Lord Headleys
visit to India, 1927-28:
Maulana Muhammad Ali’s address presented to Lord Headley
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See main article: Lord Headley’s visit to India, 1927–28
Text below is taken from The Light, Lahore, 5 January 1928 (pages 8–10)
The following address was presented to the Right Hon’ble Lord Headley (Al-Farooq) on December 28, 1927, on behalf of the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam, Lahore:-
“ WE, the members and associates of the
Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam, Lahore,
approach your Lordship with all due respect and
affection, and most heartily welcome you to our
town — the headquarters of all our activities in the
propagation of Islam in the world. We, noble
Lord, welcome you, not because you are a Peer of
the British realm, but because you are a Muslim
brother and the pioneer of Islam from the British
Nobility. In your noble self we find only a
repetition of Islamic history, and we are proud to
observe that Islam, and only Islam, in the world
of religion, has, from time to time, claimed the
services of the members of Royal Houses and
Noble families for the spread of its truth, and your
Lordship, we are proud to say, has followed the
steps of Royal Missionaries in Islam. In this connection we cannot but admire to find courage of conviction in you. The late Lord Stanley and
the late Sir Richard Burton, among many others,
were Muslims in their heart, but for reasons
which are not known to us they did not make a
public declaration of their faith.
We do remember those days of our apprehensions and anxieties when your and our dear brother, Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, went to England
to launch the boat of Islam in the Western waters
troubled with dogma, atheism and materialism.
Every mail from England in those days was opened
with apprehension. And at last our apprehension
was dispelled when the happy news of your avowal
of Islam was flashed to the four corners of the
world, and the spread of the Quranic truths became a fait accompli in our minds. Our hopes
gradually began to be realized as the subsequent
history of the Woking Muslim Mission shows.
Today, among a large number of Western people
of all shades and ranks, who have joined the numbers of Islam, we mention only a few of noble
ranks:
Sir Abdullah Archibald Hamilton, Bart.; Lady
Hamilton; Lady Evelyn Cobbold; Viscount de
Potiers; Count Yourkevitch; Sir William
Wright, Bart.; Countess Fatima (daughter of
Count Rupert Albert Rudolf Wolf-de-George),
Germany.
And among the literary luminaries: Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall; Said Felix Valyi;
Prof. Dr. Leon; Mr. Dudley Wright; Mr. Bashir
Pickard; Usman Fisher, Bar-at-Law; Prof. Nur-ud-Din Stephen; Professor J. Whymant; Rev.
James du Cox; Dr. R. Kennedy Stewart Ross; Dr.
Marcus, Ph.D. (Berlin); Dr. Greifelt, Ph.D.
(Berlin); Dr. Banning, Ph.D., and Professor Hutfiltz
(Berlin).
And we take this occasion to convey this news
to your Lordship that soon after you had sailed
from England, we received the gladdening news
that Hubert Charles Rankin, Esqr., the eldest
son and heir of Sir Reginald Rankin, Bart., has
joined the fold of the Faithful.
My Lord! since your declaration in Islam
you have proved a rock of strength to the single-handed efforts of Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din. Your
able writings on Islam invited intelligent attention and study of Islam in lands teeming with
grossest misrepresentation of our dear faith; and
today we find Western mind greatly disabused of
all that was said by the busy peoples there in
defaming Islam. Your activities in the spread of
the faith so dear to your heart have not been confined to the British Isles. In these advanced
years you sacrificed your comfort and rest in making tours in Egypt and South Africa where your
services have borne ample fruit.
Your zeal and love for the observance of the
religious injunctions of Islam cannot be better
illustrated than in your recent pilgrimage to
Mecca. In the hottest period of the year and in
the arid and parched land of Arabia, we find a
Peer, corning from the cold climate, in Ihram.
We are not unaware of the various hardships
you have had to face since your declaration.
We never forget how bigotted Catholics did
burn and destroy your estate and Manorial House
in Ireland. All this you have borne with a true
Muslim spirit.
