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History of Islam and Muslims in Trinidad
- By Mohammed Rafeeq
- Published 12/30/2009
- Trinidad Muslim League
- Unrated
THE SECOND MISSIONARY
Minor differences continued to appear and the rifts gradually widened. A couple years later a Committee comprised of, among others, Haji Ruknuddin Meah, Abdul Ghany, Rahamut, Ameer Baksh and Emam Baksh, decided to send for a Moulvi from India. Communications were duly passed between the Committee and The Woking Mission of England, and ultimately in the latter part of 1921 there arrived a Moulvi by the name of Fazal Karim Khan Duranni, B.A.
This missionary proved to be a bitter disappointment to the committee responsible for him, for while they anticipated a Moulvi: of the Hanafi Sect, Fazal Karim Khan Duranni was an Ahmadi who accepted Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as the Promised Messiah of Islam. He recanted in later years. He taught that Jesus was dead and denied his fatherless birth; also that the Holy Prophet's Ascension to Heaven was spiritual and not physical, etc. The committee continued to support him financially but he was opposed by Haji Ruknuddin Meah in his beliefs.
A master of the English language, Mr. Duranni proved to he a thunderbolt to Christian carpers of Islam; his reply to Rev. Forbes was a masterpiece in itself: he did much to eradicate false ideas of Islam among Christians. Among his publications in Trinidad were three pamphlets: "The Virgin Birth", "Trinity Original Sin and the Book of Genesis" and "The Promised Land".
Among his own people, however, he effected a very mild and exceedingly weak reform. A man of his ability could have achieved much in Trinidad, but his one great fault was that he sacrificed any cause, however sacred or great, to his own whims and passions. He had founded an Arabic class in the North and on account of some trifling dispute he discontinued his services and shattered what might have been the landmark of his career.
After two years of service Mr. Durrani left these shores in 1923. While he had effected a mild reform among the younger generation, his work had no permanence as he had left no foundation of organisation behind him, and as he left, his work also went into a deep sleep.
There was one youth, however, from Siparia, Ameer Ali by name, who, fired by the love of Islam, seized the opportunity extended to him by Moulvi Fazal Karim Khan to take a course in Islamic theology at the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat-i-Islam. Lahore. He accordingly sailed to India in 1923.
This missionary proved to be a bitter disappointment to the committee responsible for him, for while they anticipated a Moulvi: of the Hanafi Sect, Fazal Karim Khan Duranni was an Ahmadi who accepted Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as the Promised Messiah of Islam. He recanted in later years. He taught that Jesus was dead and denied his fatherless birth; also that the Holy Prophet's Ascension to Heaven was spiritual and not physical, etc. The committee continued to support him financially but he was opposed by Haji Ruknuddin Meah in his beliefs.
A master of the English language, Mr. Duranni proved to he a thunderbolt to Christian carpers of Islam; his reply to Rev. Forbes was a masterpiece in itself: he did much to eradicate false ideas of Islam among Christians. Among his publications in Trinidad were three pamphlets: "The Virgin Birth", "Trinity Original Sin and the Book of Genesis" and "The Promised Land".
Among his own people, however, he effected a very mild and exceedingly weak reform. A man of his ability could have achieved much in Trinidad, but his one great fault was that he sacrificed any cause, however sacred or great, to his own whims and passions. He had founded an Arabic class in the North and on account of some trifling dispute he discontinued his services and shattered what might have been the landmark of his career.
After two years of service Mr. Durrani left these shores in 1923. While he had effected a mild reform among the younger generation, his work had no permanence as he had left no foundation of organisation behind him, and as he left, his work also went into a deep sleep.
There was one youth, however, from Siparia, Ameer Ali by name, who, fired by the love of Islam, seized the opportunity extended to him by Moulvi Fazal Karim Khan to take a course in Islamic theology at the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat-i-Islam. Lahore. He accordingly sailed to India in 1923.