0:00:04 > 0:00:08This is the final resting place of some of the most influential
0:00:08 > 0:00:12men and women of the 19th century.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17Tucked away amongst these memorials to the great and the good,
0:00:17 > 0:00:23are the graves of three largely forgotten pioneers -
0:00:23 > 0:00:29Baron Headley, Marmaduke Pickthall,
0:00:29 > 0:00:31and in an unmarked grave,
0:00:31 > 0:00:33William Henry Quilliam.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39Although few recognise their names today,
0:00:39 > 0:00:42in the 19th century these men were responsible
0:00:42 > 0:00:45for a religious revolution
0:00:45 > 0:00:48that shook the British public to its core.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50They were aristocratic Christians
0:00:50 > 0:00:54who made a choice which inflamed Victorian society -
0:00:54 > 0:00:57they converted to Islam.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01An Englishman, a pucker Englishman doesn't go native.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05He doesn't leave the English white upper-middle class.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09And they changed the face of the Muslim faith in Britain.
0:01:09 > 0:01:13Pickthall's great achievement was to translate the Qur'an.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15It has been perhaps the most important
0:01:15 > 0:01:20translation of the Qur'an into English that there ever has been.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23This is the story of three extraordinary men
0:01:23 > 0:01:27who embraced Islam at a time when to be a Muslim
0:01:27 > 0:01:32was to be seen as a traitor to your country and the focus of hostility.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35In the press, he was charged with treason
0:01:35 > 0:01:38and he certainly was put under surveillance.
0:01:38 > 0:01:43I think to rebel against his parents and change his religion,
0:01:43 > 0:01:45it did break his mother's heart.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49Through the personal journeys of still-surviving relatives
0:01:49 > 0:01:53we'll discover just what these men achieved
0:01:53 > 0:01:55and how their legacy lives on today.
0:01:55 > 0:02:00My impression of Islam sat within post-9/11 thinking,
0:02:00 > 0:02:03and the emphasis around fanaticism.
0:02:03 > 0:02:08Finding out about Marmaduke changed all that.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11Suddenly Islam became so much more.
0:02:11 > 0:02:15So just what did these Victorian pioneers do to make Islam
0:02:15 > 0:02:19more acceptable to a society that condemned it?
0:02:20 > 0:02:23And are there any lessons for British Muslims today?
0:02:35 > 0:02:40Liverpool. Today it's home to nearly 25,000 Muslims.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44This is the city's largest mosque.
0:02:44 > 0:02:45Built in 1965,
0:02:45 > 0:02:48it would appear that this Muslim community
0:02:48 > 0:02:50is relatively new to the city...
0:02:53 > 0:02:54..but far from it.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00A century ago, Liverpool was a flourishing port,
0:03:00 > 0:03:03and Muslim sailors from India and the Far East
0:03:03 > 0:03:06would have been regular visitors.
0:03:06 > 0:03:11In fact, just three miles from today's thriving mosque,
0:03:11 > 0:03:16there are traces of an entire hidden history of Islam in Britain...
0:03:17 > 0:03:21..echoes of a community that faced many of the same
0:03:21 > 0:03:23problems as Muslims today,
0:03:23 > 0:03:27and which may hold some of the solutions.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32This rather faded terraced house in a Liverpool suburb,
0:03:32 > 0:03:37is where this forgotten story of Islam begins.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41Although it doesn't look much now, in the 19th century,
0:03:41 > 0:03:45this was the first mosque in England.
0:03:48 > 0:03:54In 1889, the house was bought by a man named Abdullah Henry Quilliam.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56Quilliam was a Victorian gentleman,
0:03:56 > 0:04:00but he was also a Muslim convert -
0:04:00 > 0:04:05a religious innovator who fought to change preconceptions of Islam,
0:04:05 > 0:04:09at a time when society found it frightening and alien
0:04:09 > 0:04:14and it was here that he set about doing it.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16Abdullah Quilliam had an architect
0:04:16 > 0:04:17appointed who designed
0:04:17 > 0:04:19the extension to the building.
0:04:19 > 0:04:24Galib Khan is the Chairman of the Abdullah Quilliam Society.
