Britain's Muslim Soldiers

In a wood in Woking lies a small plot of land that

speaks of forgotten heroism.

This was once the final resting place for 27 men

who gave their lives to fight for Britain in two world wars.

But their story didn't start here.

For the men who were buried here were all Muslims.

Many came from 3,000 miles away in rural India,

yet fought in lands they'd barely heard of

and gave their lives for a country they'd never even stepped foot in.

This is the tale of two unassuming pioneers.

A Surrey history enthusiast and a Muslim council worker,

and their five year battle to restore

this Muslim burial ground to its former glory.

Goodness, I'm so excited!

To see what I'd always hoped to see,

the sun glinting on the finial again.

And their search to uncover the lives of the men who were

laid to rest here,

and the descendents they left behind.

I'd like to go and pray at Sikander Khan's father's grave.

Just to think about how he would have actually felt

when he heard the news of his son's death thousands of miles away.

It's a story of a struggle to bring to life a patch of England

that speaks of a shared heritage...

..of common values.

We remember those whom you have gathered from the storm of war...

And a world in which Muslims weren't seen as enemies of the West,

but comrades who made the ultimate sacrifice for its freedom.

It's an ordinary Wednesday in Woking.

But in one corner of this Surrey town,

preparations are underway for a day that's been long anticipated.

How's it going?

Hey, that's better.

Tomorrow is the opening ceremony of the Woking Peace Garden.

The gates are looking good, I think, yeah?

Ah, it's lovely.

In 24 hours, this space will be filled

with an unlikely group of people.

A royal prince, members of the military,

Imams and Muslims from all walks of life,

all gathering to remember the lives of 27 Muslim men.

-These are the badges you need.

-Excellent. Thank you very much.

And for Zafar Iqbal of Woking Borough Council

and Elizabeth Cuttle of Horsell Common Preservation Society,

it's the fruit of five years of hard work.

It's looking beautiful, actually, isn't it?

-What a transformation.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Do you remember when we first saw it?

-I know.

Who would have thought?

In fact, today marks the final chapter

of a story that began 100 years ago.

This plot of land was first made into a cemetery

for Muslim soldiers in 1917.

The central feature of this garden is the memorial stone.

There are 27 soldiers altogether,

and they are the actual focal point of this garden.

19 of the men remembered here died in the First World War.

Many of whom had never before left their hometowns,

and had no idea of where they were going.

We knew very little about these people when we started off.

And it's very pleasing to know at least, for some of them,

we've been able to find where they came from, who their families

are, and what type of people they might have been at that time.

The story of the restoration of this small English garden is one

which has echoes across the world.

Mahrup Shah was a soldier in the 129 Baluchis.

We know that these men served in the Western Front

and though we don't know the life stories

of those particular individuals, we know enough about the people

who travelled with them, felt with them, fought with them,

in order to partly

reconstruct what could have gone through their minds.

4th August, 1914, Britain declared war on Germany.

Six weeks later, the first contingents of troops

from British India, from a dozen different religions,

arrived in the port of Marseilles.

The British Indian Army became a mighty resource

because the British Army very much underestimated

the manpower and the firing power of the Germans, and Britain

simply couldn't recruit fast enough, so the figures are quite staggering.

Overall, the British Indian army contributed 1.45 million men.

The 129 Baluchis - the regiment in which Mahrup Shah served -

was one of the first to arrive in France.

And for men who were largely recruited from poor,

rural areas of northern India, it was a complete culture shock.

For someone like Mahrup Shah, coming to France must have been

an extraordinary experience because as they arrived

in Marseilles there were the local people lining up the street and

cheering the Indian soldiers, so they almost felt like heroes.

It would have been almost kind of a sense of wonder.

One sepoy writes that France is like a fairyland

and that each house is a sample of paradise.

But once they reached the front line, wonder turned to horror.

Let's not forget the First World War is one where warfare becomes

completely mechanised.

These Indian soldiers are not trained for that mechanised warfare.

When you're first confronted with that,

that leads to a very deep-seated shock.

In the earlier stages of the war,

the trenches were not more than shallow ditches and, as a result,

German weaponry just kind of tears into their bodies.

You have haunting accounts of the churning of the dead,

the idea of having to share a space where the dead were

literally underground.

