Muslim

children.

Being the premiere Mosque of the country, a host of dignitaries from Britain and abroad visited ...

A nation is born

I believe in whatever Book has been sent down. Allah is our Lord and your Lord. For us is the responsibility forour deeds and for you for your deeds (42:15).

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Chaudhary Rahmat Ali

In the 1930s one of the regular features at the Shahjahan Mosque was a meeting on Sunday afternoons which followedthe usual afternoon prayers. These meetings would mostly be attended by young Muslim students living in England andwould feature a talk given by a Muslim scholar with follow-up discussions.

It was at an All India Muslim League Conference held at Allahabad (India) in 1930 that Allama Muhammad Iqbal, therenowned Muslim poet and philosopher, put before the Indian Muslims the idea of the creation of an independentMuslim state in Northern India. At this stage it was just a vision and a dream and food for thought. There was no

immediate follow-up.

It was in the summer of 1936, at one of theseSunday meetings, that Chauhdri Rahmat Ali,himself a great thinker and an ardent follower of DrMuhammad Iqbal, recalled his idea. Chauhdri Sahibstressed that the only possible salvation for theMuslims was to demand the creation of a MuslimState comprising areas predominantly populated byMuslims. He lamented the fact that no Muslimluminaries had given much thought to the practicalimplementation of this dream, therefore, it hadonly remained as such. It appeared to the gathering

that one of the worlds greatest thinkers hadgivenexpression to these thoughts, but that it had notgot any further than a drawing-room topic ofdiscussion it was a pity when the destiny of ahundred million Muslims in the subcontinent wasat stake.

At this stage someone in the audience pointed to aphotograph of Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din which washanging on the wall, and said that he, too, had anidea in which he believed. The Khwaja saw theMuslims of the world submerged under a defeated

outlook, losing sight of their heritage. It was in hisabounding faith in the teachings of the Holy Quranand the Holy Prophet Muhammad that he decidedto unfurl the standard of Islam in the heart of

Christendom. Why could not the same be appliedto the creation of a Muslim homeland?

Chauhdri Rahmat Ali was visibly impressed and silently reflected in his own mind. His emotions were stirred. After a whilehe said that something must be done; he added, however, that for him to take the initiative he would need the help ofworkers. It was decided that a meeting should be held at the Shahjahan Mosque the following Sunday with a slightly largerparticipation.

The theme of the meeting was to give the project an immediate and practical shape. All embraced the idea, but as most of

those present were students they had neither the time nor means to achieve it. Chauhdri Sahib was asked to shoulder theresponsibility for carrying this movement through. It was decided at this meeting that:

1. The movement should be started by Ch. Rahmat Ali from Cambridge (where he resided).2. He should start a monthly pamphlet to give publicity and projection to the movement. It was agreed that the pamphletshould have a map of India in white and the areas which were to be separated for Muslims in green. This illustration wouldspeak for itself and convey the message pointedly.3. A distribution list for the pamphlet could be based on that of the Islamic Reviewand sent to subscribers in India.

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4. Copies of the pamphlet to be distributed at Woking (in the forthcoming Eid and the Holy Prophets birthdaycelebrations).

This meeting continued until late in the evening and, as people had to catch the last train back, it was suggested that athird meeting should be held. The matter to be discussed was how to find a way to evolve a name for the Muslim areasand give them a formal shape. Since the idea had now taken a political complexion it was considered that the Mosque wasnot a suitable place to promote the project. The next meeting would therefore be held at a private residence in Surbiton

(4 Hook Road).

At the third meeting Chauhdri Rahmat Ali was formally entrusted with the work of the Movement. After muchdiscussion the name Pakistan was suggested by Khwaja Abdul Rehman and was spontaneously accepted by allinstead of alternatives such as Muslimabad and Islamabad. The name was chosen as Pak which stood forpurity a first necessity before our approach to God. In Islam pak is cleanliness in its purest form. Pakistanwould be a place where Muslims could humble themselves before Allah in humility and, should He bless uswith such a place, where the faithful could try their best to contribute a better practice in the fulfilment of theirfaith.

