The man who united Britain and Islam

Sep 19 2007 by David Charters, Liverpool Daily Post

The Liverpudlian who founded Britain’s first mosque was revered throughout the Muslim world. Now a multi-faith centre is to be dedicated to his memory. David Charters reports

DOWN the centuries, fools have created the divides over which wise people must shake hands, if we are to live in peace.

And there was plenty of wisdom about when Farhad Ahmed and Tom Murphy met for a cup of satchel-brown tea, a beverage of the East adopted in the West to unfurrow the troubled brow and refresh the brain during the strain of the day.

This was a very appropriate meeting between a Muslim businessman and a Christian artist, both there to discuss how, in an earlier age, another Liverpudlian had done much to engender goodwill between the faiths.

The two men are working together to develop a heritage centre dedicated to the memory of Abdullah Quilliam, the solicitor, who had converted to Islam and then bought the houses, 8 to 12 Brougham Terrace, Liverpool. There, in 1889, he began Britain’s first mosque.

A community of 150 Muslims used the white-washed, late-Georgian row until 1908 when, against a background of mounting harassment, verbal and physical abuse, Quilliam decided to leave – reminding us today that there is nothing new about religious intolerance.

Many went to Woking, Surrey, where the Shah Jehan Mosque was built with a dome (unlike Brougham Terrace). It is still used.

Liverpool City Council acquired the row, which had been designed by the renowned architect Joseph Picton, remembered particularly for his library on William Brown Street.

From then until its closure in 2000, Brougham Terrace was the city’s register office. The births, marriages and deaths of millions of Liverpudlians were recorded there – the famous and the humble joined in eternity by clerk’s nib.

Perhaps in a prophetic mood, Quilliam had on October 16, 1904, started his poem, The Riddle of Life, with these words:

“Birth, life and death, three potent words,

What is it that they spell?

Our entrance in, our life upon,

Our exit and our knell . . . “

Well, it certainly has more soul than the “hatch, match and dispatch” favoured by our own street rhymers.

Now the city council has given the Abdullah Quilliam Society of the Muslim Enterprise Development Service a two-year lease on the building.

Islamic leaders in Liverpool are hoping to raise almost £2.5m needed to turn the fast-deteriorating terrace into a cultural and educational centre for people of all religions – as a Muslim contribution to Liverpool as next year’s European Capital of Culture.

Among those supporting the idea are Prince Charles, the Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool; the Right Reverend James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool; and Dr Malcolm Malits, rabbi at Allerton synagogue, Liverpool.

Tom, 59, sculptor of John Lennon, Bill Shankly, Dixie Dean and other grand figures from Liverpool’s past, was asked to paint a scene of Liverpool, which would tell of Quilliam’s special place in this city of many faiths.

Who was this man? Well, in 1851, William Henry Quilliam was born to the wealthy watch- maker, Robert, and his religious wife. From an early age, William was devout, first following the example of his Methodist mother and later becoming a Unitarian, the denomination favoured by many Liverpool businessmen and philanthropists.

He qualified as a solicitor and started a thriving practice, in which his sympathy for the poor and down-trodden was much in evidence.

But in 1882, stressed and tired, he travelled to the south of France, seeking rest and perhaps the answers to some of life’s mysteries. His quest took him to Algeria and Morocco, where he learned about Islam, converting to the faith when he was 31.

He returned to Liverpool seven years later as Sheikh Abdullah (Servant of Allah) Quilliam, renewing his legal practice and attending court in full Turkish regalia with his white horse hitched outside.

As his reputation for helping the poor grew, people would throw flowers in his path. Friends and members of his family converted to Islam.

A prayer and meeting room for the community was started in Mount Vernon Street. He then founded the Islamic Institute and Liverpool Mosque in Brougham Terrace. Friday sermons and prayers were delivered in English and Arabic. A printing press was installed in the basement and Quilliam’s book, The Faith of Islam, was published and translated into 13 languages.

Quilliam acquired two houses in Shiel Road, where he established a home, which helped some of the 2,000 Liverpool women a year who had illegitimate babies. He printed the Crescent and the Islamic World from Shiel Road. Both were circulated internationally.

