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25 July 2019

Britain's First Muslim Burial Ground

Author:

EMHAI

Brookwood Cemetery is a Grade I listed Historic Park & Garden. It was also known as the London Necropolis or (Great) Woking Cemetery when it was opened in November 1854. At the time, it was the largest cemetery in the world.

It was close to the site of The Oriental Institute, established by Dr Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner who bought a section of the cemetery for the burial of Muslim students or other ‘Muhammadans’. The plot is close to the railway line and was originally marked with a special ‘Qibla’ stone facing Makkah - the holy city in Saudi Arabia towards which Muslims pray five times a day and the direction in which their bodies are laid to rest. One side of this stone - still visible today - identifies the plot as reserved for use by The Oriental Institute, whilst the other details how ‘Muhammadans’ (Muslims) should be buried.

The first burial was a Sheikh Nubie (c.1860-1895), an Indian Muslim who was a member of a juggling troupe died at the Empire of India Exhibition at Earl’s Court, in July 1895. The oldest remains in the cemetery actually predate the first burial at the plot. Arif Bey (1816-1836) was a young Turkish Ottoman officer sent to England by Sultan Mahmoud II to receive military training. According to British Muslim Historian, Professor Humayun Ansari, this was the first recorded burial of a Muslim in modern Britain.

You can learn more about the Muslims buried at Brookwood Cemetery on the Everyday Muslim website, ‘Muslim Heritage Trail of Woking.’ It is a fascinating insight to the social and political lives of Muslims in Britain and from a world view.

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