| A Great, Good
News
Acceptance of Islam
by a famous English scholar and orientalist
Recent letter by Khwaja
Kamal-ud-Din
Brothers, assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh!
Readers of The Islamic Review will this year have
been reading those invaluable articles in its pages which
are a result of the high intellect of Mr Marmaduke Pickthall.
Our friends will also remember his brilliantly
unique speech which he made at the last function marking the
birthday of the Holy Prophet Muhammad held at the Cecil Hotel,
London.{footnote
1} Its translation [in Urdu] was also published
in book form from the office of the magazine Ishaat Islam,
Aziz Manzil, Lahore. Reading that speech, and seeing the love
that its author is seen to have in his heart for the Holy
Prophet Muhammad, I received many letters asking whether there
remained any obstacle to this learned orientalist accepting
Islam? I knew well that no preaching or effort on my part
could further increase this venerable man’s faith in Islam.
However, for certain reasons, we did not reach the occasion
for full rejoicing.
Eventually, many kinds of veils began to be lifted from the
path of the light of Islam. Frequent meetings, socialising,
correspondence and conversation did their work. It began
to be said that this gentleman appears to be a Muslim. There
can hardly be any week when he does not have occasion to make
a speech somewhere or preside over a meeting. He is president
of many associations. His speeches are full of the light of
Islam and of great eloquence. What a blessed day was yesterday
when I had to deliver a lecture in a fashionable part of London,
Old Bond Street, on the Spirit of Worship. Mr Pickthall was
chosen by the meeting to preside. My rejoicing knew no bounds
when, while introducing me, he said the following words:
“Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din will speak on the
Islamic spirit of worship. Although he and I belong to the
same religion, and we are believers in the same scripture,
but if I were to be asked to speak on this topic I would
turn to him …”
What he said after this, only God knows. I cannot remember
because I was so overcome by happiness. It is a favour of
Allah that He has granted me the same ability and power of
delivering speeches in this country with which my friends
are familiar from my lectures in India. This lecture was itself
on a spiritual topic and then this great news had worked magic
on me. I rose, charged with enthusiasm and intoxicated with
the love of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, and thanked God a million
times. The effect on my audience was so deep that I have not
seen it in my lectures in India. Today I have received a letter
from Kishab Chandar Sen, the son of the founder of the Brahmo
Samaj [a sect of Hinduism] as follows:
“I am thankful to you for the very great
spiritual and intellectual hospitality that you offered
us. Permit me to say that it is the first time I have heard
such spiritual talk from a Muslim. Never before have I felt
such enjoyment. I congratulate you on how simply and yet
effectively you shed light on this topic.”
By summarising this letter here I do not intend to prove
how well I made the speech. The diction that God has granted
me out of His grace, whether it is good or bad, is known to
all. I want only to show that we Muslims have up to now not
fulfilled our duty of the propagation of Islam. It is after
coming to England that I today come to know of the great glory
of Islam, and that too of its spiritual aspect of tasawwuf,
about which I cannot claim to have comprehensive knowledge.
Alas, we Muslims did not value Islam nor did we fulfil our
obligation of propagating it.
I also quote here a letter from Mr Pickthall which I received
today:
“A friend who has become a Muslim by his own study, and
who has been in correspondence with me for some time, asks
me if there is available a Quran that has the English translation
in between the lines of Arabic text, the English rendering
opposite the Arabic words …”
Mr Pickthall writes to me in this letter: ‘This man is a
scholar’.
I ask Muslims, What reply can I give to this letter? That
we have not done this service for you? So God bless Maulvi
Muhammad Ali, M.A., who, after nine years of hard work, has
made us able to say that we can give you a translation which,
while being idiomatic, adheres most strictly to the original
words. The worthy Maulana has shown immense wisdom in making
his translation, as far as was possible, correspond closely
to the original words. This is the commendable example which
was first followed in India by the family of Shah Waliullah.
This is integrity. The Maulvi sahib’s English translation
follows the same principle as the Urdu translation of Shah
Abdul Aziz and Shah Abdul Qadir.
It would be untrue for us to say that Mr Pickthall’s acceptance
of Islam is due to our efforts. What we did was to establish
a centre [at Woking, England] and presented Islam in its pristine
purity, with the strength that God gave us. When we presented
the philosophy, wisdom and rationality of Islam to this thinking
world, it did not result in embarrassment for us. In this
short time, at least wherever our writings and spoken words
reached, it was conceded that Islam excels all other religions
in terms of its simplicity, spirituality, depth of wisdom,
thought, morality, civilization and theology. God granted
us a community here which, although small in number, consists
of persons of respectability, members of the nobility and
those belonging to high lineage, scholars and people of excellent
rank. Because of the existence of this centre, its acquiring
this fame, and the creation of such a group of converts, many
admirers of the beauty of Islam have come out from behind
closed doors. Just now one Pickthall has emerged, but there
are plenty of other shining stars like him hidden behind the
clouds in the West. Arise, awaken, give up this negligence,
and make the bright rays of the light of Islam to shine on
the walls of the West. Then you will see that the time is
near when you will hear other similar voices saying: This
is our religion. But let us look at ourselves and see how
inadequate our efforts are.
For the information of my friends, I quote here from the
entry about Mr Pickthall given in the British book{footnote 2} which lists famous
people:
“Marmaduke William{footnote
3} Pickthall, son of the late Rev. Charles Pickthall,
rector of Chillesford [Suffolk], Educated at Harrow and
various European countries. Travels: Spent several years
in journey and study of places in the Ottoman empire and
other countries of the East. Writings: Said The Fisherman,
With the Turk in Wartime during the Balkan wars,
Knights of Araby, …”
This shows the pedigree of this bright jewel. He is author
of scores of books. If his early writings are compared with
his present writings, one’s hearts becomes filled with the
praise of Allah at the fact that the man who took up his pen
on Islam in order to ridicule Islam became, in the end, captivated
by its beauty. May Allah be praised for it. |
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