So the reputation of this strange Englishman, who had embraced their faith, spread throughout the Islamic world. On a visit to England, the Sultan of Turkey conferred upon Quilliam the title, Sheikh ul Islam of the British Isles. This was confirmed by the Amir of Afghanistan who donated £2,500 to the Institute.

Locals were less enthusiastic. Snowballs and fire-crackers were thrown at members of the congregation. On one occasion, a group of Baptists interrupted Quilliam’s sermon claiming that he was “a man sent by the devil to deceive you and lead you to the eternal fire where the worm dieth not”.

Long after the Muslims had gone, staff in the register office still called the strong room, where records were kept, the Mosque, maybe not knowing why.

Again, the Muslims of Liverpool are looking for donations from abroad to help with the centre to be named in Quilliam’s memory.

Tom’s task was to tell this story in one big painting to be displayed in the heritage centre. He decided to feature the past, the present and the future in one canvas, which would also feature some of the city’s most prominent buildings. Quilliam himself is riding his white horse with admirers throwing flowers in their path.

“In the centre of the picture, a group of Muslim people, including Farhad Ahmed and Mohammad Akbar Ali (chairman of the Abdullah Quilliam Society), are talking about the future around the table,” says Tom. “On the table is the Koran and the plans for both the Abdullah Quilliam centre and the new mosque on Musgrave Street.

“The children all playing together, obviously is an aspiration for the world’s future.

“The actual pathway can be seen with the future as its destination, almost a launch pad to where you want to go. In this context you go past the Quilliam centre and the buildings in the back, which I have tried to make look a bit Middle Eastern with the bright colours. The famous buildings of Liverpool are in a slight jumble. It’s like a time machine. We have the two cathedrals with the communities, which now get on quite well together, and in the future we hope that we will get on well with the people in the mosque.

“In Liverpool, we are constantly involved with our past, our present and our future. That’s how this picture works. It is a painting with a mural design.”

The Arabic calligraphy at the top says, “In the name of God, the most benificent, the most merciful”. Some 25,000 Muslims from 45 different nationalities now live on Merseyside.

Among them is Farhad Ahmed, 28, one of six children born to the restaurateur, Rafiq Ahmed, and his wife, Luthfun Nessa Ahmed.

Farhad was educated at Merchant Taylors’ School, Crosby, before graduating with a BA at Manchester University and then an MA at Liverpool University. He is now executive director of the Muslim Enterprise Development Service, which is supporting plans transform the derelict Grade II listed Brougham Square row into the heritage centre.

“A lot of the Saracenic mouldings and interior features in Brougham Terrace were designed according to Moorish architecture,” says Farhad. “Quilliam was known as the poor man’s solicitor. He would sue for paternity orders against men who had sired illegitimate children to make sure they were paying a stipend to the families, like an early day child support agency. He was not just for the Muslim community but serving humanity at large. He had a pro-social view of religion in which he would go out into the community helping people who were marginalised.

“He brought together the best of the British and the Muslim. That is why it is so important that we save this building and save his work and his legacy. The idea is for it to be an inter-faith heritage centre which we hope will attract tourists from all over the world.

“There are so many people from the city connected with this building. It is in very bad condition. Thieves have stolen slates and lead.

“But we would like a lot of the work done next year, including a visitor centre, so that it can be a Muslim contribution to the Capital of Culture.”

So far, about £60,000 has been raised, but the Muslims are hop- ing for donations from overseas as well as Britain. “We are assured of well-deserved countrywide support for our project. Abdullah Quilliam was of national importance,” says Akbar Ali.

A fund-raising dinner is being held at the Liverpool Athenaeum, Church Alley, on October 31.

davidcharters@dailypost.co.uk

The £2,324,389 dream

THE Abdullah Quilliam Heritage Centre has been costed at £2,324,389. Of this, it is estimated that the mechanical and engineering services will be £722,000.

Other substantial sums are for the roofs (£133,000), finishing and decorations (£166,000), drainage and site works (£132,000), architectural and legal fees (£249,000).

Donations are being received at the Abdullah Quilliam Society, c/o Muslim Enterprise Development Service, 2, Lodge Lane, Liverpool L8 OQC.

Among the organisations supporting it are the Liverpool Culture Company, Liverpool City Council, Liverpool Plus, Nadim Associates Solicitors and the HSBC.