Islam in England

Funeral Prayer for Turkish Air-crash Victims.

Thanksgiving Prayer for the Turkish Prime Minister Mr. Menderes.

The ”Free Thinker’s” Stricture on Islam.

(By our London Correspondent)

The news of the tragic aircraft crash which took a heavy toll of life – the heaviest even of all the casualties in the Turko-Greek clashes in Cyprus – came as a stunning blow to all of us. Our deepest sympathies went out to the great people of Turkey in this great national loss, and to the bereaved families in their great agony.

Funeral (Janaza) prayer invoking God’s peace and blessings on the departed souls were offered at The Shah Jahan Mosque, Woking, on February 22, 1959 (first Sunday after the accident). The Imam conducted the service. The names of the 14 victims of the tragedy for whom prayers were to be offered, were read out to the congregation when starting the Prayer which were as follows: –

Server Somuncugol (Minister), Kemal Zeytinoglu (Minister), Muzaffer Ersu, Serif Arzik, Abdullah Parla, Ilhan Savut, Guner Turkmen, Mehmet Ali Gormus, Munir Ozbek, Lutfu Biberoglu, Sabri Kazmaglu, Gunduz Tezel, Burhan Tan, Gonul Uygur.

Thanksgiving Service

After the funeral prayers, special thanksgiving prayer, consisting of two raka´ats, was offered for the miraculous escape of the survivors of the crash including the Turkish Prime Minister, Mr. Menderes. Before starting the Prayer, the Imam, Muhammad Yakub Khan, in a few words, said that while their hearts were sore at the tragic loss of so many valuable Turkish lives, they were filled with gratitude that God, in His mercy had saved a few equally precious lives.

In the present international juncture, Mr. Menderes´ life was a great asset, said the Imam – an asset as much to Turkey as to world peace, and they felt deeply grateful for the Divine protection which in the midst of that terrible crash, had saved the Turkish Prime Minister’s life.

Both the ceremonies – the Funeral and the Thanksgiving – were attended by a number of friends from London. The Turkish Embassy in London was represented in by a party of four, headed by the Turkish Consul. A little afterwards another party of four Cypriot Turks under the leadership of Mr. A. N. Sager, President of the “Cyprus-is-Turkish-Association” also came down to the Mosque.

The B. B. C. rendered special help in broadcasting as a news-item the proposed Service at the Shah Jehan Mosque, Woking in its night programme on Feb. 20 (Friday) evening.

Arab-Israel Problem

The Imam, Muhammad Yakub Khan addressed a group of London University Students, called the ”Middle East Group” at the Students Movement House, 103, Gower Street, on February 17th, 1959, at 7-30 p.m. The topic for the discourse in which two other speakers, one a member of the Weekly Jewish Chronicle, the other a Jordanian Christian, participated was “Religious and Cultural Problems of the Middle East”.

The Jewish spokesman who opened the discussion surprisingly switched off to the Arab-Israeli question, on the plea that that was the main burning issue of the Middle East. Since the Israeli State was now fait accompli, he argued, there was no point in considering any other alternative except to explore ways to bring about rapprochement between the Arabs and the Jews. The Israeli State would be quite prepared to compensate the Arab refugees who might be rehabilitated in the Arab countries.

The Jordanian speaker urged that the Arabs could not tolerate a sovereign State within their homelands. The only way to ease the tension was for the Jews to live there as a people, not as a state in which case they find the Arabs perfectly tolerant. That was the experience of Christians who lived in complete harmony with the Muslims. He looked upon himself as an Arab first, a Jordanian afterwards, and a Christian last, which was his personal affair. Just as Christians were a composite part of the Arab nation, the Jews could any day have that status. But to have a Jewish nation within an Arab nation was impossible.

The Imam said the Jews Who had suffered persecutions throughout history should have been the last people to persecute others. They were driven out of their homes by Hitler. After that bitter personal experience, it should have been unthinkable for them to have driven a million Arabs out of their homes.