0:04:24 > 0:04:30We can look at the arch designs that was made.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33A few steps down is the mosque.
0:04:33 > 0:04:39The preaching was done from that corner there,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42where Abdullah would be standing.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45Against the odds, Quilliam established this,
0:04:45 > 0:04:46not only as a mosque,
0:04:46 > 0:04:49but as a flourishing Muslim Institute,
0:04:49 > 0:04:52with its own printing press,
0:04:52 > 0:04:54and an orphanage.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57It was the centre of Islam, not just for Liverpool,
0:04:57 > 0:05:01but for the whole of Britain.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04SINGS CALL TO PRAYER
0:05:04 > 0:05:09It's an achievement that some Muslims believe holds the key
0:05:09 > 0:05:11to the future of British Islam.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13For me, Abdullah Quilliam really is a role model.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17He was so ahead of his times, as it were,
0:05:17 > 0:05:18that he is the blueprint,
0:05:18 > 0:05:19in many respects,
0:05:19 > 0:05:21for how we hope to continue
0:05:21 > 0:05:22in our communities.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27So, just who was Abdullah Quilliam?
0:05:27 > 0:05:31And what did he do to try and shift the prejudices of a nation?
0:05:33 > 0:05:37William Henry Quilliam was born in 1856.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40He trained as a lawyer, and his religious upbringing
0:05:40 > 0:05:45was typical of many middle class Victorians.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47He was born into
0:05:47 > 0:05:50a conservative Methodist family.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54His grandfather was a tub-thumping preacher,
0:05:54 > 0:05:57so we find a young man born into a family,
0:05:57 > 0:06:01well-known for its devout non-conformist Christianity.
0:06:01 > 0:06:06But Quilliam's work as a lawyer amongst Liverpool's poor
0:06:06 > 0:06:08had a profound effect on him.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12Disease was rife.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14The mortality rate high,
0:06:14 > 0:06:17and the city was crawling with brothels.
0:06:17 > 0:06:22Quilliam was struck by what he saw as Christianity's failure
0:06:22 > 0:06:24to deal with the problems,
0:06:24 > 0:06:28and it led him to question his childhood beliefs.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31In order to understand Quilliam's view of Christianity,
0:06:31 > 0:06:34you have to understand that Victorian Britain
0:06:34 > 0:06:36was still an essentially Christian society,.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39so when Quilliam saw any kind of moral depravity,
0:06:39 > 0:06:44for him that was a Christian society that had lost its way.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49It was a trip to Morocco in 1887
0:06:49 > 0:06:51that seems to have marked
0:06:51 > 0:06:54a decisive moment in Quilliam's religious journey.
0:06:57 > 0:06:58Whilst he was there,
0:06:58 > 0:07:02he was struck by the contrast of the Muslim way of life
0:07:02 > 0:07:05to that of Christian Britain.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08When he went to Morocco, he felt
0:07:08 > 0:07:09that people live simple lives.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12They live, in his view,
0:07:12 > 0:07:14quite moral lives
0:07:14 > 0:07:17and there is an environment
0:07:17 > 0:07:23of solidarity, depending very little on whether they are wealthy or poor,
0:07:23 > 0:07:28and that was something that was of immense significance for him.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34Quilliam returned to Liverpool, and a year later
0:07:34 > 0:07:39he left his Christian beliefs behind and converted to Islam...
0:07:42 > 0:07:46..but it was a highly controversial decision.
0:07:46 > 0:07:51Islam in the 19th century was seen as a Christian heresy
0:07:51 > 0:07:54and then were these ideas about Islam
0:07:54 > 0:07:55being a violent faith.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58So it would have been very unusual
0:07:58 > 0:08:02for a person from his class background
0:08:02 > 0:08:05to convert at that particular time.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08Two years later, Quilliam opened his mosque.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12But this public display of devotion to Islam
0:08:12 > 0:08:14immediately put him on a collision course
0:08:14 > 0:08:19with both the Christian hierarchy and the people of Liverpool.
0:08:19 > 0:08:24Quilliam faced hostility right from the very beginning.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28They were attacked on a number of occasions.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32You get pigs' heads being thrown into the mosque.
