Latest Announcements
A Highlight from the Archives
The plaque unveiled on the opening of the East London Mosque on Commercial Road, establishing the link with the London Mosque Fund. Who was the remarkable Syed Ameer Ali?
He was born in 1848 in East Bengal, and educated at the Hooglie Muhsin College in Calcutta and then at Calcutta University, studying both history and law. He was a student of distinction and obtained a scholarship for further studies in England, arriving in 1869. He qualified for the Bar and was quick to make his mark with the publication of A Critical Examination of the Life and Teachings of Mohammed in 1873. He then returned to Calcutta to pursue a brilliant legal career, which culminated as a Justice in the High Court, retiring in 1904. However in the interim years he was a frequent visitor to England, and was engaged to Isabella Knstamm in 1880, with the marriage solemnised four years later. During his visits he was a speaker at events organised by the Anjuman-e Islam of London, established in 1886. His acclaimed The Spirit of Islam was published in 1891. Once settled in England he occupied himself both in scholarship and building Muslim institutions – establishing the London Mosque Fund, the British Red Crescent Society and the London All-India Muslim League. He was the first Muslim appointed a Privy Councillor in 1909. He was not regarded with much favour by the Establishment in later years, notably for his support of the Riffian struggle led by AbdelKrim against the Spanish and French in the 1920s. Ameer Ali died on 4 August, 1928 (buried in Brookwood). According to historian K. K. Aziz, his wife burned his private papers and letters soon after.
His sons, Waris (named after Ameer Ali’s elder brother) and Torick, were also Judges and carried on the family tradition of community service as trustees of the London Mosque Fund. The East London Mosque Archives team would dearly like to establish contact with Ameer Ali descendants!
- Jan 2018: Acquisition of pioneering Muslim journal Islamic News 1920-21, edited by Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall
- Dec 2017: Academic visitors to the Archives: Ottoman historian Dr Nihal Engel; French academic Dr Nada Afiouni
- Strongroom launch with Rt Hon Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan
- Upcoming Strong Room Launch – 22nd November
- Press release following launch:
The East London Mosque Trust which hosts the first ever British Muslim Archives inaugurated its new strongroom yesterday on the 22nd November 2017 with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
Speaking to guests and dignitaries at the packed ceremony, Mayor Khan, said:
“It’s an absolute privilege for me as the Mayor of London, to be at the East London Mosque and London Muslim Centre, where we open the Archives. These archives are a hundred and seven years’ worth of history and they are being preserved. This is a great example of Muslims contributing to the wellbeing of East London more than a hundred years ago, but also shows how the organisation has grown and helped our city become the greatest city in the World.
By chronicling our history, the East London Mosque has done a service to the next generation. It ensures that we have full a proper account of the past, we can benefit from the knowledge, experience and wisdom of all those that went before us.”
The newly opened strongroom will safely house the Trust’s substantial archive collection which dates back to 1910, during which time the organisation was conceived with a mission to provide a mosque in London for the faithful. The Archive also has a plan to make a national callout to Muslim communities and individuals who may be in possession of material that will be of value to the Archives and can deposit them for safe keeping but also to enable access to the material.
Chairman of the East London Mosque Trust, Habibur Rahman, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have opened the new strongroom at the East London Mosque. This pivotal work was led on by our Archives Steering Group and headed by Dr Jamil Sherif, who given a considerable amount of his time voluntarily to see the project flourish and become the only British Muslim Archives in the country. We hope in coming years the archives will continue to grow and document the successes of the Muslim community here in London, but also further afield.”
The East London Mosque Archives is one of a kind; it is the first Muslim archives in Britain and Western Europe. It has received substantial support from The National Archives in 2014 through its The National Cataloguing Grants Programme, which helped the Archive catalogue all its content through a dedicated archivist, Eilís McCarthy. The venture has also benefitted from a grant from the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust, and much goodwill of the professional archivists’ community
