ROSENTHAL Eric (1905-1983)

ROSENTHAL Eric (1905-1983)

From Dury Lane to Mecca, Being an Account of the strange Life and Adventures of Hedley Churchward (also known as Mahmoud Mobarek Churchward) an english convert to Islam, London, Sampson Low, Marston & Co., Ltd, 1931.

248 pages, 1 frontispiece, 20 illustrations, ex libris Biography of Hedley Churchward and account of his 1910 pilgrimage to Mecca. Hedley Churchward (1862-1929), a British painter from an old English family who became Mahmoud Mobarek Churchward after his conversion to Islam, studied Arabic and Islam at the Al Azhar mosque in Cairo, where he shone with his knowledge. After settling in South Africa, he was instrumental in building the country's first mosque. In 1909, he took steps to make the pilgrimage to Mecca, becoming the first British Muslim to do so. His account of the pilgrimage, two years after his death, has come down to us through Eric Rosenthal, a South African historian. He gives us a rare account of a convert's pilgrimage to Mecca; of the difficulties encountered in obtaining his passport for the pilgrimage, which were overcome after an examination to verify his religious knowledge; of his fears of being turned back on arrival on holy ground; and of his meeting with the Sherif of Mecca. The book reproduces numerous drawings by Hajj Mahmoud Mobarek and photographs of various lost sites in the Hijaz, including a rare photograph of the tombs of the Prophet Mohammed's family. "[...] I've read about Burton's journey and the accounts of Burkhardt and Von Maltzan, but these men, in going to the holy lands, clothed, relied solely on their knowledge of Arab customs. Rarely in history has a European visited Mecca as an authentic Muslim pilgrim", From Drury Lane to Mecca, p.41.