0:08:32 > 0:08:38They would congregate mobs outside the mosque, who would start jeering.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42It raised hackles, there's no doubt about that.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48In the face of such opposition,
0:08:48 > 0:08:51the mosque seemed to have an uneasy future.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54Yet within 20 years,
0:08:54 > 0:08:56Quilliam had nearly 500 followers.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00He'd been made the official representative of Islam
0:09:00 > 0:09:02in Britain by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire,
0:09:02 > 0:09:04and he was starting to play a central role
0:09:04 > 0:09:09in the civic life of Liverpool.
0:09:09 > 0:09:14So how exactly did he achieve this extraordinary transformation?
0:09:18 > 0:09:22Quilliam's genius was to analyse why Victorians despised Islam,
0:09:22 > 0:09:25and begin to address their prejudice.
0:09:27 > 0:09:28And the best sources for studying
0:09:28 > 0:09:33exactly how he did this are his regular publications.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37They include a newspaper for Muslims, called The Crescent,
0:09:37 > 0:09:40which gives an insight into how Quilliam
0:09:40 > 0:09:44increased Islam's credibility -
0:09:44 > 0:09:47through lectures at the mosque.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50I think it's interesting to look at the topics of these lectures
0:09:50 > 0:09:53because you might expect them to be promoting Islam,
0:09:53 > 0:09:55and from the Qur'an, or whatever,
0:09:55 > 0:09:57but what we find is a lecture which says,
0:09:57 > 0:10:02"with experiments" by Professor Nur-Uddin Stephens,
0:10:02 > 0:10:05a science lecture, "Sugar and Sacharines"
0:10:05 > 0:10:07by Professor Samuel Kleeman PhD.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12Quilliam knew that one of the key criticisms against Islam
0:10:12 > 0:10:15was that it was narrow-minded,
0:10:15 > 0:10:17it didn't embrace the new scientific discoveries
0:10:17 > 0:10:20of the 19th century.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24These lectures met such criticisms head on.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26So, he's presenting Islam in a very rational way
0:10:26 > 0:10:31that's going to appeal to the new scientific consciousness
0:10:31 > 0:10:33of Victorian Britain.
0:10:35 > 0:10:36These events drew converts.
0:10:36 > 0:10:41And as numbers grew, so did Quilliam's profile.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43It wasn't long before the mosque
0:10:43 > 0:10:46was attracting important guests from abroad.
0:10:46 > 0:10:51In 1897, Queen Victoria held celebrations
0:10:51 > 0:10:53for her Diamond Jubilee.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55One of the visitors was a General
0:10:55 > 0:10:57from the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59But he didn't just visit the Queen,
0:10:59 > 0:11:03he also made his way to Quilliam's mosque.
0:11:03 > 0:11:05It was recorded in The Crescent.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09Here is the main feature article of this particular edition.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13and I just love this - here we are in the centre of Liverpool
0:11:13 > 0:11:15at Lime Street Station
0:11:15 > 0:11:18and there's all these Muslim converts with their fez and flags
0:11:18 > 0:11:21receiving this very powerful figure.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25Such visits impressed the locals,
0:11:25 > 0:11:29and gave Muslims the sense of being an important part of city life.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35And in the mosque, as converts straddled the social divides
0:11:35 > 0:11:39and clerks rubbed shoulders with explorers,
0:11:39 > 0:11:42it seemed that Islam was no longer an alien faith
0:11:42 > 0:11:44practised only by foreign sailors.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50Quilliam's high profile guests, his lectures,
0:11:50 > 0:11:51and the type of converts they drew,
0:11:51 > 0:11:53seemed to have achieved the impossible -
0:11:53 > 0:11:58Islam was starting to be integrated into British society.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05But just as Quilliam was at the height of his success,
0:12:05 > 0:12:07everything changed.
0:12:08 > 0:12:13In June 1908, Quilliam and his eldest son left
0:12:13 > 0:12:16on what was supposed to be a six-week trip to Istanbul.
