Marmaduke Pickthall

Biography

Marmaduke Pickthall (1875–1936) was an English novelist, journalist, and Islamic scholar who became one of the most prominent Western converts to Islam in the 20th century. Born in London to an Anglican clergyman, Pickthall traveled extensively in the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East as a young man, developing a deep affinity for Islamic culture that would define his life. He published several acclaimed novels set in the Near East, including Saïd the Fisherman (1903) and The House of Islam (1906), as well as Veiled Women (1913), a novel exploring women’s lives in Ottoman society. Pickthall converted to Islam in 1917 and subsequently devoted himself to Islamic scholarship and community work, serving as editor of Islamic journals and eventually as headmaster of a school in Hyderabad, India. His most enduring legacy is The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), the first English translation of the Quran by a native English-speaking Muslim, which remains one of the most widely used English translations to this day.