There is some misconception that the name Pakistan was chosen because it was an acronym signifying theareas being included - Punjab, Afghan (Frontier areas), Kashmir, and Sindh, while the tan stood for the land

of.

After the conclusion of these meetings, the burden, the work and its success were all the achievements ofChauhdri Rahmat Ali. He would post the pamphlets or pass them onto his friends for distribution. He took upthe standard and planted it into the soil which he, with his clarion call, claimed as Pakistan. This call was thentaken up in 1940 at another meeting of the All India Muslim League when the Quaid-e-Azam, Muhammad AliJinnah, adopted a resolution demanding the formation of a Muslim State.

Pakistan achieved independence in 1947.

*****

On Being a Qadiani?

Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets. And Allah is ever Knowing of allthings (33: 40).

In the 1860s a reformist movement was started in India by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, which he calledAhmadiyyat.At that time the Muslims in India were passing through a difficult period because of their part in the Indian Warof Independence (or Mutiny, depending on ones point of view) of 1856. Christian and Hindu missionaries hadstarted a vigorous campaign of conversion of Muslims, but the Mirza wanted to regenerate the faith....

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad started a movement which he considered not to be just another sect of Islam, but a forcefor the presentation of true Islamic ideal. However, to other Muslims his preachings were considered heresy.

On the Mirzas death in 1908, Maulvi Nur-ud-Din, his right-hand man and a highly respected scholar byoutsiders from the Movement, was unanimously chosen to lead the adherents. Certain members of the family,however, wanted a hereditary succession from within the family. Those of this view kept a low profile for thetime being as the Mirzas eldest son was still too young to be nominated.

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Around three years later, in order to create a platform for a leadership campaign, the Mirzas son, MirzaMahmud Ahmad, and his supporters began to promote the view that a person could not remain a Muslim bybelief in the Kalimah Shahadatand the Prophethood of the Holy Prophet Muhammad only, but had in additionto acknowledge that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was a prophet of God.

This is contrary to one of the basic tenets of Islam: that Prophet Muhammad (sas) is the last of the Prophetsand none would follow after him. The Quran states that the Prophet Muhammad (sas) was the seal of

Prophets, signifying that Prophethood was being sealed (as a document being finally sealed) on the completionof his mission.

Maulana Muhammad Ali, and other senior and prominent members of the Ahmadiyya Movement, repudiatedthese views as being totally contrary to the basic Islamic ideology as well as against the expressed beliefs of theFounder of the Ahmadiyya Movement. The Maulana claimed that Mirza Mahmud Ahmad, who had assumedthe headship of the Qadian section of the community, had begun to drift away from the basic principles ofIslam.

The new leader went so far as to declare openly that the millions of other Muslims living in the world should nolonger be treated as Muslims.

A large number of educated members of the Ahmadiyya community had the moral courage to dissent openlyfrom the (erroneous) doctrines being preached by Mirza Mahmud Ahmad, who had by then succeeded intaking over the leadership of the movement after the death of Maulvi Nur-ud-Din without any generalconsultation. The group, headed by Maulana Muhammad Ali, at once rallied around the true teachings of MirzaGhulam Ahmad but, after trying for a month and a half in vain to maintain the unity of the movement, formedthemselves into a separate society known as the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat-i-Islam more generally knownas the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement.

This Lahore group believed that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sas) was the last Prophet after whom therewould be no other Prophet. They also believed that any person who believed in the Kalimah Shahadatcannotbe expelled from Islam or be branded as a kafir(non-believer), and that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad never claimed tobe a Prophet but was a Reformer, although they did accept him as the Promised Messiah.

After the split in 1914 the Qadiani movement, under Mirza Mahmud Ahmads leadership, moved away fromthe system established by its founder. Mirza Mahmud Ahmad made it an essential item of faith to accept theprophethood of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. His followers considered all non-Qadiani Muslims as kafirs. They wereforbidden to say their prayers behind other Muslims or to perform or join funeral services of a deceasedMuslim. Inter-marriage with other Muslims was not allowed. The wife of their acclaimed prophet was given thetitle Umm-ul-Momineen (Mother of the Faithful) a title that had hitherto been exclusively reserved for thewives of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sas) alone by the Muslims.

Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, although a staunch supporter of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, did not accept his successorsclaims to prophethood. This was the proclaimed policy followed by the Shahjahan Mosque which was repeatedin several issues of the Islamic Reviewover many years.

The Imams of the Mosque were subscribers to the Lahore Group, who also continued to accept Mirza GhulamAhmad as a Mujaddid(Reformer).

To counter the contention that the Shahjahan Mosque agreed with the stated beliefs of the Ahmadi (Qadiani)leaders and the community, articles appeared in the Islamic Reviewat various times.

*****

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Burial ground in Woking

Muslim Burial Ground

Allah cautions you against His retribution. And to Allah is the eventual coming (3: 27).

About a half mile from the ShahjahanMosque, across Basingstoke Canal, stands a

rather remarkable structure among the pinetrees on Horsell Common. This is the MuslimBurial Ground.

During the First World War the Governmentof India decided to send an Indian ArmyContingent of around 70,000 soldiers ofdifferent ethnic and religious groups to theWestern Front in France.

Naturally, some became casualties of the war

and were evacuated to Britain for treatment,some of whom died here.

The propaganda machine in Nazi Germanytried to exploit the death of these soldiers,particularly Muslims, by spreading the newsthat the bodies were not being given a properMuslim burial; perhaps being cremated likeother dead Hindu and Sikh soldiers forwhom such disposal was the acceptedpractice.

The War Office in London took serious note ofthis German assertion and decided, ratherhurriedly, to take action against somethingwhich would otherwise seriously affect themorale and religious sentiment of the Muslimsoldiers fighting in France. It was decided thata proper Muslim burial ground would beestablished. At that time the only mosque inthe South East was the Shahjahan Mosque, so it was here that the new cemetery was to be located. The landwas acquired from the Horsell Common Preservation Society so as to be close to the Mosque.

The Muslim Burial Ground was designed by the architect T. H. Winney and built by a local firm, Ashby & HomerLtd. It was designed to include Islamic architectural features with arches, minaret and domes like those foundin the neighbouring Mosque.

The building work on the Muslim Burial Ground was completed in 1916. Nineteen Muslim soldiers were buriedduring the First World War and a further five during the Second World War. In 1921 the War GravesCommission took over the maintenance of the site. However, due to its isolation the site suffered fromvandalism. It was therefore decided that all the bodies be re-interred by moving them to the Military Cemeteryat Brookwood in 1956.

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The Muslim Burial Ground is now a Grade II Listed Building. On the transfer of the bodies to Brookwood the sitewas handed back to the Horsell Common Preservation Society. However, due to lack of funds the area hassuffered further deterioration. In need of conservation, negotiations started some years back between theSociety, Woking Borough Council and the local Muslim community to draw up a plan of action to restore thegrounds. However, the situation is unresolved; the stumbling blocks remain finance and future use of the site.It is hoped that sometime soon the matter can be resolved, as the demand for a suitable cemetery for Muslimsgrows.

(A Miracle at Woking: Muslim P. Salamat, Phillimore & Co. Ltd., Chichester, West Sussex, England. PO20 2DD. ISBN 978-1-86077-580-2. Price 9.99. Pp. 23-32; 41-44; 61-62; 75-76.)

*****

Jihadfor Islam by Persuasion in Europe

Entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Kamal-ud-Din, Khwaja (18701932), Islamic scholar and missionary, was born in Lahore, Punjab, BritishIndia, the son of Khwaja Aziz-ud-Din. He came from a Kashmiri family with a tradition of distinguishedpublic service: his grandfather, Abdur Rashid, was at one time the qazi (chief Muslim judge) of Lahoreduring the Sikh period (17621849). Educated at Forman Christian College, Lahore, Kamal-ud-Dingraduated in 1893 and was awarded the Punjab University medal in economics. He was then appointed tothe chair of history and economics at Islamia College, Lahore, later becoming its principal. On qualifying asa barrister in 1898, he established a lucrative law practice first in Peshawar and then in Lahore.