0:12:16 > 0:12:20No-one knows exactly why,
0:12:20 > 0:12:25but without any warning they mysteriously disappeared.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29After some months, his youngest son, who stays behind,
0:12:29 > 0:12:33begins to dismantle everything that Abdullah Quilliam had created.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37The properties are sold
0:12:37 > 0:12:43and effectively the Liverpool Muslim community comes to an end.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48With the disintegration of Quilliam's mosque,
0:12:48 > 0:12:52the outlook for Islam in Britain appeared uncertain.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59But with Quilliam's departure,
0:12:59 > 0:13:04Muslim life found a new focus in Surrey.
0:13:04 > 0:13:10In 1889, a mosque had been founded here at Woking,
0:13:10 > 0:13:13as a place for Indian students to study and worship,
0:13:13 > 0:13:18and it soon became the headquarters for two new converts,
0:13:18 > 0:13:22whose mission was to continue to challenge
0:13:22 > 0:13:24British intolerance of Islam.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28The first was a feather in Islam's cap.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32One of the highest-ranking members of the British aristocracy.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36Baron Headley was an Irish peer.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39He was born in 1855
0:13:39 > 0:13:42and he pursued a career in civil engineering.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45He spent a great deal of time in India
0:13:45 > 0:13:49and that's where he came into contact with Islam.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53In 1913, Lord Headley converted
0:13:53 > 0:13:58and began to attend Woking Mosque.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00Extraordinary film from the time,
0:14:00 > 0:14:04shows Edwardian ladies alongside Muslims from all walks of life,
0:14:04 > 0:14:09and it was this unusual combination of genteel English culture
0:14:09 > 0:14:11mixed with Islamic values
0:14:11 > 0:14:13that Headley capitalised on
0:14:13 > 0:14:18to try and dismantle hostile British stereotypes of Islam.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22So, for example, Lord Headley was involved in activities,
0:14:22 > 0:14:27such as at homes all sorts of people would gather
0:14:27 > 0:14:30and then have tea and cakes.
0:14:30 > 0:14:35They mingled knowledge of Islam with cultural activities.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39There would be renditions on the sitar,
0:14:39 > 0:14:43English ladies playing the piano.
0:14:43 > 0:14:48By introducing Islam in a context familiar to Edwardian high society,
0:14:48 > 0:14:54Headley made the religion seem less alien, more English.
0:14:54 > 0:15:00They needed to be creative and innovative in their approach
0:15:00 > 0:15:04so that Islam became very much part of this environment,
0:15:04 > 0:15:08so one could actually be quite comfortable with Islam,
0:15:08 > 0:15:10if that's what it meant.
0:15:10 > 0:15:15Headley's work was another step towards breaking down
0:15:15 > 0:15:18British prejudice against the Muslim faith.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22But tea parties went only so far.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25It was the work of yet another Woking convert,
0:15:25 > 0:15:30which has perhaps had the most enduring impact on Islam in Britain.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33His name was Marmaduke Pickthall
0:15:33 > 0:15:37and his greatest achievement was to become the first English-born Muslim
0:15:37 > 0:15:41to translate the Qur'an into English -
0:15:41 > 0:15:47a ground-breaking work that made Islam accessible to non-Muslims.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51Living on the South Coast today
0:15:51 > 0:15:55is one of Pickthall's surviving relatives.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58Artist Sarah Pickthall
0:15:58 > 0:16:00is Marmaduke's great-great-niece.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03Brought up by devoutly Catholic parents,
0:16:03 > 0:16:05it wasn't until the death of her father,
0:16:05 > 0:16:10that she first began to learn more about her Muslim ancestor.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12I knew that Marmaduke Pickthall
0:16:12 > 0:16:13was a relation.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17I didn't really know that he was a Muslim convert,
0:16:17 > 0:16:20but when I started to look more closely,
0:16:20 > 0:16:22I then suddenly unpacked
0:16:22 > 0:16:25the most incredible life story
0:16:25 > 0:16:30and a man who was both a novelist and a pioneer.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33It's kind of what our complicated lives...