An explosion might churn the dead and bring them back up.

No one knows exactly how Mahrup Shah died.

But over 3,500 men of the 129 Baluchis

lost their lives in the Great War.

Zafar's Iqbal's fascination with the Muslim burial ground

began as a child, growing up in Woking.

We used to visit the woods,

take a football, even a bicycle and play around it, really.

Hide and seek and things like that, you know?

We were told that at that time

it was Muslim soldiers who were buried there.

Other than that, really, we didn't understand what it actually meant.

Since the 1960s, the burial ground had fallen into a state of disrepair.

Paul Rimmer is the estate manager for Horsell Common,

who own the land on which the burial site was built.

Each time I come over here

and I see further damage to the structure

or graffiti on the walls,

I feel very sad that it's being

neglected and abused in this way.

Because of its remote location

it's been a bit of a hideaway for youngsters having drinks parties.

The brickwork has been severely vandalised...

..the ornate arches and the Portland stone capping

have all been removed or destroyed.

The burial ground was in danger of disappearing forever.

But for Zafar, the story it told of a shared heritage

was too important to lose.

To me, as a Muslim, I think it's very important

to understand that the people who gave their lives

were part of the British Empire at that time,

and they gave their lives for the King and the country.

I think that's important not just for the Muslim community

but for the wider community to understand of our shared histories.

With the centenary of World War One approaching, Zafar saw

an opportunity to breathe new life into this historic site.

And in 2011, he applied for funding.

One afternoon in February,

I took a phone call from Zafar and he said he'd just heard

from English Heritage and that they would be prepared

to give us an 80% grant to fund the restoration.

And at the end of the phone call, when I put the phone down,

I was dancing round the room because I then realised

it was going to be possible. We're going to get it done after all.

Elizabeth Cuttle was assigned to

the restoration project, to work with Zafar.

And Woking Borough Council agreed to fund the shortfall.

A week before building is due to begin, the duo are visiting

the site to take stock of the enormity of the challenges ahead.

The ground's already been cleared of undergrowth,

but it's still in a state of neglect.

That's how the bricks are going to look when it's all been cleaned.

There's more graffiti in the chattri,

and some people have been carving their names.

I don't think you did, did you, Zafar?

Did you carve your name?

No, I didn't, actually!

The project will be in two phases.

The first is to restore the fabric of the site.

If you look up there, you can see the remains of a finial.

It was about four foot high and it was gilded.

And it's going to restored to as it was,

so it'll be quite stunning.

You'll be able to see it from the road, this shining

finial at the top of the dome.

Once the structure is restored,

a garden will be planted to make it a place of contemplation.

You have this feeling of some sort of spirituality about the place

which I can't pin down, but you actually do get that feeling

when you're actually standing in here

of those people's spirits maybe

somehow are still linked to this place.

I think I feel when they lay here they were at rest.

They'd suffered on the Western Front.

And so here it was all over and they were at peace.

The soldiers' peace is interrupted by the arrival of the scaffolders.

And as summer draws to an end, the site is shut down so work can begin.

Sarmast was in the 57th Wilde's rifles.

They were the first Indian unit to enter the trenches

on the Western Front, and almost immediately were in action.

The 57th Rifles were involved in one of the most terrifying

attacks of the war, the 2nd Battle of Ypres.

It was the moment when the Germans unleashed a new and deadly weapon...

..with horrifying effect.

I think what makes gas such a lethal weapon is that you can't

actually see it and it corrodes the body from inside.

And remember that the gas masks were not that advanced, and many of them

didn't even have gas masks at that point.

And what these poor soldiers do is to take off their turbans

and then urinate on them

and hold it against their noses to combat some of the effects of gas.

560 of the 57th rifles were involved in the attack.

Over half were killed or injured.

The chances are that Sarmast was one of those who received

a punishing amount of gas.

It will have destroyed his lung tissue,

it will have partially blinded him.

And it would have rendered him completely incapable as a soldier.

Many of the wounded Indian soldiers were sent to hospitals set up

especially for them on the South Coast of England.

The most famous was the Royal Pavilion in Brighton.

And it wasn't only designed to care for the men's medical conditions,

but for their religious needs.

The provisions were excellent.

For example, there were three water taps for the three separate

religious communities - the Sikhs, the Hindus, and the Muslims.

