Muslim History in Oxford

1
Al Shami

Al Shami restaurant was the site of Oxford's first halal butchers, and was established in the 1960s. Prior to its...

2

Founded in 1921, City of Oxford Motor Services Limited was an important site of employment in the 1950s and 1960s...

5
Oxford Union

On 3 December 1964, Malcolm X addressed the Oxford Union when he partook in the 'Queen and Country' debate. He...

6
Oxford Martin School

The Oxford Martin School was the sity of of the Oxford Indian Institute, which provided training to Indian civil servants....

7

Site of the first mixed congregational prayer led by a woman (Prof Amina Wadud) in the UK, 18th October 2008....

10
Somerville College

Somerville College houses archival materials related to the Oxford Majlis, which was a student society modeled after the Cambridge Majlis...

12

A major site of employment which attracted Pakistani Muslims from Sheffield and Bradford. According to the newsreel source linked to...

14

Founded in 1678, the Ashmolean Museum features an Islamic and Middle East Gallery which exhibits a selection of artifacts made...

16
Balliol College

In trying to identify some of the earliest Muslim students to matriculate at the University after the enactment of the...

21

EMBS was founded in 1988 as a self-help business service for racialised minority groups in Oxford. One of its founders...

23
Trinity College

Brothers Wasif Ali and Naseer Ali Mirza became the first racialised minority and Indian students to be enrolled at Trinity...

1962

Pakistan Welfare Assocation

Posted in:

People

Author:

EMHAI

The association, which was founded in the 1960s by Sher Afzal Khan, was one of the first of its kind in the country. It played an important role in the establishment of the local mosque in 1965. In the 1970s, the president of Pakistan Welfare Association sent a letter to leaders of Muslim nations asking for funds to create an Islamic centre in Oxford, which would include a mosque, a hostel and an Islamic library. Sher Afzal Close, a street in Oxford is named for Sher Afzal Khan.

Tags

Sources and Attribution

This document from the Oxford City Council regarding the naming of a street after Sher Afzal Khan contains biographical information about him and credits him with the founding of the Oxford Pakistan Welfare Association:

https://mycouncil.oxford.gov.uk/documents/b16542/Street%20Naming%20Tuesday%2018-Dec-2018%2018.00%20City%20Executive%20Board%20became%20Cabinet%20on%2013%20May%202019.pdf?T=9

Aleena Din - Aleena is a historian of gender, class and race in modern Britain. Her DPhil research, which was completed at Balliol College and the Faculty of History in 2022, focuses on the migration, settlement and labour experiences of working-class British-Pakistani women who settled in Middlesbrough and Oldham between 1962 and 2002. Aleena is the co-investigator of the community history project 'A Muslim History of Oxford', in collaboration with the national heritage organisation 'Everyday Muslim'. In addition, she is a postdoctoral research associate for the digital humanities project, 'Remaking Britain: South Asian Connections and Networks, 1830 to the Present' at the University of Bristol (2025).

Spotted an issue Report this record

Loading please wait