Eid al-Fitr Sermon, 1934 - Original work of W. B. Bashyr Pickard

Mr. William Bashyr Pickard is of British and French descent, born in London on July 31, 1889. He took an Honours degree in classics; entered the Colonial Civil Service under the Uganda Protectorate Administration in 1912, but resigned later on, and enlisted in Middlesex Yeomanry on the outbreak of the First Great War. He saw active service in France with the Middlesex Regiment and the 53rd French Mortar Battery. On the conclusion of peace he was repatriated and entered the Government service, obtaining an appointment as Assistant Administrative Officer in the Profiteering Act Department under the Board of Trade, which he resigned later and resumed his studies at the University College, London.

Mr. Bashyr Pickard declared his faith in Islam in January 1922. Since then he has been in close touch with the Mosque, Woking. (AAIIL)