Margaret White And The Alcoran of Mahomet

Drama of the Week

BBC

Drama, Fiction

3.9 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 7 February 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

1649 was a significant year in British History because King Charles I was executed for treason. A lesser known, but arguably equally important, historical moment occurred in that same year: the first publication of the Qu'ran in English. Surprisingly, it was instigated by an English woman, called Margaret White, who was the wife of a printer called Robert based in Fleet Street, London.

Based on historical research, this drama imagines the circumstances as to how the Qu'ran came to be first published in the English language.

Cast: Margaret ......... Erin Shanagher Ayesha ..................Laila Alj Robert ...................Graeme Hawley Nicholas ............ Jon-Paul Bell Sergeant ............ Hamilton Berstock

Production Co-ordinator - Pippa Day Studio Manager- Amy Brennan Sound Designer- Sharon Hughes Producer/Director- Jessica Mitic

With thanks to Professor Suzanne Trill, the Arab British Centre and Dr Johnson’s House Museum Historical consultant-Professor Matthew Birchwood

A BBC Studios Audio Production for Radio 4.

Transcript

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0:38.4	BBC Sounds music radio podcasts this is drama of the week
0:46.4	I had to come to this meeting tonight.
0:57.0	Welcome.
0:58.0	I needed to sit in the light after everything that has happened.
1:01.0	That is happening.
1:02.0	Welcome to the meeting.
1:04.0	Wait in the light.
1:05.0	And part of a new group who minister in this way.
1:07.0	We all sit silently in a circle.
1:15.3	As we are now, this is how we worship.
1:17.8	No priests telling us what to think.
1:19.7	Only our own hearts.
1:25.7	Outside, it's all noise, shouting men, arguing about which prayer book to use or the right way to talk to God.
	...

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