Trip to Europe

FIRST MISSIOn In THE UK

Towards the close of the 19th Century, Dr. Leitner, Principal of the Oriental College, Lahore, built the Shah Jehan Mosque and the Memorial House outside Woking in Surrey at a distance of 24 miles from London by money donated by Indian Muslims. This mosque was eventually handed over to the Rt Hon. Syed Ameer Ali. He agreed to put Khawaja Kamal Uddin in charge of the Mosque and Memorial House in the spring of 1913. The Mosque was to be used as a place of Muslim worship and the Memorial House as the residence of the Imam.

As his work and responsibilities expanded he requested Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih I [ra] that someone might be sent over to assist him in his work. In response to his request Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih arranged to send Chaudhri Fateh Muhammad Syal M.A. to England to assist Khawaja sahib in his work.

On the death of Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih I [ra], Chaudhri Fateh Muhammad Syal swore allegiance to Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih II [ra], who directed him to move to London and start the first Ahmadiyya Mission in England.

Some years later the house and grounds at 63 Melrose Road, London SW18, were acquired as the headquarters of the Mission and it was decided to build a Mosque in a part of the garden of 63 Melrose Road.

COnFEREnCE OF THE PRInCIPAL RELIGIOnS OF THE

bRITISH EMPIRE

A great Imperial Exhibition was held at Wembley, a few miles out of London, in 1924. It was expected to attract visitors from all parts of the British Empire and a few

public-spirited persons, who took an interest in comparative religion, thought that it would be a good opportunity to hold a “conference of the principal religions of the Empire” to which representatives of those religions might be invited to deliver addresses expounding the principles and teachings of their respective faiths.

Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih II [ra] accepted the invitation to participate in the conference. However, the main and primary object of undertaking the long journey by sea was to study personally the social, economic and political conditions in Europe, which more than the logic and truth of Church Christianity stood in the way of Islam. Referring to the invitation in a statement printed in the “Al Fazl” of 24 June 1924, Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih remarked that the office and position of the Khalifa is not one of a lecturing preacher or missionary that he should feel constrained or called upon to lecture now here and now there as the need arose. He also warned that the trip would not suffice to win the allegiance of Europe to Islam. He admitted that extraordinary changes sometimes did take place with extraordinary speed but these were never due to mortal endeavour; they were brought about by the powerful hand of God.

TwO dREAMS

This statement of June 1924 also contains an account of two significant dreams of Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih II [ra], one about three or four years prior to the occasion and the other two or three months before. Huzur states: -

“I saw myself present in an assembly comprising prominent members of the Parliament, Lords of the realm and Members of the Cabinet. The gathering had the air of some important function and Mr. Lloyd George was addressing the audience. While he was speaking, a remarkable change came over him and he started pacing up and down in the hall. Unusual signs of agitation were witnessed in him which gave the impression that his mind had given way under

the stress of some unusual strain. People stood by in rows while he walked up and down, in great perturbation. Then Lord Curzon stepped up to him and whispered something in his ear, and Mr. Lloyd George halted to whisper back a reply, which Lord Curzon communicated to those standing round him. Then all fled towards the door of the hall, pressing upon one another and peeping out towards the East. I was all the more amazed to see this fresh development and wondered in my mind. Qazi Abdullah was standing by my side and I asked him if he knew what Lord Curzon had said. He replied that Mr. Lloyd George had told Lord Curzon he was not out of his mind; he was very anxious and apprehensive as he had received news that forces of Mirza Mahmud Ahmad, Imam of the Ahmadiyya Community, were driving back the Christian Army which in its retreat had almost reached that very hall. On hearing this everybody had rushed to the door to see how the battle was progressing. When I heard this I said to myself, ‘these people are wild with fear. If they knew I was present in their midst they would certainly try to imprison me.’ With this idea in my mind I too made for the door and quietly slipped out.” The other dream is described as follows:

“I found myself on the English coast like a man newly arrived. I was a General dressed in military uniform and a man was by my side. I had the impression that a battle had just been fought in which victory had been mine, and I was viewing the field so as to push home the advantage gained in the battle. A beam of wood was lying in front me, on which I put one foot to raise myself a little in order to command a better view. I was conscious of extraordinary vigour and my body was light and full of vitality as a man sometimes feels in moments when some great success has been achieved. My gaze roamed over the field searching for the point where I should next concentrate my attention. In that

moment I heard a voice which seemed to come from someone whom I could not see but who, it appeared, was standing somewhere near. I had a peculiar feeling that the person from whom the voice came was none other than my own soul, as though that person and myself were one and the same. The voice said, ‘WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.’ The next day when I related this dream to some friends, Dr M. M. Sadiq looked up the word William in the dictionary and told me that it meant a man of firm views and unshakable resolve.”

