32 Ansari
loyalty to the British crown and, moreover, offered his services to the govern-
ment so as to promote “loyalty amongst the Muslims throughout the Empire”. 30
To convey the genuineness of this loyalty, he resigned as Vice- President of the
Anglo-Ottoman Association (by then under suspicion for “undesirable activi-
ties” in relation to Turkey) and offered to help the British authorities to instil a
greater sense of loyalty among the empire’s Muslims.31
As the conflict against Turkey intensified so did anti-Muslim sentiment in
the British press and wider society. Fearing the backlash, Lord Headley, though
he lamented the fact that Turkey was now an enemy, cautioned his fellow
believers to refrain from “taking part in any political discussions and contro-
versies [...] for if we do so we shall be certain to come to grief either through
internal dissensions or through collision with some outside-authority”. 32
Khalid Sheldrake (d. 1947), another convert and stalwart of the British Muslim
community, went further and wrote to assure the Foreign Secretary of Muslim
“support, co-operation and loyalty”.33 Along with other converts he joined
the army in 1917, and, as attempts to foment rebellion among Muslims came
to light, offered – like Quilliam – assistance in galvanising Muslim loyalty to
the Crown.34 While Turkey’s entry into the war on the opposing side caused
unease for some, converts such as John Yehya-En-Nasr Parkinson(1874–1918)
(vice-president of the British Muslim Society) affirmed that:
as a Britisher I would support my country in the contest by every hon-
ourable means in my power, to bring matters to a victorious ending [...]
Yet, while doing so, I would regret the necessity that compelled me to
fight against Turkey, a people with whom I sympathise on many national
ideals and to whom I was bound. Those of us who have long stood by
[Turkey] in weal and woe, in good and evil days, will still stand by to help
by every means in our power, so long as that help does not interfere with
our greater duty to our own Empire, to our native land.35Pickthall was equally grappling with the dilemma facing Muslim subjects of
the British Empire. He, like South Asian Muslims, was opposed to the war
30 Leon [the name Quilliam adopted on his return to England] to Grey, 6 November 1914,
FO371, 2146, 68803, tna.
31 “Activity of Ottoman Association and Anglo-Ottoman Society”, fo 371/2488, 1915, tna;
“Moslems in Turkey”, FO 371/2146, 1914,tna.
32 Islamic Review, January 1915, 12.
33 FO371/1973, 85051, tna.
34 L/PS/1/125, 3273, bl.
35 Islamic Review, December 1914, pp. 588–89.