Dr Gottlieb Wilhelm (William) Leitner was a man of exceptional talent. A multilinguist and an educationist par excellence, who understood the cobwebs of theological discipline, he was also the Founding Principal of Government College University Lahore.
Born in a Jewish family in Budapest in 1841, Leitner proceeded to Constantinople, where he mastered Turkish and Arabic, when he was only 10 years old. Later, at 15, Leitner was appointed interpreter to the British Commissariat during the Crimean War, at the rank of a colonel.
In 1859, Leitner became a lecturer in Arabic, Turkish and Modern Greek at the King’s College, London, where two years later at 23, he served as Professor of Arabic and Mohammedan Law. (Jewish Encyclopedia). After the 1857 War of Independence, the British wanted to promote Western education, especially in the north-western parts of the subcontinent. They decided to establish a college of repute in Lahore, as an affiliate of the University of Calcutta. Leitner gladly accepted the offer to serve as the first principal of the Government College University Lahore in 1864.
He also contributed towards the setting up of the University of Punjab, and other important institutions. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica (Volume 16) 1911, Leitner spoke, read and wrote in twenty-five languages. He wrote on Arabic grammar, ethnography and customs prevailing in areas that today constitute Pakistan. At a time when Islam was under stress due to the colonial rule, he authored a detailed book on the history of Islam in Urdu, written with the help of Muslim scholar Mohammad Hussain Azad. It was published in two volumes, in 1871 and 1876. (Trieste publishing catalogue https://Trieste publishing.com/author/g-w-leitner and Calcutta Review, 1871 Volume).
Later, on his return to England, Wilhelm Leitner continued his intellectual pursuits. He continued to educate the West about the East. At a talk on Islam in London, in 1889, Leitner described the message of the Prophet as “a perfect religion”, and not merely imitative of Judaism and Christianity.
In his view, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) converted millions of the human race to a high form of culture and civilisation, by converting them to Islam. He emphasised that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) raised women’s status from being a property, to that of a proprietor. He expressed hope that a day will come, when Christians will “honour Christ more by also honouring Muhammad.” (The Times, July 1889 https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/, for mention of the report of his extempore address at Finsbury, on January 6, 1889).
A King’s College article dated March 21 2018, states: “Leitner was a tireless advocate of the fair treatment of Islam by the West, producing a pamphlet titled Muhammadanism in 1889. Refuting attacks against it, the pamphlet explained Islam at length (https://www.kcl.ac.uk/the-kings-professor-who-foundedthe-uks-first-purpose-built).
Leitner had memorised a number of Quranic surahs. Abdur Rasheed Sayyah was the Muslim name, he gave himself. (Heritage Times, 4 April 2020). He abhorred hatred among religions and emphasised on interfaith harmony. His sympathetic understanding of the Asian culture and way of life, distinguished him as an advocate of multiculturalism, much ahead of his time.
Leitner established literary societies and libraries, and published periodicals in different languages to promote education. He died on March 22, 1899 in Bonn. He received an honourable Christian burial in Woking, close to London, “near a mosque he had founded.” (King’s College website). An Arabic phrase Al - Ilmu Khayram Min al-Maal’ [Knowledge is better than wealth], is inscribed on his tombstone.
History either forgets or remembers scholars. Leitner was a man of letters, indeed a great scholar. The prestigious Government College Lahore that he established, lives on, now as a University, with its traditions and high ideals encapsulated in the motto ‘courage to know.’
The writer is a former ambassador Pakistan