Marmaduke William Pickthall (1875–1936), also known as Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, was a British Muslim writer and Islamic scholar whose English translation of the Qurʾān was published in 1930. He was born in London on 7 April 1875, the eldest child of the Reverend Charles Grayson Pickthall (1822–81) and his second wife, Mary Hale (née O’Brien, 1836–1904). Largely educated privately, Pickthall attempted unsuccessfully to become a Royal Engineer in the British army and failed to join the Levant c…