0:16:33 > 0:16:38Sarah was so inspired by Marmaduke's story
0:16:38 > 0:16:43that she and a group of artists have begun to explore his life and legacy
0:16:43 > 0:16:45in a project called Loyal Enemy.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48Through painting, through film, through poetry,
0:16:48 > 0:16:49we are going to build
0:16:49 > 0:16:50a kind of kaleidoscope
0:16:50 > 0:16:52around Pickthall's life.
0:16:52 > 0:16:57and we hope that through that there will be shafts of light,
0:16:57 > 0:17:00which will connect Pickthall's life with the audience
0:17:00 > 0:17:02looking at it today.
0:17:02 > 0:17:07Learning about Pickthall has overturned all that Sarah
0:17:07 > 0:17:09thought she knew about Islam.
0:17:09 > 0:17:16My impression of Islam was one that sat within post-9/11 thinking...
0:17:18 > 0:17:21..but finding out about Marmaduke changed all that.
0:17:21 > 0:17:29Suddenly Islam became so much more than what the media was telling us.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32So just what was it about Pickthall's life
0:17:32 > 0:17:35that not only challenges views about Islam today,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38but did so a hundred years ago?
0:17:40 > 0:17:42He was born in 1875,
0:17:42 > 0:17:46and brought up in the Church of England,
0:17:46 > 0:17:50but as a teenager, he visited the Middle East.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54It was an experience that changed his life.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56He quickly seemed to gel
0:17:56 > 0:17:59with the local people.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02Very quickly he was speaking Arabic and he speaks about
0:18:02 > 0:18:05the friendliness of the people.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07There was a social cohesion there
0:18:07 > 0:18:12and it was, he believed, united by this overarching belief in Islam.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15I mean, he says, very significantly said,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18he said, "For the first time, I was happy." He was happy.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24But although attracted to the religion and mindset of the Orient,
0:18:24 > 0:18:30it wasn't until the First World War, 20 years later,
0:18:30 > 0:18:33that Pickthall finally rejected his childhood beliefs.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39Britain declared war not only against Germany,
0:18:39 > 0:18:43but Turkey, as well - the centre of the Ottoman Empire
0:18:43 > 0:18:45and the Muslim faith.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49It was a country Pickthall had visited and been impressed by.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52So he was shocked when he found
0:18:52 > 0:18:56Islamaphobia being used to justify the war
0:18:56 > 0:18:58by British politicians and clergy.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04Pickthall went to church and the congregation
0:19:04 > 0:19:06were singing one of Charles Wesley's hymns
0:19:06 > 0:19:08that was quite anti-Islam.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11It referred to the prophet Mohammed as "the Imposter",
0:19:11 > 0:19:16or the Arab thief, who is disrupting the whole of Asia...
0:19:17 > 0:19:21..and I think he was utterly distressed by it all.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27Pickthall left the church
0:19:27 > 0:19:29before the end of the service,
0:19:29 > 0:19:34and never again considered himself a Christian.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38In 1914, he converted to Islam.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42It was a decision that ultimately transformed him
0:19:42 > 0:19:47from innocent traveller and novelist to an enemy of the state.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55After his conversion, Pickthall attempted to persuade
0:19:55 > 0:20:01the British Government to change its policy towards Turkey,
0:20:01 > 0:20:04but his actions had devastating personal consequences.
0:20:04 > 0:20:09He became a total outsider in Britain, a security risk.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13Here was a man who was supporting the enemy
0:20:13 > 0:20:15and who'd embraced Islam.
0:20:15 > 0:20:20He destroyed his reputation as a conservative Englishman.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23Such an atmosphere of suspicion
0:20:23 > 0:20:28drove Marmaduke to leave Britain altogether.
0:20:34 > 0:20:39He moved to India, which became his home for the next two decades.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43But although he was nearly 5,000 miles away,
0:20:43 > 0:20:48his actions would still have a huge impact on Muslims back in Britain.
0:20:48 > 0:20:53It was here that he undertook the most important work of his life -
0:20:53 > 0:20:55a pioneering translation
0:20:55 > 0:20:58of the Qur'an from Arabic to English.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01Published in 1930,
0:21:01 > 0:21:05it was seen as a milestone in the history of translation.
0:21:05 > 0:21:10This is an early edition of Pickthall's translation
0:21:10 > 0:21:13of the Qur'an, and the remarkable thing
0:21:13 > 0:21:16is that it's the first time a believing Muslim
0:21:16 > 0:21:18has translated the Qur'an
0:21:18 > 0:21:20who's also a native speaker of English.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22He was also an accomplished writer,
0:21:22 > 0:21:25and he transfers all these skills
0:21:25 > 0:21:27to his translation of the Qur'an.
0:21:27 > 0:21:32Although there had been previous translations,
0:21:32 > 0:21:35they were renowned for their anti-Muslim bias.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39These translations came with notes at the bottom
0:21:39 > 0:21:42and these notes reflected prejudices,
0:21:42 > 0:21:47that Mohammed couldn't possibly have had a revelation,
0:21:47 > 0:21:49that much of the Qur'an was copied from Jewish
0:21:49 > 0:21:51and Eastern Christian sources.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54So when Pickthall's version finally appeared,
0:21:54 > 0:21:58because the notes that exist in that translation
0:21:58 > 0:22:00are the notes of a believer
0:22:00 > 0:22:02and they take into account,
0:22:02 > 0:22:07the standard authoritative commentaries on the Qur'an,
0:22:07 > 0:22:12then you would be drinking from a purer source.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16By producing a more objective translation,
0:22:16 > 0:22:20in a language understandable to a wider audience,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23Pickthall was breaking down prejudice.
0:22:23 > 0:22:28There has always been a suspicion of a holy book in a strange language,
0:22:28 > 0:22:31so he was making the Qur'an accessible,
0:22:31 > 0:22:38and if there has been a kinder and more tolerant appreciation of Islam
0:22:38 > 0:22:41it has been through Pickthall's translation.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47And there was somewhere back in Britain
0:22:47 > 0:22:49that particularly welcomed it.
0:22:49 > 0:22:54Woking Mosque - Pickthall's base before he left for India.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59At a time when it seemed all of Britain was against him,
0:22:59 > 0:23:04it was the one place he had felt at home.
0:23:08 > 0:23:13The mosque is somewhere that Sarah Pickthall has always wanted to see,
0:23:13 > 0:23:16and this is her first opportunity.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20I think Marmaduke would have been pleased for me
0:23:20 > 0:23:26to visit a place that was so important to him,
0:23:26 > 0:23:29just to see the impact he had there.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32I think he'd be really pleased that I was coming.
0:23:35 > 0:23:37Just in here.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44Sarah, wonderful to meet you.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47Hello, Khalil, hello. Good to meet you, too.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50Your great-great-uncle would have been here many times.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53Khalil Martin, like Pickthall, is a convert,
0:23:53 > 0:23:57and has agreed to show Sarah around.
0:23:57 > 0:24:02So, here we are.
0:24:02 > 0:24:07This is the Shah Jahan Mosque, Woking.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10It's a flourishing mosque
0:24:10 > 0:24:11at the heart of
0:24:11 > 0:24:13a vibrant Muslim community.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15There must be at least 10,000
0:24:15 > 0:24:17- Muslims living locally... - In the vicinity, yeah.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19..and when this was built,
0:24:19 > 0:24:22there wasn't one Muslim living anywhere near to the mosque.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26Very different from Marmaduke's time. It's changed a lot.
0:24:26 > 0:24:31Although Pickthall only spent three years here,
0:24:31 > 0:24:36a century later his influence can still be felt -
0:24:36 > 0:24:39in a way he could never have imagined!
0:24:39 > 0:24:41It's interesting.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45I have just downloaded a Qur'an application for my iPhone
0:24:45 > 0:24:50and the English translation that's offered for the Qur'an app
0:24:50 > 0:24:52is Marmaduke Pickthall's.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55That's great. That feels contemporary.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58- His legacy is living on. - That feels contemporary.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00- That's great to hear.- Yeah.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04Do you feel that being here...?