As your Lordship is aware, the aims and objects of our organization are purely the propagation of Islam throughout the world. As such we
are neither a political body nor as a community
do we take interest in political upheavals of any
country. In preaching Islam all our activities
are concentrated in the propagation of Islam as
taught by the Holy Quran and the Prophet
Muhammad, may peace be upon him — Islam which
is above sectarian differences. In fact, we do not
recognize any such differences. We believe Islam to
be free from sects; though there are many schools of
thought, and we do belong to one of them.
Nevertheless it is a matter of cardinal principle
with us that we do not recognise any prophet
after the advent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad,
the last of the blessed line of prophets. Neither
do we place any one, who believes in the Quran
and the Holy Prophet Muhammad, whatever his
other views may be, so long as he subscribes to
the Kalima, La-ilaha ill-allah Muhammad-ur-Rasulullah, out of the pale of Islam. This, we
believe, you must have noticed at Woking. The
same line of action characterises our activities at
other centres.
My Lord! the foundation of this Anjuman was
laid in 1914 at the very spot at which we are
now addressing you. The chief lines of the
activity of the Anjuman have been the production of Islamic literature which should meet the
need of the day, the preparation of Muslim Missionaries who should carry the message of love
and peace to different parts of the world, the
establishing of missions in and outside India, and,
last though not least, the education of the rising
generation of Islam in the religion and history of
Islam. And what little we have achieved in these
fourteen years shows only the truth of what the
Holy Quran has asserted: “And those who strive
hard for Us, We will certainly guide them in Our
ways.”
My Lord! of the items enumerated above our
attention has chiefly been directed to the production of healthy literature; and in the production
of that literature we have given the first place to
the Holy Quran. In fact, to bring the Holy Quran
to the forefront, both in missionary activity and
in the life of the Muslims, is our avowed object,
and therefore the first service to the cause of Islam
which we had in view was a translation of the
Holy Quran with exhaustive commentary. The
work was first done in English and afterwards
more exhaustively in Urdu. Over ten thousand
copies of the English translation have already
been circulated and they have reached almost all
parts of the Muslim world, and too numerous to
count are the acknowledgments of benefit received
from it by the Muslims themselves, while in the
case of not a few non-Muslims it has been the
cause of bringing them over to Islam. It is now
recognised as a standard work, and European
writers on Islam have frequently made use of it
in their writings. It is also being translated into
several other languages, viz., Tamil and Teligu,
which are two Indian dialects of Southern India,
Malay which is spoken in Java, Chinese, Albanian
and Dutch. Another book which has been translated into several languages and has already been
published in Turkish is “Muhammad the Prophet”,
a life-story of the Holy Prophet of Arabia. An
idea of the work done in this direction may be had
from the fact that in all nearly 39,000,000 pages
of Islamic literature have been turned out of the
printing press, through the efforts of the Anjuman.
Besides all this is the valuable literature produced at Woking, through the noble efforts of
yourself and Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din.
Among the journals published by the Anjuman are the Paigham-i-Sulah in Urdu, the
Light in English, the Moslemische Revue in German, besides the Islamic Review which has achieved a world-wide fame.
The most important of the Anjuman’s work
as regards literature is however not only its
production but also its free distribution. Three
hundred copies of the English translation of the
Holy Quran have been supplied free of cost to
libraries in Europe and America while hundreds of
others have been given away at concession
prices. Fifteen hundred copies of “Muhammad the
Prophet” have also been supplied free of charge
to libraries. The supply of the German quarterly,
the Moslemische Revue, is entirely free. Besides
all this, nearly 6,000,000 pages have been distributed free in form of tracts.
The second item of our work is the establishing of missions in foreign countries as well as in India. Your Lordship is well acquainted with the
noble band of workers who, with Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din or in his absence, have worked at Woking — Maulvi Sadr-ud-Din, Maulvi Mustafa Khan,
Maulvi Yaqub Khan, Khwaja Nazir Ahmad,
MauIvi Abdul Majid, and M. Abdul Khaliq Khan,
who are all members of our Anjuman. The work done there, as you know, is not simply the conversion to Islam of a thousand people or more;
more important is the change brought about in the
outlook of the West generally.