Referring to the Jordanian speaker’s remarks, he said it was a compliment to the genius of Islam to have given the Christian minority in the Middle East a complete sense of security and made them an integral part of the Arab Nation. That was the tradition of Islam throughout history. When Jews were persecuted during the Middle Ages, it was in Muslim Spain that they found a welcome asylum and every opportunity for self-advancement. Jews were entitled to have a home somewhere, but not at the cost of making other people homeless. The Jewish problem was the creation of the Western powers who promised freedom to the Arabs, and a Jewish Home to the Jews in the same breath. The Arabs could not, in all fairness, be expected to tolerate within their heart a State which was a bridgehead of alien influences and interests. The Israeli State, the Arabs feared, had definite expansionist designs. It was like the repetition of what we read of the Arab and the camel in the story. The camel who, on a cold winter night, asked the Arab if he could just thrust his head in, gradually pushed, more and more in, till he went all in, and the Arab had to walk out. The only practical solution was for the Jews to liquidate themselves as a State and live as citizens of the U.A. R., which State could be expanded to include what now constituted the Israeli territory.

In answer to a question by a Jewish girl who had recently come from Israel as to guarantee to ensure full citizenship rights for the Jews, the Imam said this was a legitimate demand, but if once the Jews made up their mind to live as an integral part of the Arab nation, ways and measures could be found to allay their apprehensions on this score, and ensure them full citizenship rights. As a people, they could win the goodwill and sympathy of the Arabs, who in keeping with their traditions of religious tolerance and history, would be willing to welcome them as fellow citizens of the U.A.R. But to insist on a Jewish nationhood within Arab nationhood was to challenge Arab sovereignty in territories which are Arab homelands.

The Freethinker Again

In its issue for February 20th, this atheist paper of London, as usual indulged in insulting Islam, saying:

”There is no doubt that both Islam and Buddhism are gaining converts from disgruntled Christians, but exactly why, we are by no means certain. Christianity and Islam are Oriental religions while Buddhism is Asiatic. All three are packed with absurdities in which grovelling takes a prominent part …. Believers in Islam must accept a God called Allah who resides ”up there”. They have also to hit the ground with their heads at many calls to prayer every day, which is in reality a little more grovelling than when a Christian kisses a Cardinal’s ring. Although the Islamic converts are always proving how superior Islam is to Christianity, it is most difficult to get a reply from them when asked why are Muslims still the most inveterate slavers in the world, as they always were in the past? Slavery was ever an Islamic institution”.

In reply to these misinformed strictures on Islam, the following letter was addressed to the Editor of this paper:

The Editor,                                                                                                                                  Woking, Surrey.       

The ”Freethinker”                                                                                                                        23rd February 1959.

42, Grays Inn Road,

London W.C.I.

Sir,

It never surprises me when I come across any amount of absurdities concerning Islam in a Church-sponsored publication. But when a journal like the ”Freethinker”, which we expect to uphold the standards of rational thinking and objective commenting lapses into un-factual reflections, it does come as a disappointment.

In your issue of February 20th, 1959, under the caption ”This Believing World”, you say that Islam conceives of God as residing somewhere ”up there”. It is unfair to ascribe to us this kind of spatial conception of God. We certainly don’t hold any such belief. God, according to Islam, is above all limitations of Time and Space – indeed above comprehension in terms of our physical experience. All we can know about God is how His Will (or law) operates in the universe. And Islam means just this much that in our lives, we must also keep in step with the rest of Nature in observing the law, violation being the surest path to disaster.

Then, you take exception to the Muslims mode of prayer, calling it “hitting the ground with their heads”, and ”grovelling”. Certainly, you can see for yourself that even in our human relationships, we express inner feelings by outward bodily poses. Bowing is very common pose of courtesy and respect in all civilised societies. Prostration which you describe as hitting the ground with the head is only a natural expression of man’s utter insignificance before the unbounded grandeur and majesty of God. Besides, the idea of ”grovelling” also never enters into our prayerful attitude. On the contrary, a Muslim while thus communing with God seeks self-elevation and self-expansion.

Your third charge, however, is one to which I must partially plead guilty – partially because it is true only in so far as the practice among Muslims is concerned. It is regrettable that slavery should have been in vogue in Muslim societies. But this has been so, in spite of, not because of the teachings of Islam. Emancipation of the slaves is time and again enjoined in the Quran as the highest virtue. I would refer you to just two verses 2:177, 90:13, to verify this for yourself. Emancipation is more than mere abolition. It includes making due provision for them otherwise, rather than just throw them on the street.

                                                                                                                                  Yours truly,

                                                                                                                                         (Muhammad Yakub Khan)

                                                                                                                                       Imam,

                                                                                                                                              The Mosque, Woking, Surrey.

(The Light – March 16, 1959)