Three Artefacts of Early British Islam
Lord Headley Al-Farooq (1855–1935) converted to Islam in 1913, and thereafter played an active role in the Woking Muslim Mission, went for Hajj, and set up the British Muslim Society in 1914 to cater for the needs of converts.
The historian Dr Jamie Gilham is currently undertaking primary research for a first biography of Headley. While in America last week meeting some of Headley’s descendants, Dr Gilham was shown three personal items of Headley’s that have been passed down through the family. These photographs have been shared with the family’s permission and by Dr Gilham’s kind offices, for which I express my appreciation.
The first (pictured above) is certainly the most intriguing. It reads:
786
صدر
دهلي
كانفرس
تبليغ
الانديا
الحج لارد هيدلي فاروق
[The Basmala in numerological form]
Sadr [place name?], Delhi, All-India Missionary Conference, Al-Hajj Lord Headley Farooq.
[My thanks to Drs Ibrahim Harvey and Atif Imtiaz for assistance in deciphering the embroidered calligraphy.]
In 1927–8, Headley went on a preaching tour of India with his mentor and close friend, Kamaluddin (1870–1932), lawyer and missionary, who founded the Woking Muslim Mission in 1911 and The Islamic Review in 1913 and was a key figure in the Lahore Ahmadiyya. This embroidery must almost certainly have been formally presented to Headley at the All-India Tabligh Conference in Delhi in December 1927 where he gave the presidential address, which was subsequently published.
These tiny bottles that belonged to Lord Headley were almost certainly used for ‘itr (oiled perfume). But their provenance is unknown at this time.
Finally, Lord Headley’s personal prayer beads have been preserved by the family. These are still made all over the Muslim world and, having thirty-three beads, are made for the Tasbihat al-Sayyida al-Zahra, the remembrance of God gifted to the Prophet’s beloved daughter Fatima to be said after each obligatory prayer, which consists of glorification (tasbih), praise (tamhid) and exalting (takbir) of God, i.e. subhanallah (33 times), al-hamdu lillah (33 times) and Allahu akbar (34 times). The provenance of these prayer beads is unknown at this time.
We hope that one day a dedicated museum of British Muslim history is established where such artefacts may be preserved and displayed to the public.
