Haji Anwar Khan...

Being the first immigrants provided its own challenge in that adherence to an Islamic way of life was becoming more important as more people arrived and the longer people stayed.

As ever Haji Sahib was at the forefront of the challenges and was instrumental in the setting up a Mosque - known formally and constitutionally as the 'Muslim Association of Bradford' but popularly referred to as 'Howard Street Mosque'. The Mosque to this day enjoys a certain primacy: it was the first mosque to be established in 1959; it developed an expertise in dealing with local bureaucracies, particularly necessary if planning permission was to be achieved; it helped raise interest free loans for property, it had burial facilities and it began to circulate prayer times to the local community. And as ever Haji Sahib was one of the few involved in its inception, development and continued success.

Islamic dietary requirements provided further challenges and opportunities for commerce. Haji Sahib began to travel to the North East of England and in to Scotland buying wholesale farm stock and slaughtering it according to the Islamic ritual.

The first Halal Bradford slaughterhouse was born and he gained fame across the region as the supplier of Halal meat to Muslim merchants. His reputation for a sharp wit, honesty, loyalty and discretion made him popular amongst his own people and the indigenous population. When he finally bought a shop on Lumb Lane, Bradford he was often visited by all members of the community for help, advice or simply a friendly chat and cup of tea.

Here was a man who characterised his own community in two continents. He helped to define a semi-industrialised, newly urbanised, working class community that was only one generation away from rural peasantry.

Haji Anwar Khan eventually went back to Waisa as he always promised; he often said that he could not die anywhere else but there. In his final days his phenomenal faith in God gave him the solace by which he could point out his place of burial. He passed on his charitable contributions to many of the local mosques in his area and waited for his own passing, praying up until his very last day.

A generation of men and women young and old owe him a great deal and as ever it is in death that these reflections dominate our attention.

God Bless you Haji Anwar Khan, Grandfather, Great Grandfather, Father, Husband, Cousin, Friend and Brother you have not left any of us wanting and many of us owing a debt of gratitude.

Haji Anwar Khan is survived by a wife, three sons and four daughters.

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