Following his wifes death in 1912, aware of mounting pressures on Islam and Muslims globally, andinspired by his spiritual mentors Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and Maulana Nur-ud-Din, he answered a stronginsistent call from within (Islamic Review, Jan. 1932, 1) and sailed for Britain to inaugurate his jihadby

persuasion in Europe (Islamic Review, Dec. 1949, 5).

On his arrival in London Kamal-ud-Din first settled in Richmond. Speakers Corner in Hyde Park providedhim with the platform for his first public lecture on Islam. His speeches, sermons, and published articlesmade a powerful impression on his predominantly non-Muslim audiences. He made effective use of hisconsiderable knowledge of the Bible, acquired during his student days, in theological discussion withChristian scholars.

In 1913 he decided to take over the Shah Jahan Mosque in Woking, built in 1889 by the retired registrarand principal of the University of Punjab, G. W. Leitner, but which had fallen into disuse following itsfounders death in 1899. When Leitners heirs, who planned to sell the property, tried to evict him, Kamal-ud-Din refused to go, had its disposal stopped, and laid the foundations of the Woking Muslim Mission asBritains main centre for the propagation of Islam.

For the first time since its construction, the mosque was now open to public worship, with Kamal-ud-Dinone of its trustees and its first imam. Indeed, his commitment to it was reflected in his later decision tocreate a trust and leave his entire property, valued at 150,000 rupees, as a wakffor the Woking MuslimMission.

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In February 1913 Kamal-ud-Din started publishing at his own expense an authoritative monthly journal,the Islamic Review. (Its Urdu version was published from Lahore under the title Risalah Ishaat-i Islam,Journal for the Propagation of Islam.) He remained its editor for the rest of his life (his son Khwaja NazirAhmad succeeding him in this role), and on its pages elaborated his views on Islamic doctrines as well asthe many controversies and criticisms then being levelled against Islam.

A prolific writer, he wrote over 100 books devoted mostly to Islam (including The Secret of Existence, or,The Gospel of Action 1923, and The Ideal Prophet, 1925) and other religious issues. In particular, histreatise, The Sources of Christianity (1924), was noteworthy. His publications, imbued with rigorousscholarship, made a substantial impact on the British religious scene. Rarely, and only when he perceivedthere to be a direct attack on Islam and Muslims, did he feel moved to intervene politically. (For instance,his book India in the Balance: British Rule and the Caliphate, 1922, was a powerfully argued plea to theBritish Government against the dismemberment of the Turkish caliphate.)

Kamal-ud-Din believed that for Islam to prosper in Britain, and conversion to make headway, it wouldhave to shed its exotic and alien image. Instead of highlighting differences between Christianity andIslam, he emphasized commonalities within the Abrahamic tradition. His was thus a modernist

interpretation of Islam: apostasy was not punishable by execution; likewise, Islam respected individualfreedom of religion and conscience. Wearing the veil in the British environment was deemed by him to beimpracticable; music and fine art were a blessing for humanity.

His efforts soon bore fruit. A steady trickle of conversions, including that of Lord Headley, publiclyannounced in 1913, followed.

Together with Headley as its president, Kamal-ud-Din was instrumental in founding the Muslim Society ofGreat Britain. Under its auspices, weekly lectures were conducted at the Woking Mosque and later atdifferent venues in London. At homes, garden parties, and gatherings of Muslims and non-Muslims tookplace in fashionable London tea-rooms, hotels, and restaurants where questions about Islam were

encouraged in relaxed informal settings. These public gatherings generally involved both women and men,as did religious festivities and larger congregations.

With growing interest in new ideas of spirituality among Londons influential circles, Kamal-ud-Din playeda part in some notable conversions: Marmaduke Pickthall, novelist and translator of the Quran; SirArchibald Hamilton, Deputy Surgeon-General of the Royal Navy; and Lady Evelyn Cobbold, whose accountof her pilgrimage to Mecca in 1934 (the first European woman to do so, notably unaccompanied by amahram) aroused much interest.

