People

Lady Evelyn Cobbold

Lady Evelyn Cobbold, a Scottish convert to Islam, died in Inverness. Specifically, on her estate in Glencarron, Wester Ross, in...

Bengali Muslim migration had reached its peak during the 1970s with the influx of people coming from the Sylhet region...

Iqbal Geoffrey

Iqbal Geoffrey was a man of Pakistani origin who travelled to London after being accepted as a legal professional in...

Bahadur Sher

Bahadur Sher was born in Northern Pakistan in 1930 and arrived in the UK in 1961 with the aspiration to...

Gladys Milton Palmer

Gladys Milton Palmer was a well known and respected British socialite and heiress who converted to the religion of Islam...

Khurshid Ahmed

Khurshid Ahmed was a member of the Pakistan navy and in 1964, he arrived in the UK as part of...

Zia Mohyeddin

Zia was a British-Pakistani thespian and truly a jack of all trades as he juggled acting, direction and broadcasting. Having...

Abdal Hakim Murad

Abdal Hakim Murad is an English academic, theologian and Islamic scholar. His work includes publications on Islamic theology, modernity, and...

Samuel Fyzee-Rahamin

Born on 19th December 1880, in Poona, Samuel Rahamin's family were part of the Bene Israel, a cultivated Jewish community...

Atiya Fyzee-Rahamin

Author, social reformer, and patron of the arts, she was born in Constantinople on 1 August 1877 into the prominent...

Aisha Abdurrahman Bewley

Aisha Bewley has been – and continues to be – a world-renowned and accomplished translator of classical Islamic literature. After...

Dr Muhammad Isa Waley

Muhammad Isa Waley is a British editor, translator, and researcher specializing in the literature of Muslim spirituality in Arabic, Persian,...

Ziauddin Sardar

Ziauddin Sardar is a British-Pakistani scholar, award-winning writer, cultural critic and public intellectual who specialises in Muslim thought, the future...

Gai Eaton

Gai Eaton, born Charles Le Gai Eaton, also known as Hasan le Gai Eaton or Hassan Abdul Hakeem, was born...

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Abdullah Yusuf Ali, born on April 14, 1872, in Bombay, British India (present-day Mumbai, India), was a renowned Islamic scholar,...

Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi born 2nd of October 1869, more commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was born in Porbandar, Kanthiawar, India....

Allama Iqbal

Allama Iqbal is widely considered one of the ideological founding figures of Pakistan and also holds the status of national...

Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948), also revered as Quaid-i-Azam (Great Leader), was a barrister and politician who played a pivotal role...

Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406)

Abd Ar Rahman bin Muhammed ibn Khaldun (1332 – 1406) is considered the Muslim father of Sociology. His contributions to...

Azeezat Johnson

Dr Azeezat Johnson was a brilliant mind. She was a lecturer at Queen Mary University and a member of the...

Jack Ward

John Ward or Birdy, also known as Jack Ward or later as Yusuf Reis, was born in Faversham he originally...

Catalina Motril

Catalina of Motril was an enslaved servant to Queen Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife. She might have held...

Asif Shakoor

Asif Shakoor is an independent researcher. He grew up in Manor Park and studied at the University of East London....

Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud

Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud was the ambassador to the court of Queen Elizabeth I and was responsible for establishing trade...

Fatima Manji

Fatima Manji is a British television journalist and newsreader who became Britain's first hijab-wearing TV newsreader in March 2016. Her...

Akbar The Great

Akbar the Great was the third and most powerful Mughal Emperor of India, ruling from 1556 to 1605. Queen Elizabeth...

Aura Sultana

Aura Sultana was a young Central Asian Slave girl of Tatar origin. She had been purchased by English explorer, Anthony...

Francis Levett

This portrait depicts Francis Levett a "Turkey Merchant", (Member of the Levant Company) of the city of London. In partnership...

Abdul Qayyum Sher

Abdul Qayyum Sher was born in Kohat in 1921. This city is now in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan,...

Colonel Mohammad Ghani

Colonel Mohammad Ghani joined the British Indian Army in 1940. He was in a Punjab Regiment and after finishing his...

Chanan and the Goat

Chanan was born in 1926 in a village near Hoshiarpur. His family owned and farmed the land. He was the...

Imam Al-Ghazali

Imam al-Ghazali (1057-1111), honoured with the title of "Hujjatul Islam" or "Proof of Islam," was a renowned Islamic scholar and...

Noor Inayat Khan GC

Noor served in the military during World War II who served as a wireless operator for the Special Operations Executive,...

1939 - 2021

Iqbal Geoffrey

Posted in:

People

Author:

Amirah

Iqbal Geoffrey was a man of Pakistani origin who travelled to London after being accepted as a legal professional in Pakistan and aged 21, he made his way to London with the hopes of pursuing his dreams of art. Very quickly, Geoffrey established himself as an artist in London with his work, 'Epitaph 1958' being acquired by the Tate in 1962 which was an extraordinary feat considering the racial discrimination that people of colour faced during this time. Although, Iqbal Geoffrey found himself to be discouraged and disenchanted with the racial prejudice that he was forced to endure within the world of art and left London to attend Harvard Law School, beginning his multiple careers as a lawyer, educator, accountant and, artist.

Geoffrey was extremely disillusioned with the idea of the British royal family owning the Koh-i-noor diamond, something which has been the subject of vigorous debates for multiple decades, and sought to make an effort to send the diamond back to where it rightfully belonged. Therefore, Iqbal Geoffrey sent 786 letters outlining legal action to the British royal family. He also worked to fight racial discrimination that existed within the art world based upon the injustices he witnessed, he was very much an advocator of equality for people of colour.

Iqbal Geoffrey's life had a huge impact upon people of colour, specifically those who work within the world of art and cannot be looked at as anything but inspirational, to say the least. He passed on the 1st of September 2021 but his work and life will have an everlasting consequence, إِنَّا ِلِلَّٰهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ.

Tags

Sources and Attribution

'Remember Iqbal Geoffery Sir (1939-2021)' Article by, Hassan Vawda.

Spotted an issue Report this record

Loading please wait