Next in importance to the Woking Mission is
the Berlin Mission which was established by the
Anjuman in 1922. A. magnificent mosque has been
erected in the heart of central Europe at an
outlay of about Rs. 150,000, while a quarterly in
the German language makes the truth of Islam
shine there. Seventy men and women, many of whom
are of literary fame, have already come forward
there to make a public declaration of Islam. The
names of some of them have already been mentioned above.
Two years’ work at Trinidad (B.W.I.) infused quite a new life into the Muslim population
of that island, and signs of Islamic activity
are now clearly witnessed there, so that students from
that distant land have come over to us to complete
their religious studies, in order to be able to
carry on the work of the propagation of Islam in
their own country.
Nearer home we have established a mission
in Java where 55 millions of Muslims needed an
awakening, and where the Muslim community
could not be saved without counteractiug the influence of Christian missions. A great deal of
useful work has been done here for the past
three years, and many important books especially
those dealing with the Christian religion have been
translated into the Malay language, while propaganda work is also being carried on through
journals and lectures.
My Lord! while our activities, since this Anjuman was started, have been chiefly centred in
Christian, lands, we have not neglected our home. Unfortunately, not withstanding centuries of Muslim rule in India, and notwithstanding the fact
that the Hindus and the Muslims are living here as neighbours, a great deal of ignorance as to the religion and history of Islam still prevails even
among the educated classes, to say nothing of
the vast masses steeped in ignorance. In this
connection we wish to draw your attention to
another important point. Here in India there are
seventy millions of people who are looked upon
as untouchable by the higher class Hindus. To
these unfortunate beings are denied all rights of
humanity. Their very shadow is polluting to a
higher class Hindu. In Islam alone lies their
salvation, in Islam which does away with all
pollutions and gives to all men an equal position
as members of one brotherhood. On the Muslims,
therefore, lies the duty of carrying the light of
Islam to these seventy millions, and as members of
an Anjuman whose object is to spread the light
of Islam we are not forgetful of this duty. It is
only two years that we have devoted our attention to this work and already we have brought
nearly 2500 men into the fold of Islam.
While speaking of our missionary activities
we cannot omit a mention of the Ishaat-i-Islam
College which we have very recently started for
the training of missionaries. This institution
encourages the study of comparative religion and generates a spirit of cohesion and brotherhood
among Muslims of all denominations and a liberal
attitude towards other religions. But while this
College is meant only for preparing missionaries,
we have also two High Schools for the general
education of Muslim boys, where we try to educate young Muslim students in the religion and
history of Islam along with other subjects which
the curriculum of the university requires. Some
philanthropic work is also being done by our
Anjuman, but it is unnecessary to go into these
details.
This, my Lord, is a brief sketch of the service
that this Anjuman has done to the cause of
Islam. And I would bring this address to a close
by adding a few words as to its funds. Starting
with Rs. 20,000 as its income and expenditure for
the first seventeen months of our existence, we
are presenting this year a report of nearly Rs. 230,000 income, sixteen times
what it was at its start. And during this period of
fourteen years the Anjuman has acquired lands
and constructed buildings whose total value
amounts to Rs. 538,000, while its book-depot
contains books of the value of over Rs. 200,000.
The achievement of these results has been made
possible by the earnestness with which every
member of the Anjuman is inspired, the result
being that wherever we have a member,
there we have got a missionary. And in conclusion thanks are due to the associates of the
Anjuman as much as to its members; and to you, my
Lord, for having taken the trouble to come
over and preside at this our meeting. ”
In the Urdu translation of this address as published in Paigham Sulh, 4 January 1928 (pages 2 and 4), it is signed off at the close as:
“ I remain,
Your Lordship’s sincere brother,
Muhammad Ali,
President, Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam, Lahore ” |