Proud2BeHumble
Seek Truth, Be Happy
While most Muslims read Pickthall’s, The Meaning of the Glorious Quran, not many know the interesting fact that he embraced Islam in a dramatic fashion in London.
Marmaduke Pickthall (1875 -1936) was born William Pickthall in 1875 in London, to an Anglican clergyman, and spent his formative years in rural Suffolk. He was the contemporary of Winston Churchill at Harrow, the famous private school. During intervals from living a sedentary life in Suffolk, Pickthall travelled extensively in the Arab world and Turkey. In 1917, Pickthall embraced Islam in a dramatic fashion after delivering a talk on “Islam and Progress” on November 29, 1917, to the Muslim Literary Society in Netting Hill, West London. From that point onwards, he identified himself with Muslim causes.
Throughout the Great War (1914-1918), and even prior to declaring his faith as a Muslim, he wrote extensively in support of the Ottomans. When British Muslims were asked to decide whether they were loyal to the Allies (Britain and France) or the Central Powers (Germany and Turkey), Pickthall said he was ready to be a combatant for his country so long as he did not have to fight the Turks. In 1919, Pickthall worked for the London-based Islamic Information Bureau that among other things published the weekly, Muslim Outlook.
When Muhammad Ali, the educator, editor of the Comrade and the leader of the Khilafat Movement in India came to London in 1920, Pickthall warmly welcomed him. By that time, Pickthall had already acquired a following in India, and in 1920 he was invited to serve as editor of the Bombay Chronicle. India became his home for 15 years. It was soon after, that he completed his novel, Early Hours. Muslim communities throughout India invited Pickthall to deliver Friday sermons as well as lectures. Two years after his arrival in India, Pickthall took up the study of Urdu. In 1925, Pickthall was invited by the Committee of Muslims in Madras to deliver a series of lectures on the cultural aspects of Islam. The collection of these lectures published in 1927, present Islam in a manner that could be understood by non-Muslims.
The same year, Pickthall was appointed editor of Islamic Culture, a new quarterly journal published under the patronage of the Nizam of Hyderabad. Among the many authors whose works were published included younger scholars like Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah and Muhammad Asad (formerly Leopold Weiss). Interestingly, both these writers eventually blossomed into accomplished authors and are now respected for their translations of the Quran into French and English. In 1928, Pickthall took a two-year leave to complete his translation of the meaning of the Qur’an, a work that he considered as the summit of his achievement.
Like any other Muslim scholar, Pickthall too maintained that the Quran being the word of Allah could not be translated. He wrote in his foreword: “The Quran cannot be translated.” Understandably, he titled his work that he finally published in 1930 as The Meaning of the Glorious Quran, declaring that it is simply a meaning of the Message and a presentation in English of the Arabic text. It was first, by a Muslim whose native language was English, and remains among the two most popular translations, the other being the work of Abdullah Yusuf Ali.
During the course of his translation, Pickthall consulted scholars in Europe, and as a conscientious Muslim he wanted to secure the approval of the most learned authority, the ulema of Al-Azhar in Egypt. Towards this end, he travelled to Egypt in 1929 and stayed in Cairo for three months.
The mission of ‘translating’ the Qur’an had preoccupied Pickthall’s mind since he converted to Islam. He saw that there was an obligation for all Muslims to know the Quran intimately. Even while serving as an imam in London in 1919, he often put aside the then available translations and offered his own, in the course of his khutba.
His devotion to the Book - a “wonder of the world” – was profound and he noted that while he had great difficulty in remembering a passage in his native English, he could easily memorize “page after page of the Qur’an in Arabic with perfect accuracy.” Pickthall warned against the danger of adoring the book rather than its content. He chided the Muslims to “keep the message always in your hearts, and live by it.”
In early 1935, Pickthall, just shy of 60, retired from the Nizam’s service and returned to England. In 1936, he moved to St. Ives where he died on May 19,1936 and was buried in the Muslim cemetery at Brookwood, Surrey, on May 23.
Pickthall’s translation itself has been translated. In 1958, extracts were put into Turkish. Other extracts were published in Istanbul the same year. In 1964, it was rendered into Portuguese in Mozambique and in 1960 a trilingual edition - English, Arabic and Urdu - appeared in Delhi. It has also appeared in Tagalog, a language spoken in the Philippines. Perhaps the elegy published in Islamic Culture best summed up this illustrious life of Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, that he was a “Soldier of faith! True servant of Islam!”