Under Kamal-ud-Dins leadership the mosque at Woking emerged as the leading symbol of Britainsworldwide Muslim community, and was visited by Muslim dignitaries from many places and

denominational backgrounds: the head of the Shia Ismaili sect, the Aga Khan, was welcomed with thesame degree of dignity and warmth as the Sunni AmirFaisal of Saudi Arabia or King Faruq of Egypt.Thisnon-sectarian acceptance was all the more remarkable since Kamal-ud-Din was a high-profile member ofthe Ahmadiyya community, considered by orthodox Sunnis as outside the fold of Islam. (He belonged tothe Lahore section of the Ahmadiyya community which, while not claiming its founder Mirza GhulamAhmad as the Promised Messiah or a Prophet, did recognize him as a Mujaddid, or Renewer of the faith.)Aware of the dangers inherent in allegations of any kind of doctrinal bias, Kamal-ud-Din consciouslyrotated those who led the Mosques congregational prayers.

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From the time that Kamal-ud-Din took over the Woking Mosque, his reputation as an eloquent Islamicorator grew rapidly. Much sought after internationally by both Muslims and non-Muslims, he travelledwidely in pursuit of his missionary duties, first to Europe and then to Africa and the Far East. After the FirstWorld War he visited France, Germany, and Belgium to assess their potential for missionary activities.Accompanied by Lord Headley, he travelled to Egypt and Saudi Arabia (where they performed the Hajj) in1923, and in 1926 they visited South Africa at the invitation of Cape Towns Muslims; visits to Singapore

and Java followed later.

Kamal-ud-Din gained much acclaim in his native India for his religious erudition. His services wererecognized by Aligarh Muslim University when it conferred a fellowship on him, and appointed him to itscourt of trustees. When he died, in Lahore on 28 December 1932, particular mention of his unique andunsurpassed services to Islam was made among the condolences expressed at the All-India MuslimLeague session at Delhi in November 1933 (S. S. Pirzada, ed., Foundations of Pakistan: All-India MuslimLeague Documents, 19061947, 1970, 2.210).

But it is as the leading light and spiritual leader of British Islam in the early decades of the twentiethcentury that he will be best remembered, his pre-eminence marked by the British presss bestowal of the

honorific Very Reverend upon him during his lifetime.

*

(Khizar Humayun Ansari: Kamal-ud-Din, Khwaja (1870-1932); Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, OxfordUniversity Press; Sept. 2012 (www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/94519, accessed 8 Oct. 2012.)

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Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din

A Hidden Saint and an Apparent KafirRais Ahmad Jafari

In 1924 the Annual Conference of Nadwatul Ulama was held atLucknow with much pomp and splendour. Maulana Habibur-RahmanKhan Sherwani, the Nawab Sadr Yar Jang Bahadur of HyderabadDeccan, came especially to preside over the Conference. Students ofthe Nadwatul Ulama had played a significant role in the KhilafatMovement and the All-India Congress Party. That was why aconsiderable number of political leaders also graced the occasion.Maulana Shaukat Ali, the lion of Islam, was conspicuous amongthem.

I was a student of Grade 1 of the Nadwah. Annual examinations hadjust ended and the younger students were allowed to avail thevacations and go home. But the lure of the Conference was sooverwhelming that I did not go home and remained in Nadwah tillthe end of the Conference. I was standing in the side verandah of the

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hall when a friend of mine said to me: Let us go and listen to the lecture of Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din. Iimmediately went along with him. On the stage there was a handsome, imposing man delivering afine speech. His voice was so loud and resounding that even at the back of the hall each and everyword of his speech could be heard. His face was quite full and he had a black beard. Instead of thetypical Muslim style pajamas (trousers) and achkan (long coat), he was wearing a coat and on hishead he had a turban with tassels. The speech on The Propagation of Islam was so impressive and

convincing that everyone was listening to it attentively with amazement.