And there were nine kitchens to accord not just with religions

but with caste distinctions.

And there were very good reasons behind the British drive

to accommodate the soldiers.

It was imperative for the British war effort

that India was kept on side.

Without the Indian soldiers,

Britain would have effectively lost the war.

Sarmast died on the 22nd July 1915.

And it was to deal with the deaths of Muslim soldiers like him

that the Woking Burial Ground was first conceived.

As with the provisions inside the hospitals, it was hugely

important that every community's religious rites for burial

would be properly observed.

So that would mean for Hindus and Sikhs

provisions needed to be made for cremation and

for Muslim soldiers a specifically consecrated ground would need to

be found where these soldiers could be buried on British soil.

And there was a very particular reason that Woking was

chosen for the Muslim cemetery.

It was home to the first purpose-built Mosque in Britain.

Close to Brighton's hospitals,

it had its own Imam who could preside over funerals.

It was the perfect location.

And in 1917, the burial ground was opened, less than a mile away.

It's an important day in the burial ground's restoration.

This morning, the team have all gathered to watch the final

fitting of the finial on the chattri.

My role is to help the top piece into position and down through.

I am, in theory, experienced using these cherry pickers.

And I did the gilding so I'm a bit personally involved.

Over the past 11 months, the brickwork and corner towers

have been lovingly restored.

And this will be the icing on the cake.

They're just about to raise the finial

and it should fit just like the last piece in the jigsaw.

So watch this space.

The finial has been hand made by specialist craftsmen

to match the original from 1917.

This has been the most difficult part of the project.

The base is a frame of timber which is the original timber which has

been formed like a barrel.

That's been conserved and repaired.

And the little petal elements on the finial

are made from beaten copper.

And there's not many people who do

that sort of architectural metalwork,

so several contractors have come together to fabricate the element.

The difficulties in manufacturing have caused

a delay of nearly ten months,

jeopardising the finish date of the entire project.

The finial was supposed to be straightforward.

It should've been installed sometime in October,

November last year.

And now we're in June

and we've finally got it.

Lowering the finial into place is a painstaking process.

An inch wrong could lead to disaster.

It's a precarious moment!

But after two hours of careful manoeuvring,

it's finally guided into place.

And for the team there's a great sense of achievement.

It's very, very satisfying because we were a bit concerned about this,

it being the last element to go together.

That is a great relief.

Goodness, I'm so excited!

Yeah, I bet, after all of this.

To drive down and see what I'd always hoped to see,

the sun glinting on the finial again.

It was fantastic.

With the structure of the burial ground restored,

work has begun on the installation of a garden.

And Zafar's recruited the army to help bring it to life.

Thank you very much for coming.

You being here today was a very important part,

right from the beginning.

If I can get you all just to look at me.

That's the one.

Usually we don't wear gloves like this,

cos it doesn't go with our designer clothes,

but for this moment, we'll make an exception.

They're joined by a group of local school children,

who'll be planting heathers.

Set them out as you can see in their individual lines.

And then just fill them round.

And then that's it, OK?

I'm Muslim too and my great-grandfather

fought in World War I and he was buried in England as well.

I didn't know him but I heard he was a great man.

The garden's been designed according to Islamic principles.

And the plants that have been chosen are both practical and symbolic.

These are Himalayan silver birches.

Two trees on this side,

and three on the other side which will be planted today

and that'll make a total of 27 to represent

each of the soldiers who were actually buried at this site.

The trees are being placed around the edge of the garden.

It's good though, isn't it? It's all about the heel.

Down the centre, there'll be a water feature

to reflect the Muslim idea of paradise.

It's been a long day but the garden has started to take shape.

Thank you very much. Thank you for all your time.

Most appreciated.

-See you next time.

-Take care.

-Thank you.

-See you. Thank you.

With the soldiers' work done,

Zafar has a moment to himself to survey what's been achieved.

You know, when I started this

I never thought it would be like this,

in terms of the complexity of it and what we'd end up with.

What we really thought about was

that we'd just have the walls repaired

and possibly have some grass in here and things like that and

it's ended up having a proper garden in here now.

I didn't think it would be this good, to be honest with you.

One of the final tasks for the completion of the garden is

the making of the memorial stone to honour the soldiers.