Marmaduke Pickthall (1875 -1936) was born William Pickthall in 1875 in London, to an Anglican clergyman, and spent his formative years in rural Suffolk. He was the contemporary of Winston Churchill at Harrow, the famous private school. During intervals from living a sedentary life in Suffolk, Pickthall travelled extensively in the Arab world and Turkey. In 1917, Pickthall embraced Islam in a dramatic fashion after delivering a talk on “Islam and Progress” on November 29, 1917, to the Muslim Literary Society in Netting Hill, West London. From that point onwards, he identified himself with Muslim causes.
Throughout the Great War (1914-1918), and even prior to declaring his faith as a Muslim, he wrote extensively in support of the Ottomans. When British Muslims were asked to decide whether they were loyal to the Allies (Britain and France) or the Central Powers (Germany and Turkey), Pickthall said he was ready to be a combatant for his country so long as he did not have to fight the Turks. In 1919, Pickthall worked for the London-based Islamic Information Bureau that among other things published the weekly, Muslim Outlook.
When Muhammad Ali, the educator, editor of the Comrade and the leader of the Khilafat Movement in India came to London in 1920, Pickthall warmly welcomed him. By that time, Pickthall had already acquired a following in India, and in 1920 he was invited to serve as editor of the Bombay Chronicle. India became his home for 15 years. It was soon after, that he completed his novel, Early Hours. Muslim communities throughout India invited Pickthall to deliver Friday sermons as well as lectures. Two years after his arrival in India, Pickthall took up the study of Urdu. In 1925, Pickthall was invited by the Committee of Muslims in Madras to deliver a series of lectures on the cultural aspects of Islam. The collection of these lectures published in 1927, present Islam in a manner that could be understood by non-Muslims.
The same year, Pickthall was appointed editor of Islamic Culture, a new quarterly journal published under the patronage of the Nizam of Hyderabad. Among the many authors whose works were published included younger scholars like Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah and Muhammad Asad (formerly Leopold Weiss). Interestingly, both these writers eventually blossomed into accomplished authors and are now respected for their translations of the Quran into French and English. In 1928, Pickthall took a two-year leave to complete his translation of the meaning of the Qur’an, a work that he considered as the summit of his achievement.
Like any other Muslim scholar, Pickthall too maintained that the Quran being the word of Allah could not be translated. He wrote in his foreword: “The Quran cannot be translated.” Understandably, he titled his work that he finally published in 1930 as The Meaning of the Glorious Quran, declaring that it is simply a meaning of the Message and a presentation in English of the Arabic text. It was first, by a Muslim whose native language was English, and remains among the two most popular translations, the other being the work of Abdullah Yusuf Ali.
During the course of his translation, Pickthall consulted scholars in Europe, and as a conscientious Muslim he wanted to secure the approval of the most learned authority, the ulema of Al-Azhar in Egypt. Towards this end, he travelled to Egypt in 1929 and stayed in Cairo for three months.
The mission of ‘translating’ the Qur’an had preoccupied Pickthall’s mind since he converted to Islam. He saw that there was an obligation for all Muslims to know the Quran intimately. Even while serving as an imam in London in 1919, he often put aside the then available translations and offered his own, in the course of his khutba.
His devotion to the Book - a “wonder of the world” – was profound and he noted that while he had great difficulty in remembering a passage in his native English, he could easily memorize “page after page of the Qur’an in Arabic with perfect accuracy.” Pickthall warned against the danger of adoring the book rather than its content. He chided the Muslims to “keep the message always in your hearts, and live by it.”
In early 1935, Pickthall, just shy of 60, retired from the Nizam’s service and returned to England. In 1936, he moved to St. Ives where he died on May 19,1936 and was buried in the Muslim cemetery at Brookwood, Surrey, on May 23.
Pickthall’s translation itself has been translated. In 1958, extracts were put into Turkish. Other extracts were published in Istanbul the same year. In 1964, it was rendered into Portuguese in Mozambique and in 1960 a trilingual edition - English, Arabic and Urdu - appeared in Delhi. It has also appeared in Tagalog, a language spoken in the Philippines. Perhaps the elegy published in Islamic Culture best summed up this illustrious life of Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, that he was a “Soldier of faith! True servant of Islam!”