The general impression about Qadianis is that they are kafirs (unbelievers). The Khwaja Sahib alsobelonged to the same Movement. It was a matter of wonder how the heart of a kafirhad so muchsympathy for Islam, such great fervour for the preaching of Islam and such tremendous enthusiasmfor the propagation of Islam. Later I came to know that the Khwaja Sahib had already set up apermanent centre in England for the propagation of Islam, and many people in Europe had enteredthe fold of Islam through him. He was also publishing a magazine in English and its Urdu version waspublished monthly under the title Ishaat-i Islam from Lahore. Later I also learnt that he is a memberof the Ahmadiyya Community which does not believe Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib to be a Prophet butonly a Mujaddid.

Anyhow, the more I came to know about his Islamic activities the more his respect and estimationincreased in my heart. I never accepted for a moment that, God forbid, he was a kafir, although mostpeople considered him a kafirand firmly refused to accept him as a Muslim. I never saw the KhwajaSahib again after this. However, I witnessed an incident of his life which I still remember and probablywill remember forever.

After the speech of the Khwaja Sahib, the Conference was adjourned to the next day. All the guestswent to their respective rooms. One room was reserved for the Khwaja Sahib and he went to hisroom. At the end of the session I was roaming about and passed by the Khwaja Sahibs room. There

was complete silence; no one was in the gallery except me. I saw the Khwaja Sahib all alone offeringhis Asrprayer. I have seen all kinds of people offering their prayers, great and small, learned anduneducated. But witnessing the concentration, absorption, humility and submissiveness with whichthe Khwaja Sahib was offering his prayer made a deep impact on my heart and created an indelibleimpression which still exists even today.

The definition of prayer [in Hadith Ed.] is that the person offering it should feel as if he is seeingGod, or if not then at least he should have the feeling that God can see him. It was clearly evidentfrom the Khwaja Sahibs prayer that he was feeling as if he was seeing God. Without this feeling, thatstate of concentration, absorption, humility and submissiveness cannot be attained, of which the

Khwaja Sahib was a visual embodiment.

It is possible that some people still consider him a kafir, but my heart carries a deep impression of hispractice of Islam which even vicissitudes of time could not efface.

*

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(The extract is translated from the Urdu book Deed-o-ShuneedA Collection of Personal Impressionsabout People, published by Rais Ahmad Jafari Academy, 1B, 5 Mimaar Terrace, Gulshan-i Iqbal No. 1,Karachi, pp. 120, 121, Second edition 1987.)

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Woking Renaissance of Islam in Britain

Most valuable service rendered to the cause of Islam in EuropeDr Ashiq Hussain Batalvi

(Dr Ashiq Husain Batalvi was a well-known author, journalist and biographer. He obtained his doctorate fromthe famous School of Oriental and African Studies in the University of London. He was very active in the MuslimLeague and devoted his early life to the struggle for Muslim independence in pre-Partition India. He workedwith the Founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, in the later years of the efforts for the creation of

Pakistan. For many years he was the permanent correspondent of the famous Pakistan newspaper Dawn inEngland.

In a chapter in his Urdu book Chand Yadain, Chand Taassurat(Some Memories, Some Impressions), he hasgiven an accurate description of the history and work of the Woking Muslim Mission as well as his opinion andestimation of its work. This was written in 1963, fifty years after the founding of the Mission. The extract belowis translated from this book, published in Lahore in 1992 by Sang-i Meel Publications. Ed.)

*

The name of the Woking Muslim Mission has reached more or less every part of the world. It has done somuch work of propagation of Islam in Europe as no other organization has probably done.

Woking is a pretty town 25 miles from London. From Woking railway station, the mosque is situated at awalk of about 15 to 20 minutes and is set in a green plot of two acres. Its green dome is visible from afar.Inside there is a carpet on the floor. Above the mihrab, directly in front, are affixed inscriptions bearingverses of the Quran, and the minbar(podium) is close to it. Adjacent to the mosque is a spacious housewhere the Imam resides. It is this mosque which, for the past half a century, has been the centre of thepropagation activities of a Muslim mission.

