Haji Anwar Khan...
It was there that he joined the merchant navy a decision that, we would later learn, would change not only his life but the lives of many others. His work as a ship hand took him from Bombay then south in to the Indian Ocean through the Gulf of Aden, Red Sea and finally in to the Mediterranean.
On the 21st November 1954, in pursuance of a better life he stowed away seeking refuge with several compatriots who had fought on the side of the British in the Second World War and remained in the UK. One of whom was Waris Khan Wardag was a fellow Waisa villager whom he had corresponded with over several years.
Ironically for a lifelong abstainer it was in a crowded Liverpool social club, minutes after jumping ship that he was provided him with his first English tailored suit and sent east to the thriving mills of Yorkshire, within three days of arriving there he would start work.
In years to come he would come to greatly admire Western ways however his early experiences of the fate of some of his compatriots saddened him a great deal. One of his first experiences of visiting the living quarters of one person he recalled the strong scent of hashish which attracted many of the less desirable locals. At the time he explained there was no law on the substance as it was little known outside of maritime culture.
The conflict of Western self-indulgence, his strong Islamic faith and unshakeable morals led him to write to his father asking him to forgive him for leaving his family and to help him return from a "Godless place", it was in the same letter that he promised his father that he would return with enough capital to begin a business that would provide them all with a livelihood.
"Where have I come to? This place is not like me, and it's not like you. I promise that I will return and everything I have I will give it to you. You see my father a fear has captured me and I cannot see beyond it anymore".
It was a few years after that that he received a letter asking him to come to nurse his father who had fallen ill. He remained there until his Fathers death and burial. He recalled finding out the news of his father's death after leaving him momentarily to call the locals to Prayer (Adhan) at the Shaheed Baba Mosque.
Haji Sahib's first dwelling in Bradford was with the Late Shah Sahib from Haroon a retired pensioner from America who had settled in Howard Street, Bradford.
A shortage of men combined with full employment and the lack of desire of local men to work unsociable hours resulted in lots of opportunities for work in the countless mills of Bradford. Haji Anwar Khan took full advantage of the opportunities afforded to him; he soon gained a reputation for fast, hard work, and an eagerness to get things done. He worked throughout the week as a wool comber and at weekends sold household items door to door, in places as far north as Tyneside and Northumbria.
| Previous... | Continue... |