Thomas Keith was born in Edinburgh in 1793 in Scotland, he enlisted in the British Army's 78th Highlanders Regiment on August 4, 1804, at the age of 11. He went with the 2nd battalion of the regiment to join John Stuart in the British campaign to Sicily in 1806. Soon after, Keith was sent as part of the English expedition to Alexandria in 1807. However, the expedition was a failure, and British forces were destroyed by the Albanian Mameluke cavalry commanded by Muhammad Ali, Ottoman khedive Egypt.

After being captured at Al Hamed near Rosetta on April 21, 1807, Keith and a drummer in his regiment, William Thompson were reportedly sent to Cairo together with about 450 heads of defeated English soldiers. Once there, both were bought from an Albanian spearman by an Ottoman officer named Ahmad Bonaparte and made Mamelukes or "military slaves" at Ahmad’s service. Keith became Ahmad's favourite.

During their initial term of service, the two Scots decided to convert to Islam and change their names: Keith becoming Ibrahim and Thompson Osman. Keith subsequently became involved in a fight with one of Ahmad's Mamelukes, ironically a Sicilian, who had insulted him.

In 1811, at the age of 18, Keith joined the 17-year-old Tusun in an expedition leading 2000 men between Bedouins and Albanians against rebel insurgents in Arabia. Moved by the thirst for blood and plunder they spread terror throughout the region even entering the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

The rebel insurgents were successful in defeating the Ottomans at first, due to their overwhelmingly greater number and more experience on the ground. However, in 1812, a new campaign was launched and they were defeated. The forces led by the highlander managed to reach the holy city of Medina where Keith became governor in 1815. The following year, the expedition to Mecca was also successful.

At Medina, he fought with courage, being the first man who mounted the breach, and after distinguishing himself on several other occasions.

Keith was ambushed with Tusun by the rebels in a confrontation in the vicinity of El Bass, where he led 250 men and defended the prince's life against 2000 enemies. He died bravely while fighting four rebels after which he was quartered, at the age of 23.

Even after the final victory, the rebels testified to the Scottish bravery on the battlefield.

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William Henry Quilliam, a local Liverpool solicitor and resident embraced Islam in 1887 (aged 31), after returning from a visit to Morocco, and took on the name Abdullah.

In 1887, Quilliam opened the first mosque in the UK. Initially at Mount Vernon Street, then 8 Brougham Terrace, Liverpool. Pall Mall Gazette wrote: “The mosque at Liverpool is a place of worship for thousands of Mahommedans”

He would feed 200-400 children in the morning on Christmas Day and 400-600 in the evening.
The pamphlet Faith of Islam was first published in 1889. The first edition had 2000 copies and a further 3000 copies were published in 1890. Quilliam’s outreach led to many people in the UK embracing Islam. From them were very educated and prominent individuals in British society, as well as ordinary men and women.

In 1894, the Caliph of Islam, Sultan Abdul Hameed II gave Abdullah Quilliam the official title of Sheikh al-Islam for the British Isles.

In 1908, Abdullah left for Constantinople, never to return to Liverpool. The latter years of his life were spent in the Isle of Man and London.

On the 28th of April, 1932, Abdullah Quilliam was buried at Brookwood Cemetery, Woking close to other famous Muslim personalities: Lord Headley and Marmaduke Pickthall

http://www.abdullahquilliam.org/cairo-speech-1928/

Learn more about the martyr El-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz (Malcolm X), his sayings, and his legacy.