It seems pertinent to explain first how this mosque came to be built on British soil and who was itsfounder. The interesting history of the Woking mosque is that the name of the man who built it was Dr

Leitner, who at one time was employed at the University of the Punjab [Lahore, present-day Pakistan].Upon relinquishing his post and returning to England he came up with a plan to establish an institute forthe dissemination of Islamic culture. For this purpose he applied to the ruler of Bhopal, the lady ShahJehan Begum, for financial assistance, and she gave him a substantial sum of money. With this money, DrLeitner purchased this two-acre plot of land in Woking and built the mosque in 1889. The ruler of the stateof Hyderabad, Salar Jung, also gave him financial help, with which the residential house was built.

Dr Leitner died before he could complete his plan and this property came into the hands of his son, whohad little interest in his fathers project. Gradually the mosque became entirely derelict. Now, look at this

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fortunate coincidence that in 1912 the late Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din came to England. He was a highlysuccessful lawyer in Lahore, but he had a boundless love for Islam. Leaving his practice, he devoted his lifefor the propagation of Islam and came to England for this purpose.

That was the time when the British nation was at the peak of its world rule. Its empire was spread eastand west, and it was said that the sun never sets on the British Empire. Muslims everywhere were

subjugated and dominated, and this subservience and servitude had created in them extreme feelings ofinferiority. When the Khwaja Sahib decided to propagate Islam in England, many people advised him thathe was destroying his legal career for no reason because the British had no inclination for Islam, and ifthey were interested, why should they accept the religion of a subject people whom they were rulingover? But these disheartening comments did not weaken the Khwaja Sahibs resolve.

After coming to London, he initially settled in the Richmond area and began to preach the message ofIslam by speech and writing. For this purpose he also started his famous magazine, The Islamic Review.However, he required a place which he could make the permanent centre of his activities. At this stage helearnt about the existence of the Woking Mosque and that this house of God was lying deserted. TheKhwaja Sahib went to Woking and took possession of the Mosque. The heirs of Dr Leitner attempted to

evict him from there but the Khwaja Sahib told them that according to Islam a place once designated as amosque remains forever a mosque, and no person can prevent Muslims from praying in it. In thisconnection he was helped greatly by the late Mirza Sir Abbas Ali Baig who in those days was a member ofthe Council of the Secretary of State for India. The result was that the mosque came into the control of theKhwaja Sahib.

Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din was a lawyer, so he created a Trust for the guardianship of the mosque whichinitially had three members: (1) the Rt. Hon. Sayyid Ameer Ali, who was a member of the JudicialCommittee of the Privy Council; (2) Mirza Sir Abbas Ali Baig; and (3) Sir Thomas Arnold, who had been SirMuhammad Iqbals teacher in Government College, Lahore. This Trust appointed the Khwaja Sahib asImam. Since that time the Woking Mosque has been the biggest centre of the propagation of Islam in

England.

Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din faced great difficulties at first. There were many strange stories and unfoundedmyths about Islam prevailing in the country. To remove this barrier of prejudice and ignorance was not aneasy task. But the Khwaja Sahib possessed an extraordinary mind and heart. He was extremely intelligentand hard working. He had enviable command of both writing and speech. Above all, he had the mostperfect conviction in the truth of Islam, and it was this that sustained his courage. Consequently, in hisown lifetime he saw this Mission make tremendous progress.

He wrote some twenty books on Islam in English. Through his efforts the English translation of the Quranby Maulana Muhammad Ali of Lahore was published from Woking in 1917. This was undoubtedly a great

achievement because before that no Muslim in the world had translated the Divine Word into English.

Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din died in Lahore on 28 December 1932. Before his death he made over his property,including his writings and the magazine Islamic Review, to the Woking Mission.

Apart from the Khwaja Sahib, other people who have served as Imams of the Woking Mosque from timeto time included Maulana Sadr-ud-Din, Maulana Muhammad Yaqub Khan, Maulana Abdul Majeed, MaulviMustafa Khan, Dr Shaikh Muhammad Abdullah, and Maulvi Aftab-ud-Din Ahmad, whose good names

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deserve great honour and respect. Except for the late Maulvi Aftab-ud-Din Ahmad, I have personallyknown all these gentlemen. In fact, the first three mentioned above were my teachers during my days as astudent.