The statement in the “Al Fazl” then proceeded to say that:

“these dreams seemed to signify that in regard to the Western countries Almighty

God had some gracious resolve with which, probably, was bound up some journey of mine or of some representative of mine. It should not be inferred, however, that the result hinted at in these visions would flow immediately from such a journey. Rather, it was more likely that the seed would be sown to bear fruit in time.”

It is interesting to pause here and ponder the significance of the conquest of England by William (the Conqueror) of Normandy:

“The immediate and formal changes which followed on William’s coming were of small account when compared with the indirect, and more important changes which came, as it were of themselves, as the natural result of his coming. A revolution was gradually wrought in every thing that touched the relations of the kingdom within and without. But it was a revolution of a strange kind. It was a revolution which seemed, if not to root up our ancient institutions, at least practically so to transform them that they might be deemed to have in truth passed away. It was a revolution which seemed to have broken down the spirit of Englishmen forever under the yoke of strangers. But what that revolution

really did was to call forth the spirit of Englishmen in a stronger and a more abiding shape, and to enable us to bring back under new forms the substance of the institutions which seemed for a moment to have passed away.” 106

This appraisal of the Conquest of England by William of Normandy is one on which all historians agree, and its keynote is that changes which came in its wake came silently and “of themselves”, so as to say, and they were thorough, deep, and far-reaching in effect. The wonderful vision of Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih recounted above gives us, thus, a clue as to the manner in which Islam would spread in Great Britain and seem to “root up” its “ancient institutions” and to “break down the spirit of Englishmen”, while in actual fact it would only call forth that spirit in a stronger and more abiding shape and bring back, in new forms, “the substance of the institutions which seemed for a moment to have passed away.” And the movement towards this silent revolution would be initiated through a personal survey of the field by Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih II [ra].

jOURnEy TO dAMASCUS

This then was the primary object of Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih II [ra] in his journey to England, the occasion for which was provided by the Conference on Religions. Another consideration that had weight with him was to fulfil a prophecy of the Holy Prophet Mohammad [saw] with regard to the Promised Messiah [as], which the Promised Messiah [as] had interpreted to signify that some successor of his would journey to Damascus. The prophecy in the Hadith states that the Messiah in his second advent would appear in Damascus “by the white Minaret”. On his journey to London he had it mind to make a detour en route and pay a visit to that ancient city. A third point he had in view was the publicity resulting from the journey and participation in the Conference would make the Movement known to a much wider circle. 107

On his part he immediately embarked upon a project to write a book setting forth in some detail the principles and teachings of Islam. He wrote it in Urdu and it was translated into English. The printing of the English translation was completed just in time before he set out on his journey to England with a dozen companions. On his way he stopped off at Port Said and visited, among other places, Jerusalem and Damascus.

While in Damascus, Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih II [ra] issued instructions that enquiries should be made to find out if there was any white minaret in Damascus but all efforts proved in vain. One morning Huzur was offering the morning prayers with his companions. The moment the prayers finished, his eyes happened to alight on the minaret of a mosque near the hotel. This minaret was white and it was to the east of the hotel at which Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih was staying!

It should be remembered that the Holy Prophet Muhammad [saw] had seen in a vision that the keys of the Roman and Persian Emperors were given to him but these empires were subdued in the reign of his second successor, Hadhrat Omar [ra]. 108

ARRIvAL In EnGLAnd

In London he took up his residence, along with his companions, at 6 Chesham Place, SW1. His arrival in London was widely publicised in the press.

The conference was held at the Imperial Institute in South Kensington. Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih II [ra] attended the conference at various times and thus had opportunities of meeting a large number of people. On the day on which his paper was to be read out he was seated on the dais with his companions and his paper was read out by one of his principal followers, Hadhrat Chaudhry Muhammad Zafrulla Khan [ra]. The great hall was absolutely packed with people and some people not finding room inside the hall crowded the wide staircase that led down from the hall. The address was listened to in absolute silence and with concentrated attention and

when the reading was finished a deep sigh was heard to go up as if the audience had been released from a spell, and everybody attempted to rush to the dais to shake hands with the Khalifatul Masih, or at least approach close to him. The address received a very good press also.

