Marmaduke Pickthall: British Muslim

by Peter Clark

Marmaduke William Pickthall, born in 1875 London to Mary O'Brien and the Reverend Charles Grayson Pickthall, is remembered-if he is remembered at all-as a translator of the Qur'an. The fact that a practicing English Christian would convert to Islam and become a renowned translator of the holiest of Muslim texts during years of volatile relations between Britain and the Ottoman Empire is itself exceptional. Yet Pickthall was much more than an historical oddity or gifted translator: he was a novelist, journalist, political and religious leader, and an often confusing mix of allegiances and beliefs. Marmaduke Pickthall: British Muslim is an examination of his ideas and writings. For twenty years of Pickthall's adult life, he was a devout Christian, and for the last twenty years he was a devout Muslim. Peter Clark's book raises issues of Muslim and national identity. Pickthall wrote much about Islam which he saw as an open, tolerant and progressive religion. A reissue of the book is a timely and authoritative contribution to current debates.

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Dr Peter Clark, OBE is a writer and translator with degrees from Keele and Leicester universities. He has written books on Istanbul, on various British writers and has translated nine books from Arabic.

Peter worked for over 30 years in seven Arab countries for the British Council, designed the International Prize for Arabic Literature and has been a Contributing Editor of Banipal, the Magazine of Arab Literature since 1998. He has translated fiction, history, drama and poetry from Arabic since 1980.

Peter is married, has three grown up sons and a step-daughter and lives in Somerset. His hobbies are opera and marathon walking.

Reviews

[Julia Simpson-Urrutia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a revision of my original review. British Muslim's latest edition is put out by Beacon Books at http://beaconbooks.net/books/. Most people know Pickthall as a translator the Qur'an unless they have stumbled upon a collection of his essays called Cultural Side of Islam or sometimes, Islamic Culture. (He also wrote a wonderful novel called Said the Fisherman.)

In British Muslim, Peter Clark confesses becoming obsessed with Pickthall, who became an "invisible presence" in his home for three years. That seems like an amazingly short period of time to write a research book like this, but when one comes to one's subject with an opinion to push, then it is understandable.

Clark's sources were mainly out of print periodicals as well as personal letters. I wish I could say that Peter Clark shows understanding of Marmaduke Pickthall, but I do not feel that is the case. I think Peter Clark views Pickthall the same way as the British authorities did during the time of WWI and right afterwards. Clark shows by his wording and observations that he finds Pickthall's love of Islam as unsavory and regrettable as the British government did.

Pickthall wrote extensively as a journalist, and Clark had to locate old editions of Islamic Culture, once published in Hyderbad, and the periodical Islamic Review from Woking, England, as well as New Age of London.

British Muslim describes an erudite, personable and self-thinking man not cowed by popular opinion--but again, as I said, if I am going to be honest, I do not think Clark admires Pickthall. I thinks Clark finds it appalling that he was pro-Ottoman, pro-separate peace and pro-Islam.

According to Clark, if not for his political ideas deemed dangerous in official circles, Pickthall's "talents as a linguist and as an authority on Syria, Palestine, and Egypt could have been used." Clark says he had a reputation for being a "rabid Turkophile" and therefore he was not offered the job with the Arab Bureau in Cairo, then under British rule, that subsequently went to T.E. Lawrence. Thus are world events swayed. In fact, Clark calls Pickthall "unemployable."

The greatest work of his life, for which so many English speaking Muslims are indebted to him, was not without turmoil. The translation of the "meaning" of the Qur'an (a distinction he always insisted upon) began around 1927 although as early as 1919 when he was acting imam in London, he used to translate passages, piecemeal, for the sake of Friday sermons. His was the first translation of the Qur'an made by a Muslim! At the time he began, Pickthall was teaching in the Nizamate of Hyderbad, an offshoot of the Moghal Empire which had "evaded absorption in the British Empire." The Nizam gave Pickthall special leave of absence on full pay for two years in order to complete the translation. Pickthall decided he should also procure approval from the ulama of al-Azhar in Cairo. he spent three months in Egypt, from November of 1929. and met some leading Egyptian writers, among whom was Taha Hussein, a blind professor of Arabic at the secular university of Cairo.