To realize the importance of the activities of the Woking Mission it is necessary to review the past fiftyyears, during which the workers of the Mission have rendered the most valuable service to the cause of

Islam in Europe. Leaving aside the other countless writings and publications produced by the Mission, justthe issues of the Islamic Review are testimony to that service. There cannot be any aspect of Islamicteachings, history, civilization, culture, traditions and social life on which there have not appearedscholarly and learned articles in this journal. This magazine is read all over the world and it hasundoubtedly done great work in presenting the true picture of Islam.

Besides propagation work, the Woking Mission has become the centre for the gatherings of thosehundreds of thousands of Muslims who live in Britain. They include Muslims of every country fromMorocco to China.

On Idoccasions, the scene at Woking is worthy of view. There are Muslims gathered from Turkey, Iran,

Egypt, Malaya, Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Arabia, Nigeria, Algeria; in short, every race, colour and nation.There are also many British converts to Islam who take part. In this international gathering, despite thedifferences of language, dress, colour and custom, there runs a tremendous wave of brotherhood thatremoves the difference between east and west, and black and white, and binds all Muslims together asmembers of one community. The Idprayers are held in a very large marquee and after the prayers lunchis served there, which is provided as hospitality by the Mission. We are all guests of the Woking Missionon Idday.

What has impressed me most is that the Woking Mission is doing the service of Islam while remainingentirely away from sectarianism, and indeed above it. I have seen in the last ten years that the Idprayersare led by different Imams [of different sects]. They include the Iranian Shia religious leader, the

ambassador of Indonesia, the famous British convert to Islam, Dr Cowan, and Dr Abdul Aziz Khulusi of Iraq.

There is a Muslim Society established under the auspices of the Mission. Its head office is in the area ofVictoria in central London, where there are very interesting gatherings every week, in which people of allbeliefs and views participate. Usually someone gives a talk on a religious, social, academic or literary issueconcerning the Muslims, and this is followed by a reasoned discussion.

The Imam of the Woking Mosque is especially busy. Many societies and organisations in Britain holdmeetings at which representatives of different faiths are invited to speak. Most often the Imam of Wokinghas the honour to represent Islam at these functions.

Today, by the efforts of the Muslims, there are mosques in other cities in Britain as well. In England thereis not the same unawareness, ignorance and prejudice regarding Islam that existed half a century ago.Despite that, there is no decline in the pivotal position of Woking, and today too Woking is the chiefcentre of the renaissance of Islam in Britain.

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Kamal-ud-Din, the Khwaja

Succeeded in securing adherents to Islam

An entry in Who is WhoBorn Lahore, 1870; s of late Khwaja Azizuddin, Lahore; died 28 Dec. 1932. Imam of Mosque, Woking

EDUCATION

Local Mission College. University Medallist in Economics; graduated in arts 1893, in law 1897

CAREER

Professor of History and Economics, Islamia College, Lahore; joined Bar, 1898, but under the inspiration ofMirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, Punjab, gave up law for religion after fifteen years practice; came to England,1912; started a monthly journal, Islamic Review, in 1913, and founded the Muslim Mission at Woking in thesame year with the chief aim of disabusing the Western mind of wrong notions about Islam; succeeded insecuring adherents to Islam in this country, and is the Imam of the British Muslims

PUBLICATIONS

Chiefly religious; Glimpses from the Life of the Prophet; Islam and Muslim Prayers; Sayings of the Prophet;Religion of Atoms; Study of Islam; Table Talk; Revelation a Necessity; Secret of Existence; India in the Balance;The House Divided; Sources of Christianity; Towards Islam;Islam and Zoroastrianism;Ideal Prophet, etc.; hischief work in philology is Ummul al-Sinah (The Mother of Languages), meaningArabic.

ADDRESS

The Mosque, Woking, Surrey, Woking 679. Telegraphic Address: Mosque, Woking

[www.ukwhoswho.com/Oxford University Press, 2013 Edition]

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