Ilyas believed reinvigorated religious practice would usher in the eventual establishment of a society based on the sharia. He saw British rule as indicative of Islam’s decay. Ilyas set about teaching observance and encouraging mosque attendance. It became politically imperative to consolidate the faiths. This mattered particularly once the British adopted a system of political representation according to religious allegiance. Ilyas was concerned that Muslims were ‘Hinduizing’. Their methodology, which has been adopted by all London’s mosques, has proven surprisingly effective and resilient since the early 1920s when it was devised by the founder Mohammed Ilyas Khandalawi (1885-1944) to win backslidden Muslims in Mewat, southwest Delhi, back into the fold. However, they are only ever referred to in newspaper stories of jihadis or terror plotters who may have attended one of their mosques. On 29 October, it was finally announced that their three appeals to the Secretary of State against the refusal of planning permission for it had been turned down. They have for 20 years been trying to establish a ‘mega mosque’, Europe’s premier Muslim training centre, next to the Olympic Park in Newham, east London. Their very hiddenness should challenge our hearts, and their obvious spiritual hunger should be a reproach to mission thinkers. Eighty-million strong today and established in 150 countries from Bangladesh to Kenya to Eire, the reasons for their obscurity highlight the parlous state of Islam awareness among Westerners.
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