Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din
meets Professor E.G. Browne at Cambridge
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In Badr of 20 March 1913, on page 4, the
following letter by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din addressed to Maulana
Nur-ud-Din is published. In this translation we have added
three links to notes by the Website Editor and a link to an
article.
“ To the honoured
leader, master, mentor and guide, may Allah keep you safe!
assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuhu
The last time I stated that I intended to bring
out the magazine, although assistance was required.
I am even now for several months bearing my expenses
by the grace of God. While I can support myself and those
helping me, it is beyond my present resources to bear the
burden of the magazine. Prayer and attention by you is required.
When I went to Cambridge I met Professor Browne.[note
1] He is an orientalist who is very close to Islam
— Allah knows best what is correct. I asked him to write
for the magazine occasionally. Such persons are of interest
to the readers here. An article was received
from him which has been included. [article]
At the end of it, Professor Browne, referring to the efforts
of Europe against Islam, quotes the verse of the Quran: “They
desire to extinguish the light of Allah”. I am sending
you, for your reading, the note which accompanied his article.
It is hand-written by him in Arabic script.
I said in an earlier letter that I would write
an article in detail about the gulibat-ir-Rum prophecy.[note
2] If I receive it from the press by 3 p.m. on
Friday then the English version will reach you. Its Urdu translation
is enclosed. It has been translated into Arabic and is being
translated into Turkish. The English translation will be sent
to all the European leaders and to America, the Turkish to
Constantinople, and the Arabic to Egypt. I have requested
the community to say prayers in this matter, and Mufti sahib[note
3] will let you know what that is.
I ask for prayer, prayer and prayer.
Kamal-ud-Din ”
Notes by the Website Editor
Note
1. Professor Edward Granville Browne (1862–1926),
Professor of Persian at Cambridge and author of A Literary
History of Persia (Cambridge 1902-24) 4 vols.
Note
2. The reference is to a prophecy of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam
Ahmad which is in the same words as the following verses of
the Holy Quran: “The Romans (ar-Rum) are vanquished
in a near land, and they, after their defeat, will gain victory”
(30:2–3). Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din applied this to what happened
to Turkey during the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, as Turkey
is known as ar-Rum in the East.
Note
3. Mufti Muhammad Sadiq, Editor of Badr.
The image of this letter, as printed in Badr,
is shown below. At the end of the letter is the text
of note in Persian by Professor E.G. Browne (bearing name
Edward Browne at the end):
The article by Professor
Browne published in the very first issue of The Islamic
Review (February 1913, pages 5 and 6), as
referred to above by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, is shown below
as a scanned image from the original magazine. The article
is in the form of a letter to the Editor, Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din.
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