Abdullah Quilliam

as mentioned in contemporary Ahmadiyya and Woking Muslim Mission literature

As is well-known and documented in several sources, William Henry Quilliam (b. 1856, d. 1932), a Liverpool solicitor, converted to Islam in the 1880s after a visit to Morocco, and upon his return began to preach Islam in the Liverpool area, gaining a small community of converts. He founded the Liverpool Muslim Institute, within whose building was a prayer room known as the mosque. This mosque is widely described as the first mosque in the U.K. He published two periodicals The Crescent Weekly and The Islamic World Monthly. This movement remained active from the early 1890s to 1908, when Quilliam left England for reasons that are not clear. The work of his mission then came to an end.

Note: The following are some links to pages on websites containing information about Quilliam.

• The Muslim News, 31 October 1997
• BBC Legacies webpages (two pages)
• The Muslim Council of Britain

Quilliam in Ahmadiyya sources

Quilliam and his work is mentioned in contemporary Ahmadiyya sources of his time. The Ahmadiyya Movement, founded in the 1880s by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (d. 1908) in Qadian, India, regarded it as a vital part of its mission to propagate Islam in the West. Hence it established contacts with converts to Islam in the West such as Quilliam in England and Alexander Russell Webb in the U.S.A.

The Review of Religions was an English-language monthly started from Qadian at the direction of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad who appointed Maulana Muhammad Ali (later famous as translator of the Holy Quran into English) as its first editor. This periodical was regularly sent to Western countries. Following are three articles in the Review of Religions with reference to Quilliam:

• Letter by Quilliam to the Review of Religions, 1905, and advertisement of his magazines.
• Death of Lord Stanley of Alderley reported in the Review of Religions from Quilliam’s paper
• Account of Quilliam’s work by an English convert, who knew him well, in the Review of Religions, 1912

The Woking Muslim Mission and The Islamic Review

After Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din founded the Woking Muslim Mission and The Islamic Review in 1913, some persons earlier connected with Quilliam’s mission now became associated with the Woking Mission and began to write for this magazine. In The Islamic Review for May 1914 Yehya-en-Nasr Parkinson (the man mentioned near the end of the last account above) wrote an article entitled The Liverpool Muslim Movement. Parkinson had been connected with Quilliam’s movement.

• The article ‘The Liverpool Muslim Movement’, The Islamic Review, May 1914

In 1929 a brief booklet Islam in England was published, written by Sheikh Mushir Hosain Kidwai of Gadia, who was closely involved in the Woking Muslim Mission. Kidwai was living in England during the latter part of Quilliam’s Liverpool activities and afterwards, and had met him.

• Excerpt about Quilliam’s mission in Islam in England, 1929.

Quilliam as Professor H.M. Leon

It is believed that Quilliam returned to England and used the name Professor H. M. Leon. There are several articles in The Islamic Review by Prof. Leon. His initials H.M. usually stand for Haroun Mustapha, although his name appears sometimes as Henri M. Leon.

• See here his address to the first meeting of the British Muslim Society, December 1914
• See here for a brief report of the visit to the Woking Mosque in March 1920 by the Indian Khilafat Delegation, led by the famous nationalist leader Muhammad Ali Jauhar, when a meeting was held presided over by Prof. Leon. There is a short, silent newsreel film clip of this occasion available, in which Prof. Leon can be seen. This may be the only moving film clip of Quilliam.

We find learned articles by Prof. Leon regularly appearing in early issues of The Islamic Review. A list of his first few articles and the issues in which they appeared is as follows:

1. Acrimu-al-Hirrah! — Respect the cat. A poem. December 1914 issue, p. 546–547.
2. Islam, A Rational Faith. January 1915, p. 24–25.
3. The Prophet and the Jew. A poem. February 1915, p. 73–74.
4. The Second Pledge of Akaba. April 1915, p. 182–187.
5. Review of Leaves from Three Ancient Qurans. May 1915, p. 239–250.
6. In praise of the Prophet. A poem. June 1915, p. 286.
7. Islam and Temperance. A lecture delivered in London on 10th April 1915. June 1915, p. 310–

The article The Second Pledge of Akaba listed above, in the April 1915 issue, is headed by a note from the Editor containing some biographical details about the author. Its scanned image is displayed below:

— From The Islamic Review, April 1915, p. 182

It is evident from the biographical details provided in this note that Prof. H.M. Leon was the same person as Quilliam.