The discovery of the grave in Preston dating from 1906 baffled the Muslims community in Preston — how did a Muslim come to be buried in Lancashire at the turn of the century?  Ismaeel Nakhuda, a freelance journalist and writer, decided to investigate.

During the clearing of brambles in the early 1970s on the edge of the Muslim section of Preston’s Victorian cemetery, volunteers from the city’s mosques discovered an old headstone with inscriptions in Arabic and English:

“Oh he who is deceased and whose mention will be forever,” read the Arabic, “Here definitely rests Achmed ben Ibrahim al-Marakashi whose soul departed to its Creator on Wednesday 28 Dhu al-Qada 1324.” (Dhu al-Qada being the eleventh Islamic lunar month and 1324 being the Islamic year). 

The English inscription below the Arabic read: “Here repose the mortal remains of Achmed Ben Ibrahim of Maraksh Morocco, who died January 24th 1906, aged 60 years.” 

The grave became an intriguing mystery: Was Achmed an Arab businessman, a curious traveller passing through, or even a pious Muslim scholar visiting Edwardian Britain spreading teachings of piety as saintly Muslims and Sufis had been doing for centuries throughout the Islamic world?

After research and investigation, many of which caught the attention of British-American Writer and Academic Yahya Birt, of Leeds University, it was revealed that Achmed ben Ibrahim was the head of a group of Moroccan acrobats who toured the British Isles for at least 25 years at the turn of the 20th century. Neither a businessman nor a traveller, his death certificate gave his occupation as “professional acrobat.”

In addition, Yahya had stumbled on Achmed’s obituary published in the 31 January 1906 edition of “The Crescent,” a weekly newspaper that Quilliam edited about Islam in Britain, which wrote: “Bro. Achmet Ibrahim died at 74, North Road, Preston, on Thursday morning last (1st Dhulheggia, 1323). Our deceased brother was 74 years of age, and had led a very active life. He was a native of Fez, Morocco, but had been travelling in Europe for many years with a company of very clever Arab acrobats and tumblers. He was a fervent and sincere Muslim, and always when in Liverpool attended at the mosque for prayers. He had no children, but leaves a wife (a convert to Islam) to mourn his death."

This provides an interesting insight into Achmed’s religiosity: he was a native of the ‘City of Saints’ Fez, a place located on the trans-Saharan trade route and known throughout the Muslim world for its piety and famous Al-Qarawiyyin Madrasah founded in 859 CE by the intelligent Arab woman, Fatima Al-Fihri. It is possible that Achmed mentioned being from Marrakesh rather than Fez for stage purposes, as it would have been better known in Europe.

Regardless of the questions left by his fascinating life and history, there is one thing that is for sure, as mentioned by Nakhuda: no one at Achmed’s funeral on that cold January winter’s day in 1906 would have dreamt that the place where he was being buried, the edge of the non-conformist section of Preston Cemetery, would one day become the burgeoning Muslim section of Preston Cemetery.