Hussein seemed to derive delight in annoying Pickthall and throwing obstacles in his way.Pickthall quickly saw through his opponent and later would write about " a certain scholar with a mania for the last Paris models in the way of thought. . . and whose taste for foreign ideas includes half-baked or wholly unbaked theories concerning the Arabic language, history and Islam."

The Egyptian trip was a failure. King Fuad, who was then toying with the idea of becoming the Caliph, did not support the notion of Pickthall's translation and the 'ulama were thrown in a flutter when it came out. They finally pronounced Pickthall's translation "unfit to be authorized." Ha. Pickthall's translation is still with us today, pronounced by some native Arabic speakers as the closest translation of any. May God bless him.

I have always been glad there has been at least one biography about Pickthall, but readers may feel dismay that the author does not feel the same love for his subject that they do.

[Alaa Bahabri · Rating 2 out of 5]

كتاب (ليس سيرة ذاتية) يتحدث عن بكثال، أو مترجم لتفسير القرآن للإنجليزية من شخص مسلم لغته الأم الإنجليزية
تحدث الفصل الأول عن حياته بشكل عام، ثم عن موقفه من تركيا، ثم عن إسلامه، ثم عن فترة عيشه في الهند وتأليف القرآن ، ثم روايته عن الشرق، ثم رواياته وقصصه عن أوروبا
أكثر ما أعجبني الجزء الذي تحدثت فيه عن بدايات الإسلام في بريطانيا،، فقد ذكرت أول مسجد أنشأ هناك، أول الإنجليز المسلمين، و ما فعلوا ،، وهو أمر أحسبه ثمنياً جداً ،،

[Hajar · Rating 5 out of 5]

سيرة ذاتية تتقاطع مع العابر عليها بشكل كبير، تنوع ثقافي وجغرافي قصة ثرية جدا بالأحداث والمحاولات والاجتهادات الجادة، سيرة تستحق القراءة

[Noura · Rating 2 out of 5]

سيرة ذاتيه للكاتب مرمدوك بكثال يكتبها بيتر كلارك
السيرة لا تتحدث بشكل مفصل عن حياته والجزء الأخير من الكتاب يتحدث عن مؤلفات بكثال (يختصر القصة ومن ثم يتحدث عن وجهة النظر عنها)
بكثال مرتبط بأحداث كثيرة في عالمنا العربي
مواقفه من الإستعمار البريطاني
و أحداث فلسطين مصر تركيا
وحتى الهند وغاندي
الكتاب ممتلأ بالأحداث المؤرخة ممايجعله أقرب لكتاب تاريخ لا يوجد تفاصيل كافية عن حياة بكثال مثل حياته قبل الإسلام وبعده كيف أثر هذا على حياته وجوانب أخرى
جعل الكتاب أشبه بسرد وثائق عن حياته السياسية
قام بترجمة القرآن ويذكر الصعوبات التي واجهته في مصر لأجل هذا الترجمة

(بعد وفاته كانت زوجته ترتب أوراقه فإذا آخر سطر كتبه-كما هو منقوش على شاهد قبره قوله تعالى
{بَلَىٰ مَنْ أَسْلَمَ وَجْهَهُ لِلَّهِ وَهُوَ مُحْسِنٌ فَلَهُ أَجْرُهُ عِندَ رَبِّهِ وَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ} [البقرة : 112])

[Riad]

مع أنني لست من أنصار الرجل ولدي كثير من التساؤلات حوله وحول ترجمته لكن هذا الكتاب مشحون بنظرة ايديولوجية استعمارية غير نزيهة وعدائية إزاء الرجل.