And today Zafar and Elizabeth are

visiting a local stonemason's to check on progress.

Hi, Andy, nice to meet you.

-Good to see you.

-Hi, Andy.

Nice to see you again.

Yes, lovely to see you.

OK, so this is what we've been waiting for.

Looks big, doesn't it?

-It's huge.

-Yeah, it's huge.

It was very important to have a memorial stone because otherwise

the garden wouldn't have a meaning.

It would just be an Islamic garden

and it was important to have the names of the soldiers somewhere, somehow.

It brings it home to you that they

were real people who gave their lives.

The main part of the stone is granite,

carved and shipped from India.

And seeing it for the first time is an exciting moment.

-So, what do you think?

-Yeah, it's brilliant.

Right from the beginning we were thinking of having

something like this to be the centrepiece, the focal point.

The main focus. When you walk in the garden,

your eye's going to go straight to this.

The recesses will be inset with Portland stone from

the south of England, with the names of the men carved on them.

But before carving can begin, the final layout has to be approved.

And getting the detail exactly right is a big responsibility.

It's 27 names altogether and nine on each panel, then, isn't it?

Yes.

You're happy?

If not, we'll never tell anybody.

LAUGHTER

Once the computer sends the information to the cutting machine,

there's no going back!

We are now, by your command, ready to go.

-Happy to do so?

-Yeah.

Take a deep breath. Yes!

It's a very difficult feeling to describe in terms of almost

an awe of what this actually represents.

There is this feeling of importance

of writing those names on the stone.

For a very long time, people will actually visit this place

and will actually be seeing these.

And we had a little bit of a part to play in it.

Zafar has spent five years trying to find

the relatives of any of the soldiers.

And he's finally made contact with one of them...

..a descendent of Sikander Khan.

With the garden's completion within sight,

Zafar's planned a trip to Pakistan to visit Sikander's family.

Zafar is finally on his way to meet Abdul Nagib,

Sikander Khan's great, great nephew.

And to get a glimpse of the world Sikander came from.

I'm hoping that when I meet Mr Abdul Naguib that I'll learn more about

the life of Sikander Khan himself as a person.

And one of the things I'm really interested in actually seeing

is the graves of Sikander Khan's

father and mother and just

feel how he would've actually felt when he got the news of his son's

ultimate sacrifice for a cause

which he probably didn't even understand.

Sikander came from a small, rural village called Talokar,

in what was the north west frontier of India,

now Pakistan.

And in the First World War, it made one of the biggest

contributions of soldiers to the British Indian army.

Around 240 of its most able men joined up.

Amongst them, Sikander Khan.

The Khan family home is one of the most affluent in the village.

And for Zafar, meeting the descendant of one of the soldiers

he's been working so hard to honour, is a humbling moment.

-So good to see you.

-Good to see you as well.

-Was nice talking to you on the phone.

-Thank you.

Abdul's grandfather was Sikander Khan's first cousin.

He built this house in 1905.

And growing up, Sikander would've been a regular visitor here.

What sort of man was Sikander and what do you know about him?

Sikander Khan was living nearby this house

and he was born in 1894.

And he was part of a family which actually had

come from Afghanistan from the Kandahar in the 1700s.

We had lots of agricultural land and

so he was a strong young lad at that moment.

And do you know what happened to him and where he fought?

Sikander Khan was a volunteer,

and he went to fight for the British.

And he was given some training,

especially on map reading along with other fighting techniques.

He left this village in December 1914 and then went to France.

While he was fighting, he was injured

and for almost five months he was being treated

but he didn't survive.

But Abdul's version of events raises a mystery.

According to military records,

the 82nd Punjabis, in which Sikander served, never came to France.

In fact, they were stationed in India

and then Mesopotamia for the entire duration of the war.

The only explanation for Sikander Khan's arrival

on the Western Front is really that

the lines were depleted so fast

that the British Army made recourse to troops, smaller contingents,

that were actually stationed out in Mesopotamia

to very quickly plug the line as fast as possible.

This could explain why Sikander Khan ended up in France,

embroiled in the trenches.

Evidence reveals that some of the 82nd Punjabis

were attached to the 59th Rifles,

a regiment that was involved in one of the bloodiest

and most horrifying conflicts of the entire war...

