âNot all those who wander are lostâ, as Tolkienâs line goes, but some of us have wandered for a very long time. I am thankful to such dedicated companions, advisors and fellow sojourners without whom I could not have reached this stage of the journey. My initial thanks are to my academic mentor David Thomas, who has been a sagely guide throughout this process. I could not have wished for a more capable and responsive supervisor. I must also thank Clinton Bennett, without whom I would have meandered down other paths. I am profoundly grateful for such wisdom and critical discernment in guiding me to Birmingham. There I was blessed by the company of Andrew Davies, David Cheetham, Christian Troll, John Chesworth, Mustafa Draper, Richard Allan, Selena Su and Azmi Muhammad. Where else can one watch Pakistani cricket in the morning, and stroll the shire in the afternoon?
In addition, I thank the faculty and administration of Forman Christian College, Lahore, Pakistan. James Tebbe, in particular, provided tremendous support and unfailing encouragement along the way. I also thank Nukhbah Langah, Atiq ur-Rahman, and all my colleagues in the Department of Religion, including Abdul Ghani, Abid Naeem, Nisar Ahmad and Saeed Ahmad, and Robert Wetmore the Dean of Chapel. I am tremendously indebted to Eileen Dass, Hamid Saeed and Basharat Mughal. I continue, as are you, to be enamoured with the College motto, âBy love serve one anotherâ.
I also thank the many friends and scholars, near and far, who have facilitated my research. I am very grateful to Avril Powell for guiding me through the British Library; Saeed Shafqat at the Centre for Public Policy and Governance; Adam Webb at the Hopkins-Nanjing Centre; Martin Whittingham, Ida Glaser and David Coffey at the Oxford Centre for Muslim â Christian Studies; Hamid Naseem Rafiabadi at the University of Kashmir, Srinagar; Asghar Abbas at Aligarh Muslim University; Farida Khanam and Akhtarul Wasey at Jamia Milia Islamia in Delhi; Shahid Ali Abbas and Imran Azmi at Osmania University in Hyderabad; C.T.R. Hewer in Ireland; Daniel Brown at the Institute for the Study of Religion in the Middle East in Istanbul; and Juan Carlos Pallardel SJ at Loyola Hall in Lahore.
I was honoured to receive, along with my co-applicants Yaqoob Bangash Khan and Bushra Jaswal, a grant from the British Libraryâs Endangered Archive Project. We are thankful to Cathy Collins for her guidance, and to Francis Robinson and Judith Brown for their endorsements. The generous grant for the digitization of the Nur Afshan archive helped facilitate my research, and has ensured that this valuable archive will remain available to future generations.
I also owe a debt of gratitude to my family and fellow sojourners. A special thanks to Thom Wolf, Todd Lafferty, Harold Clark, Ryan Brasher, and Wayne Losey, your support has been tremendous. Iâm thankful to my parents John and Ann, and to all of my extended family. But most of all, I stand amazed at the grace, love, and seemingly unending patience of my children Jonah, Sophia, Norah, Judah, and Clara, and most of all of my beloved wife, Brooke.