Saturday, September 05, 2009

Charles Le Gai Eaton (Hasan le Gai Eaton or Hassan Abdul Hakeem)

Charles Le Gai Eaton (Hasan le Gai Eaton or Hassan Abdul Hakeem) (born 1921) was born in Switzerland and raised as an agnostic by his parents.[1] He received his education at Charterhouse at King's College, Cambridge. He worked for many years as a teacher and journalist in Jamaica and Egypt. He then joined the British Diplomatic Service.[2] Eaton converted to Islam in 1951. He has since served as a consultant to the Islamic Cultural Centre in London.[3] In 1996 he served on a committee that drafted the constitution of the Muslim Council of Britain[4] His books include Islam and the Destiny of Man (listed on Q News' list of "10 books to take to university"[5]), King of the Castle, and Remembering God. Many converts to Islam in the United Kingdom have been inspired by his books[2], which are also expositions of Islam for Western readers, secular or believing. He also frequently contributed articles to the quarterly journal on comparative religion and traditional studies, Studies in Comparative Religion. Ther