Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din

Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din (1870 – December 28, 1932), a lawyer by profession,[1] was a prominent figure of the early Ahmadiyya movement. He was the first Muslim missionary to Britain and the author of numerous works[2] about Islam.[3]

Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din

Life

Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din was born in Punjab, India in 1870. His grandfather, Abdur Rashid, a poet, was at one time chief Muslim Judge of Lahore during the Sikh period. Kamal-ud-Din was educated at the Forman Christian College, Lahore where he was drawn towards Christianity, but later experienced a renewed devotion to Islam through the writings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement.[4] In 1893 he joined the movement and became a close disciple of Ghulam Ahmad, in reference to whom he wrote in 1914:

It was through him that in 1892 I became a Muslim anew... It was the most auspicious and blessed day of my life in 1893 when I took the pledge, at the hand of the Messiah sent by God, to hold religion above the world. I would give anything for those times which I spent in the company and service of this spiritually perfect man, which enabled me to fulfil my pledge as best as I could.[5]

Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din with Lord Headley

Kamal-ud-Din worked as a lecturer and then as principal of Islamia College, Lahore.[6] After graduating in law in 1898, he started a legal practice in Peshawar. In 1912 he proceeded to England in pursuance of a legal case on behalf of a client and was instructed by Hakim Nur-ud-Din, the first khalifa (successor) of Ghulam Ahmad, to keep three things in view, one of which was to try to get the Mosque in Woking opened which was originally commissioned by the Begum of Bhopal, and had been reported to have been locked for some time. Having reached London, Kamal-ud-Din enquired about the Mosque, met with other Muslims and was able to have the Woking Mosque unlocked. Here he laid the foundation of the “Woking Muslim Mission and Literary Trust” [7] as well as the journal The Islamic Review.[8]

Having left his legal career, from 1912 until his death, Kamal-ud-Din devoted his life to the propagation of a decidedly non-denominational Islam in Britain.[9] Besides visiting England several times for lengthy periods, he also toured other countries in Europe, Asia and Africa, including his home country of India, delivering lectures on Islam. In 1923, he performed his second Hajj in the company of Lord Headley,[10] the famous British convert and the Khwaja's close friend and associate. The same year, he was also elected member of the League of Nations Union.[11] Following the split within the Ahmadiyya movement in 1914, Kamal-ud-Din aligned himself with the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement[12] under Muhammad Ali. In 1920, Kamal-ud-Din toured Southeast Asia where, through public discourses, he successfully managed to win confidence among some Indonesian Muslims. He delivered a number of speeches in Surabaya and Batavia which attracted headlines in several leading newspapers.[13]

Literary work

Below is a partial list of English books by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, which can be read online:[14] (Urdu books by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din are also accessible online.[15])

• Al-Islam
• Ethics of War
• The Existence of God
• Five Pillars of Islam
• God and His Attributes
• The Great Revolution
• The Holy Quran and the Bible
• Introduction to the Study of the Holy Quran
• Islam and Christianity
• Islam and Civilisation
• Islam & Other Religions
• Islam to East and West
• Jesus — An Ideal of Godhead and Humanity
• Muhammad the Most Successful Prophet
• Mysticism in Islam
• The Problem of Human Evolution
• The Quran a Miracle
• A Running Commentary on the Holy Quran
• The Sources of Christianity
• The Status of Women in World Religions and Civilisations
• The Strength of Islam
• Study for an Atheist
• Study of Islam
• Sufeism in Islam
• Unity of the Human Race
• The Vicegerent of God on Earth
• Woman from Judaism to Islam
• Worship and Sacrificialism

References

1. Life of Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din; Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din: Entry in Who’s Who; To the memory of Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, editorial in The Islamic Review in its first issue of 1962
2. A Complete List of Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din Sahib's Books
3. Nathalie Clayer, Eric Germain Islam in Inter-War Europe -2008 Page 90 "The mission that Khwaja Kamaluddin (1870-1932) founded in Woking (Surrey) reactivated and increased Quilliam 's English reading public throughout Europe and within the British Empire."
4. "Khwaja Kamaluddin". The Open University. Retrieved 2019-06-29.
5. "How Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad inspired the Woking Muslim Mission". Woking Muslim Mission. Retrieved 2019-06-29.
6. "Khwaja Kamaluddin". The Open University. Retrieved 2019-06-29.
7. Woking Muslim Mission Website
8. The Islamic Review online archive, 1913-1970
9. Gilham, Jamie (2014). Loyal Enemies: British Converts to Islam, 1850-1950. C. Hurst & Co. p. 128–29. ISBN 978-1-84904-275-8.
10. Life of Lord Headley
    Hajj of Lord Headley, 1923
11. "Khwaja Kamaluddin". The Open University. Retrieved 2019-06-29.
12. Gilham, Jamie (2014). Loyal Enemies: British Converts to Islam, 1850-1950. C. Hurst & Co. p. 139. ISBN 978-1-84904-275-8.
13. Ahmad Najib Burhani (2014). "Conversion to Ahmadiyya in Indonesia: Winning Hearts through Ethical and Spiritual Appeals". Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia. Sojourn. 29 (3): 660–663.
14. Books by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din online
15. Urdu books by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din

External links

• Works by or about Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din at Internet Archive
• An Interview with Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din Sahib - His Missionary Work in England, Special to the "Rangoon Mail", Islamic Review, October, 1920 (Vol. 8, No. 10) pp. 362–366