Sayyid Amir Ali

Sayyid Amir Ali (born April 6, 1849, Cuttack, India—died Aug. 3, 1928, Sussex, Eng.) was a jurist, writer, and Muslim leader who favoured British rule in India rather than possible Hindu domination of an independent India.

Amir Ali, who traced his ancestry to the Prophet Muhammad’s daughter Fāṭimah, received his law degree from the University of Calcutta. He was called to the bar of the Inner Temple (1873) in England and returned to practice in Calcutta (now Kolkata), becoming a judge of the High Court in 1890. A permanent resident of England from 1904, he was appointed to the judicial committee of the Privy Council in 1909. The following year he helped establish the first mosque in London.

Amir Ali founded the National Mohammedan Association (1877) to provide Muslims with experience in Western political techniques and to protect their interests, and he helped secure in 1909 the first communal electorates for his people. He also founded the British Red Crescent Society to aid Muslims in need, and he furthered Western understanding of Islam by writing the first presentation of Islam by a Muslim in the English language, The Critical Examination of the Life and Teachings of Mohammed (1873). His Spirit of Islam (1891) remains a Muslim classic.