BENGALURU: Born Lady Eveyln Murray in 1867, Zainab Cobbold was the first Scottish noblewoman to convert to Islam in the Victorian era. She went on to become the first woman born in the UK to perform the Hajj, in 1933, when she contacted Hafiz Wahba then ambassador for the Kingdom of Hejaz and Najd to the United Kingdom who wrote to King Abdulaziz Al-Saud, who granted permission for her to perform her pilgrimage.
Cobbold died aged 96 and was buried on a hill in Scotland, facing Makkah, with words from the Qu’ran engraved on her tombstone.
Cobbold’s remarkable story is just one of many that are available on The Everyday Muslim Heritage and Archive Initiative, a platform that documents Muslim heritage in Britain through photographs, oral histories, films, artifacts, and heritage walks.
How Can Instagram People Keep The Past Alive? Published February 18th, 2021 - 10:27 GMT
Iraq Photo Archive - Sadiya Ahmed’s father with his geology classmates at the University of Baghdad, 1960s. (Instagram)
Highlights
Arab News talks to the founders of three social-media platforms dedicated to preserving personal histories
Born Lady Eveyln Murray in 1867, Zainab Cobbold was the first Scottish noblewoman to convert to Islam in the Victorian era. She went on to become the first woman born in the UK to perform the Hajj, in 1933, when she contacted Hafiz Wahba then ambassador for the Kingdom of Hejaz and Najd to the United Kingdom who wrote to King Abdulaziz Al-Saud, who granted permission for her to perform her pilgrimage.