..the Battle of Neuve Chapelle.

The experience the Indian soldiers

had of that battle was absolutely ferocious.

Over 13,000 soldiers killed in that one battle.

The battle took place in March, 1915,

and the object was to eliminate

a bulge in the lines held by the Germans with

the Germans on this side.

It was very, very important that the line was held there,

because the fear was, if Neuve Chapelle fell,

the Germans could overrun the rest of Northern France.

The plan of attack was to have a pincer movement.

British forces coming in here,

Indian forces coming in here.

In this particular area here, we're fairly certain was Sikander Khan,

holding the line facing the German trenches.

It's almost certain in that time that Sikander Khan was

hit by bullets or shrapnel or shells and mortally wounded.

Sikander Khan died on 25th September, 1915,

and there's a poignant end to his story.

Did he have any brothers and sisters?

Unfortunately, no. And he was not also married.

So his father really gave the ultimate sacrifice?

That it's the end of his line, in terms of future.

As Zafar's visit draws to an end,

Abdul takes him to visit the family graveyard.

The graves of Sikander's parents no longer exist.

But for Zafar, it's their loss that's touched him most.

In many ways, I do feel sad for Sikander Khan's father especially.

In our culture, if you lose the only son

you lose the family and the lineage of that family.

So Sikander Khan's father didn't just lose a son,

he lost his lineage.

And that is very sad, really.

At long last, it's the morning of the opening ceremony.

And everyone who's been involved with

the restoration of the Muslim burial ground is gathering to

celebrate the completion of what's been an enormous achievement.

So we've got the army here. Five or six people from the army here.

Zafar's secured a royal guest of honour to open the burial ground,

Prince Edward.

Can we have the cloak on this, please?

Who's got the cloak?

So before the ceremony can begin, he has to do a run through of

proceedings with Buckingham Palace press secretary, Colette Saunders.

Right, as long as this comes off quite easily.

Can you try it?

And he'll just give it to whoever's next to him.

I'm probably more likely to be next to him at that time.

Even on this special day, Ken Donaldson, project manager,

and Paul Rimmer have very practical concerns on their minds.

-Are you saying that steam cleaning will do it?

-Yes.

Or do we need to use chemicals? I'd rather not use chemicals.

-Don't use chemicals. You don't use chemicals on limestone.

-OK.

You need a wetsuit and face protection.

The Earl of Wessex is running late,

giving Zafar time to catch up with

the Imam for the armed forces, who's leading today's prayers.

Good job. You should be so proud of yourself.

An anxious half hour later,

and the Royal guest finally arrives.

-Very nice to meet you.

-Very nice to meet you as well.

-You've been the architect for all this, really.

-Yes, yes.

After five years' hard work,

for Zafar and Elizabeth it's a proud moment.

May I introduce you to Elizabeth Cuttle?

-Hello.

-The person who was delegated to work with me on this.

-Are you all involved?

-Yes.

Come and gather round.

And the ceremony can begin.

It's been an unforgettable day.

And a reminder of a shared history

that might lead to a more united future.

Why it's really important is that this demonstrates the values

which Muslims share with Britain.

And that is about protecting people's freedoms,

protecting security, protecting our country,

being united against those people who want to

divide our community.

In today's world, where there is so much of Islamophobia,

it is very important to reclaim and understand

this cemetery because what it shows the Muslim soldiers to be

are not just religious subjects but warmly human.

They've given their best,

they often failed to comprehend. They went through a terrible time.

And it is this common humanity ultimately that is far more

important than either religion or anything else.

Today marks the end of a long journey for Zafar and Elizabeth.

I think I shall feel a bit deflated.

But I shall sit and think about the last few years.

All that's been achieved. And how I hope that it will get

a life of its own, the garden, and many people will come to it.

It makes you feel good inside.

It's difficult to explain that feeling.

I myself only have only got two or

three feelings like that in my life in terms of doing

something which actually means something, not just for yourself,

but maybe it means something for a lot of other people in the future.

It says it all, really, about remembering those who

gave their lives for the country.

Even though they were from India and were Muslims.

Oh, it's just beautiful.

In many ways, it's a humbling experience that God's

actually asking you to do something you didn't think

it'd be you doing it.

You feel thankful.

That's the way I feel.