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A True Scholar Goes Home M UHTAR H OLLAND (1935-2010) Muhtar Holland, who embraced Islam in 1969 and spent his life bringing the works of scholars such as Shaikh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, al-Jerrahi, and al-Ghazali to the English-speaking world, died of pancreatic cancer on 5 Nov. 2010 at his home in New Jersey, with his family and his wife Noor Aisha at his bedside. Born in Durham, England, even as a student Holland was drawn to the study of languages, which seemed to offer signposts to guide the stranger on his “journey home,” apart from their practical usefulness to one who loved traveling — at first on a bicycle — through foreign lands. He took courses in Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, and Danish, with additional smatterings of AngloSaxon, Italian, German, and Dutch. At Oxford’s Balliol
College, he focused on Arabic and Turkish. While serving with the British navy, he spent most of the two years taking an intensive Russianlanguage course. Holland held academic posts at the University of Toronto, the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and Malaysia’s Universiti Kebangsaan, which was followed by a six-month sojourn in Indonesia. He also worked as senior research fellow at England’s Islamic Foundation and as director of New York’s Nur al-Islam Translation Center. In his translator’s forward to al-Tirmidhi’s “A Portrait of the Prophet: As Seen by His Contemporaries,” Holland, who spent five months of his 1964 study leave from SOAS at al-Azhar studying Islamic
law, wrote: “One day, I took a taxi to visit the district known as the City of the Dead. I remember how my driver became more like a companionin-adventure as we then set off in quest of a destination that was completely off the usual tourist track. I wanted him to find the Mosque of Qa’it Bey, which he had only vaguely heard of. As recorded in my diary: “Then we drove through weird streets of houses of the dead to the Mosque of Sultan Ahmad, then the Mosque of Sultan Ashraf, then into an ancient quarter through almost impassable muddy streets, till we finally discovered the Mosque of Qa’it Bey. “A guide appeared and showed me the tomb of Qa’it Bey, his Qur’an-reading seat with its smell of sandalwood, and the alleged footprint of the blessed Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and his family), encased in lead. “This was one moment when I felt very close indeed to embracing Islam. The guide seemed to join me in feeling the quiet of that old, seldom-visited mosque, and we just stood there together for several minutes without a word being spoken. Then I turned to him and whispered: ‘Kabbir!’ I love the way you can pack so much meaning into a single Arabic word. ‘Kabbir’ means: ‘Proclaim the Supreme Greatness of the One Almighty God!’ “The guide seemed to take this as a perfectly normal request. He took a deep breath, raised his hands to the sides of his head, looked up and uttered: ‘Allaaahu Akbar!’ The sound reverberated in the space beneath the dome. “The guide soon assumed I was really a Muslim. He introduced me to the Shaikhs sitting in a corner. Showers of blessings descended on my head. “When recalling the five years following the above experience, I recognize how it
Holland spent his life bringing the works of scholars such as Shaikh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, al-Jerrahi, and al-Ghazali to the English-speaking world. ___________________________________________________
Muhtar Holland (center), recognized in 2007 by Zaytuna Institute with the Alexander Russel Webb award, with Sami Catovic (left) and Moutasem Atiya
caused my inner footsteps to carry me steadily closer to the outer profession of Islam. In 1969, I was struggling with many dreadful problems in my life. Then, one evening in London, I was in deep spiritual meditation, submitting my being completely to the Will of Almighty God. All of a sudden, I found myself as if in a barren desert. All my terrible problems assumed the form of a savage tribe, charging toward me with their weapons drawn and threatening to hack me to pieces. In near despair, I turned my head and saw a hill behind me. A figure then appeared on top of that hill, mounted on a camel. I knew for certain that he was the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and his family). He signaled with his sword above his head, and his Companions (may Allah be well pleased with them) came riding from behind the hill, brandishing their weapons and crying ‘Allahu Akbar!’ My savage enemies all fled away in terror, and I felt completely safe and sound!” Shortly thereafter, he took the shahadah in Birmingham, England. His published works include translations of books by al-Ghazali, Sheikh Muzaffer Ozak al-Jerrahi, Ibn Taymiya, Shaikh ‘Abd alQadir al-Jilani, Shaikh Wali Raslan ad-Dimashqi, Shaikh Ahmad Fathu’llah Jami, Shaikh Muhammad ibn Yahya at-Tadifi, and Mawlana ‘Ali ibn Husain Safi. ^
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