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Thousands Attend Mohamed Ali Funeral in Jerusalem: Police Round Up Communists As Precaution Against

January 24, 1931
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The Funeral of Mohamed Ali, the famous Indian Moslem leader, who died recently in London, and was brought hers for burial in the Mosque of Omar, took place to-day without incident.

There had been fears that agitators might utilise the presence of so many people in Jerusalem for the funeral to stir up trouble, and last night, the police as a precautionary measure rounded up the Communists here and made 26 arrests.

It was a brilliant day, and over 5,000 people had gathered in the neighbourhood of the station to await the arrival of the body. Colonel Mavrogadoti, the chief of Police, headed the procession to the Mosque of Omar. Thousands of people followed in the procession and thousands more lined the streets and crowded on the roofs of the houses along the route. Portraits of Mohamed Ali in native dress were on sale everywhere.

The tomb is situated in a fifteenth century chamber to the north of the Wailing Wall, at some distance from it, a proposal which had been made to use a chamber directly overlooking the Wailing Wall being vetoed. None of the Jews invited to the funeral attended, and there were very few Christians present.

The Jewish Agency sent a message of sympathy to Shaukat All, Mohamed All’s brother and colleague in the leadership of the Indian Moslems (they were always spoken of together as the Ali brothers), expressing its sincere condolences with the family, and with the Moslems throughout the world on the grievous less they have sustained in Mohamed All’s death. We wish to extend our respectful sympathy to the co-religionists of the dead leader, the message said.

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