afghanistandid everything in their power to impress him with British power and
technological might. When he crossed the Afghan frontier, the Amir was
presented with a personal cable of welcome from King Edward vii and
he was greeted with a 31-gun salute, the same number accorded to the
Viceroy. He attended glittering receptions in Agra and Calcutta, went on a
tiger hunt, visited the Royal Mint, Calcutta’s Zoological Gardens, hospitals,
munitions factories and schools. During his tour of the naval dockyards
he even fired a ship’s gun. On his way home, he visited Aligarh College
and laid the foundation stone of Islamia College in Lahore. During his
speeches at these institutions, the Amir publicly endorsed the Rationalist,
Pan-Islamism of al-Afghani, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s theological liberal-
ism and his advocacy for engagement with European culture and science.
The Amir also urged the students at both institutions to embrace Western
education and secular subjects as well as the study of Islamiyat.
Behind the scenes there was considerable discontent at the Amir’s
behaviour in India. His endorsement of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s Aligarh
Movement did not go down well with the more reactionary members
of his entourage or in Kabul, while his cosiness with the old enemy was
far from welcome, as was the Amir’s attendance at mixed parties where
unveiled foreign women were present. More serious was the report that
Habib Allah Khan had not removed his shoes when entering the Delhi
mosque for Friday prayers, a privilege accorded to royalty under British
law, but a practice that was unacceptable in Islamic and Afghan custom.
The discontent increased when the Amir visited the Golden Temple at
Amritsar and made complimentary remarks about the Sikh faith.
Most controversial of all was the Amir’s request to become a Freemason,
which was an embarrassment both to British officials and the Calcutta
Lodge for, by virtue of his rank, the Amir had to be initiated into all three
degrees at a single session. This was a highly unusual procedure but, under
pressure from the government, Prince Arthur, Grand Master of the United
Grand Lodge of England, agreed to a special dispensation. The initiation
itself took place in utmost secrecy, with only the Amir and a few senior
brothers, all high government officials, present as witnesses.
Habib Allah Khan never explained his reasons for wanting to join
what the Afghans called the Faramush Khana, the Forgotten, or Forgetful,
House, but his initiation flew in the face of a ruling by Sunni ‘ulama’,
which had declared membership of Freemasonry incompatible with Islam.
Possibly the Amir believed that initiation was an affirmation of his new
status as king and reformer, for most of the monarchs of Europe were
Grand Masters. Furthermore, despite the Islamic proscription, many