Edward Sell

Canon Edward Sell (24 January 1839 – 15 February 1932) was an Anglican orientalist, writer, and missionary in India.

Biography

Sell was born on 24 January 1839 in Wantage in Berkshire. He was educated at the Church Missionary College in Islington, London, completing his studies in 1862. In 1874 Sell was appointed as a fellow of Madras University and he received a Bachelor of Divinity from Lambeth in 1881. Sell received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from the University of Edinburgh in 1907. He was a member of the Royal Asiatic Society and was awarded the Kaiser-i-Hind Gold Medal in 1906. He was also appointed "Chairman of the Arabic, Persian, and Hindustani Studies".

After finishing his studies in 1862, Sell was ordained deacon and in 1867, priest. Sell served as the examining chaplain for the Bishop of Madras and in 1889 he was appointed canon at St George's Cathedral, Madras. He is commemorated by a plaque in the Cathedral.

In 1865 Sell became the principal of the Harris High School for Muslims in Madras in which capacity he continued until 1881. It was also during this time that he was secretary of the Church Missionary Society for the dioceses of Madras and Travancore. He officially retired from the CMS in 1923, but continued to live in India, involving himself in scholarship and ministry. When he died in Bangalore on 15 February 1932, he was working on his fiftieth book. Sell wrote extensively on Islam and biblical subjects, in particular, the Old Testament. His works include: The Faith of Islam, London, 1880 ʼIlm-I-Tajwīd; or, The Art of Reading the Qurān With an Account of the Rules for the Rasm-Ul-Khat, and a List of the Various Readings of the Last Sura, 1882 Jāmi'-Ul-Qavānīn. An Urdu Grammar, with Chapters on Rhetoric and Prosody, 1885 The Historical Development of the Quran, 1897 Essays on Islam, 1901 Islam: its Rise and Progress, 1907 The Religious Orders of Islam, 1908 The Khulafar-Rashidun, 1909 The Cult of Ali, 1909 The Battles of Badr and Uhud, 1909 Al-Quran, 1909 Sufiism, 1910 The Druses, 1910 Ghazwas and Sariyas, 1911 The Hanífs, 1912 Outlines of Islám, 1912 The Life of Muhammad, 1913 The Historical Development of the Quran Manʹaziruʹl-qawaʹid; a Persian grammar, with chapters on rhetoric and prosody, 1911. Baháism, 1912 Muslims in China, 1913 Steadfast and Abounding, 1914 Muslim Conquests in North Africa, 1914 Muslim Conquests in Spain, 1914 The Mamluks in Egypt, 1914 The Umayyad and the ʻAbbasid Khalifates, 1914 The Ottoman Turks, 1915 The Minor Prophets, 1922 The Songs of the Outlaw and Other Songs, Being an Exposition of Some Historical Psalms, 1922 Daniel, 1923 After Malachi, 1923 The Making of a Nation (Judges),1923 Isaiah (I-XXXIX), 1923 The Life and Times of Jeremiah, 1923 Ithna ʻAsharíyya, or, The Twelve Shiʻah Imams, 1923 The Megilloth, 1924 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, 1924 Deuteronomy, 1924 The Book of Job, 1924 The Kingdom of Israel, 1925 The Book of Genesis, 1925 Exodus and Numbers, 1925 Leviticus, 1925 The Apocalypses, 1925 The Kingdom of Judah, 1926 The Undivided Kingdom, 1926 The Samaritan and Other Jewish Sects, 1927 A Guide to the Study of the Canon of the Old and New Testaments, 1927 The Talmud, Mishnah, and Midrash, 1928 Studies in Islam, 1928 Islam in Spain, 1929 The Áyyub and Mamluk Sultans, 1929 Messianic Hope, 1929 Inspiration, 1930 The Exile, 1931 Covenants: The Day of the Lord, 1931 The Glorious Company of the Apostles and Other Sermons, n.d.