The book, Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam, by Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih II [ra] was on sale at the Imperial Institute and on one occasion, when he was visiting the Institute, a clergyman who had the book in his hand came up to greet him and said:

“I obtained this book of yours yesterday and started reading it after dinner. I became so deeply interested that I went on reading it through the night and by the time I had to come down to breakfast I had finished reading it. I have been fascinated by it.”

THE AFGHAn MARTyRS

While the Khalifatul Masih and his party were still in London news arrived of the tragic death by stoning of Naimatullah Khan, a young Afghan, who had studied religion at Qadian and had returned to his own country after finishing his studies. He was only 19 years of age and life spread out before his imagination in attractive and alluring colours. His outstanding quality, however, was devotion to his faith. On his way back to his country he stopped at Peshawar for a short while, where his host asked him one evening:

“Naimatullah, you know that since the martyrdom of Sahibzada Syed Abdul

Latif sahib, more than a dozen of our people have been stoned to death in

Afghanistan under the orders of the Amir. Should you be confronted with the same contingency, how will you behave?”

His reply was:

“Sir, if I said anything just now in answer to your question, my response would

lack reality. I do not know and, therefore, cannot say what my reaction to the situation would be. I hope and pray that God of his Grace and Mercy will bestow upon me the strength and firmness that would enable me to react to the situation as the Sahibzada Sahib reacted. But I am a weak human being and all I can say at the moment is that I shall continue to supplicate for God’s

Grace and Mercy.”

When he arrived in Kabul he was arrested and confined in a cell like a dangerous criminal and was charged with apostasy from Islam. He rejected every suggestion made to him that he should repudiate the Messiah of Qadian but like all his predecessors in that situation, he remained firm in his faith, in the full consciousness that he could do so only at the cost of his life. During the period of his confinement he found an opportunity of scribbling a note on a piece of paper and arranged to have it conveyed to his host in Peshawar. The note, which has been carefully preserved by his host, read:

“Sir, I am now face to face with the contingency that you had mentioned to me and, by God’s Grace, I am able to inform you that I am resolved to follow the example of the great martyr, the Sahibzada Sahib.”

In due course he carried out his resolve with great firmness and presence of mind. It is worthy of note that not a single Ahmadi who was called upon to lay down his life in this cruel manner on account of his faith exhibited the slightest fear at any time or showed any inclination towards repudiating his faith. May Allah receive the souls of all of them into His mercy.

When the news of Naimatullah Khan’s martyrdom was received in London, Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih and his party were overwhelmed with grief and pity for the young martyr. A protest meeting was held in Essex Hall, Essex Street, in which several British public men spoke and expressed their horror at the cruel murder of the young martyr and their sympathy for his parents. There was universal condemnation

of the barbaric atrocity, and the authorities in Afghanistan who were responsible for it were harshly criticized.

Naimatullah Khan’s execution was carried out under the orders of Amanullah

Khan, who advocated liberalism in every sphere of life and was anxious to modernise Afghanistan. God’s retribution was not long delayed. King Amanullah’s modernising methods were deeply resented by the mullahs who roused the populace against him. Bacha Saqua (son of water carrier) headed a rising against him and advanced upon Kabul. He met with no opposition in Kabul, and Amanullah finding himself deserted by everyone departed in the utmost haste from Kabul, accompanied by his wife, and requested the British authorities of India to provide him with facilities for travel to Italy. Arrived in Rome he rented an apartment and settled down to an inglorious existence of degrading humiliation. His wife and daughter were disgusted with him and left him to die in lonely misery. This was the end of the line of Amir Abdur Rahman Khan, at whose insistence Maulvi Abdur Rahman, a disciple of Sahibzada Abdul Latif, had been strangled to death while in custody.

LAyInG OF THE FOUndATIOn STOnE OF THE LOndOn

MOSQUE

Before leaving England and starting on his return journey to India, Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih laid the foundation stone of the London Mosque on 19 October 1924. The construction of the Mosque was completed in the summer of 1926, and Shaikh Sir Abdul Qadir performed the opening ceremony on 3 October 1926 in the presence of a distinguished gathering of Muslims from all countries and British guests prominent in public life. Four English gentlemen announced their acceptance of Islam. This was the first mosque established within the area of Greater London.