0:25:04 > 0:25:06And for Sarah, there's one more stop -
0:25:06 > 0:25:10the library where Pickthall would have worked
0:25:10 > 0:25:14and where some of today's members of Woking Mosque
0:25:14 > 0:25:18are keen to meet Marmaduke Pickthall's great-great-niece,
0:25:18 > 0:25:23and to talk to her about their experience of his Qur'an.
0:25:23 > 0:25:31This translation is by your great uncle. So, beginning with verse 18.
0:25:31 > 0:25:32"Mary said - Lo!
0:25:32 > 0:25:38"I seek refuge in the Beneficent One from thee, if thou art God-fearing.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41"Angel Gabriel then replied -
0:25:41 > 0:25:46"I am only a messenger of thy Lord, that I may bestow on thee
0:25:46 > 0:25:47"a faultless son."
0:25:47 > 0:25:51That is from the translation according to your great uncle.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53Do people find it easy
0:25:53 > 0:25:54as a translation?
0:25:54 > 0:25:57A little bit, some words are...
0:25:57 > 0:25:59Yes, thou and thee.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01There were a lot of thees and thous, yes.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04- Otherwise, it's very interesting. - Very much so.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06This was the first translation that I read.
0:26:06 > 0:26:07- Was it?- Absolutely, yes.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11So, personally, it's important to me as well, definitely.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14Pickthall, like Quilliam
0:26:14 > 0:26:16and Headley before him,
0:26:16 > 0:26:18helped to demystify Islam,
0:26:18 > 0:26:24and his work continues to inform and encourage new generations.
0:26:28 > 0:26:30Pickthall remained in India
0:26:30 > 0:26:34but he returned to Britain at the end of his life.
0:26:35 > 0:26:42In 1936, he was buried just five miles from his beloved mosque
0:26:42 > 0:26:46and it's rumoured he chose this spot for a reason,
0:26:46 > 0:26:48because he wanted his final resting place
0:26:48 > 0:26:51to be near the unmarked grave of someone
0:26:51 > 0:26:53he'd been close to at Woking -
0:26:53 > 0:26:57a man known as Henri de Leon.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00Henri de Leon was a quiet man,
0:27:00 > 0:27:03had clearly travelled,
0:27:03 > 0:27:07had a very strong allegiance to the Ottoman Empire,
0:27:07 > 0:27:14but a very respected member of the Woking community.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17But Henri was not all that he seemed.
0:27:17 > 0:27:22He was none other than Abdullah Quilliam.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25Like Pickthall, he too found his faith
0:27:25 > 0:27:27put him at odds with British foreign policy.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31And after his mysterious departure from Liverpool,
0:27:31 > 0:27:34many believe he wanted to maintain a lower profile,
0:27:34 > 0:27:37so when he returned to England,
0:27:37 > 0:27:39he took a different name
0:27:39 > 0:27:43and lived out the rest of his life quietly at Woking.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47Quilliam died in 1932,
0:27:47 > 0:27:50Baron Headley three years later.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54Although these men lived a century ago,
0:27:54 > 0:27:59they faced many of the same challenges as contemporary Muslims.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02And some believe the way they tried
0:28:02 > 0:28:05to tackle the prejudice towards Islam then
0:28:05 > 0:28:09offers ways forward for Muslims in Britain today.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13Generally, there is a disquiet today about Muslims demanding
0:28:13 > 0:28:15special treatment.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18What we learn from these converts
0:28:18 > 0:28:21is that it doesn't have to be so at all.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25They were trying to develop as much integration
0:28:25 > 0:28:27with society as possible.
0:28:27 > 0:28:29Quilliam had a realisation
0:28:29 > 0:28:33that if you were going to promote Islam in Britain
0:28:33 > 0:28:34it had to be British.
0:28:34 > 0:28:40It's an approach that even now is transforming views.
0:28:40 > 0:28:45I think from that first time I learnt more about him, I changed very much
0:28:45 > 0:28:50in how I feel about Islam from the two-dimensional view.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53It's become multi-faceted,
0:28:53 > 0:28:57and I feel that the impact of his life
0:28:57 > 0:29:00has so much to teach us, to expand our thinking.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03I feel we are just at the start of that in this country,
0:29:03 > 0:29:07and it feels incredibly exciting to be a part of that journey.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd