Thread by @Amaliah_Tweets

[Thread] It's Hajj season!

Lady Zainab Cobbold, a convert, was the first documented British Muslim woman to perform Hajj.

This is a thread about her extraordinary journey to Islam 👇

Born into aristocracy as Lady Evelyn Murray in Edinburgh in 1867, her father frequently took her and her family on trips to Algiers and Cairo where she spent the majority of her childhood.

There, she learned Arabic and visited local mosques with her friends.

It was in Cairo that Lady Evelyn met and married her husband who she had 3 children with.

Lady Evelyn's interest in Islam grew and she changed her name to Zainab in 1915. This impacted her relationship with her husband and later became the reason for their divorce in 1922.

Lady Zainab's adventurous spirit flourished after her separation from her husband as she took every opportunity to travel the world.

On one of her trips to Italy, she was invited by friends to meet the Pope. It was during this meeting that Lady Zainab announced she was Muslim.

Though Lady Zainab's conversion to Islam may not seem unusual today, it was often very difficult for members of the aristocracy to announce such a change at that time, especially that Islam was still viewed with some level of animosity during Victorian Britain.

The day Lady Zainab converted to Islam, she made a commitment to perform Hajj.

In 1929, she contacted the ambassador to the UK, of what is now known as Saudi Arabia, about her wish and she was granted permission to visit Mecca & complete Hajj by the King of Saudi Arabia.

In 1933, Lady Zainab became the first British Muslim woman to perform Hajj at the age of 65.

She travelled to Medina on her own to visit the Prophet’s tomb and then arrived in Mecca alone to perform Hajj, finally fulfilling the goal she had dreamed of for many years.

In 1934, Lady Zainab published a book titled 'Pilgrimage to Mecca' where she recounted her experience on Hajj.

In her book, she describes seeing the Kaba for the first time as "simple majesty" and likens Tawaf to "making a circuit round the house of [your] beloved."

Lady Zainab's experience on Hajj impacted her deeply and on her return to the UK, she continued her studies of Islam. She also volunteered at Woking Mosque where she made friends with other British converts such as Marmaduke Pickthall.

Lady Zainab passed away in 1963 in Scotland at the age of 96.

She left instructions that her burial & funeral be carried out in accordance with Islamic guidelines and that her gravestone should bear the words from Surah An-Nur: "Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth."