Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall (1875–1936) is well-known as one of the translators of the Holy Quran into English and a British convert to Islam. He is regarded as an orthodox, mainstream, Sunni Muslim. When Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din established the Woking Muslim Mission in England in 1913, Marmaduke Pickthall was not yet a Muslim but had become attracted to Islam. He was already well-known as a scholar and novelist. He began to take part in the activities organized by the Woking Muslim Mission. His subsequent acceptance of Islam is described in a brief report written by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din for Paigham Sulh, the Urdu periodical of the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam Lahore.
The Islamic Review of January 1918 contains a brief report of a meeting, at the “London Muslim House”, organised by the “Muslim Literary Society, on 29th November 1917. It informs us that Mr. Pickthall delivered a lecture there entitled Islam and Modernism. The report goes on to state:
“Opportunity was taken by the audience who crowded the lecture hall to give an ovation to Mr. Pickthall for his having declared openly a few days before his acceptance of the Faith of Islam.” (p. 3)
At the link provided, this issue of The Islamic Review is available online. The report is on pages 3 and 4. His speech is also published in this issue, and runs from page 5 to page 11 of the magazine.
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