Jamie Gilham

The definitive biography of British Muslim Marmaduke Pickthall: famous for his English translation of the Qur’an and an ardent campaigner for the Ottoman cause. Since his death in 1936, Marmaduke Pickthall’s reputation has rested on his popular English translation of the Qur’an. Drawing on a wide range of original sources, including unpublished letters and newly discovered archives, Jamie Gilham unpacks Pickthall’s eventful life and significant contributions as a British Muslim writer, scholar and campaigner. A Great English Muslim traces Pickthall’s extraordinary journey to Islam and considers its profound impact on his life and work. Pickthall negotiated his British and Muslim identities to defend and explain Islam in the West and, later, globally. Gilham explores how Pickthall’s Anglo-Muslim worldview, and his complex attitudes about imperialism, race and ethnicity, fuelled his writing and campaigning—not least in his defence of the Ottoman Empire during the First World War; his denunciation of Western interference in the Middle East, including Palestine, after the Armistice; his alliance with Gandhi and support for Non-Cooperation and the Khilafat Movement in 1920s India; and his efforts to establish the Indian State of Hyderabad as the centre of Sunni Islam and seat of the Caliphate in the 1930s. This is a fresh and comprehensive biography of an important Western convert to Islam, whose concerns, struggles and sacrifices resonate for Muslims and non-Muslims today.

A landmark volume on the lives of Muslim women across a century of rapid change, restoring lost voices and enriching our picture of British society.

This is the first biography of Lord Headley, who made international headlines in 1913 when he defied convention by publicly converting to Islam. Drawing on previously unpublished archival sources, this book focuses on Headley's religious beliefs, conversion to Islam, and work as a Muslim leader during and after the First World War. Lord Headley slipped into obscurity following his death in 1935, but there is growing recognition globally that he is a pivotal figure in the history of Western Islam and Muslim-Christian relations; this book evaluates the strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures of the man and his work, and considers his significance for contemporary understandings of Islam in the Global West.

This is the first biography of Lord Headley, who made international headlines in 1913 when he defied convention by publicly converting to Islam. Drawing on previously unpublished archival sources, this book focuses on Headley's religious beliefs, conversion to Islam, and work as a Muslim leader during and after the First World War. Lord Headley slipped into obscurity following his death in 1935, but there is growing recognition globally that he is a pivotal figure in the history of Western Islam and Muslim-Christian relations; this book evaluates the strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures of the man and his work, and considers his significance for contemporary understandings of Islam in the Global West.

Loyal Enemies uncovers the history of the earliest British converts to Islam who lived their lives freely as Muslims on British soil, from the 1850s to the 1950s. Drawing on original archival research, it reveals that people from across the range of social classes defied convention by choosing Islam in this period. Through a series of case studies of influential converts and pioneering Muslim communities, Loyal Enemies considers how the culture of Empire and imperialism influenced and affected their conversions and subsequent lives, before examining how they adapted and sustained their faith. Jamie Gilham shows that, although the overall number of converts was small, conversion to Islam aroused hostile reactions locally and nationally. He therefore also probes the roots of antipathy towards Islam and Muslims, identifies their manifestations and explores what conversion entailed socially and culturally. He also considers whether there was any substance to persistent allegations that converts had "divided" loyalties between the British Crown and a Muslim ruler, country or community. Loyal Enemies is a book about the past, but its core themes--about faith and belief, identity, Empire, loyalties and discrimination-- are still salient today.

Loyal Enemies uncovers the history of the earliest British converts to Islam who lived their lives freely as Muslims on British soil, from the 1850s to the 1950s. Drawing on original archival research, it reveals that people from across the range of social classes defied convention by choosing Islam in this period. Through a series of case studies of influential converts and pioneering Muslim communities, Loyal Enemies considers how the culture of Empire and imperialism influenced and affected their conversions and subsequent lives, before examining how they adapted and sustained their faith. Jamie Gilham shows that, although the overall number of converts was small, conversion to Islam aroused hostile reactions locally and nationally. He therefore also probes the roots of antipathy towards Islam and Muslims, identifies their manifestations and explores what conversion entailed socially and culturally. He also considers whether there was any substance to persistent allegations that converts had 'divided' loyalties between the British Crown and a Muslim ruler, country or community. Loyal Enemies is a book about the past, but its core themes - about faith and belief, identity, Empire, loyalties and discrimination - are still salient today.