William Henry Temple Gairdner

[1] While in Cairo he partnered with his friend Douglas M. Thornton to reach educated Muslims with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This dynamic duo held many lectures in their home, Beit Arabi Pasha, and wrote a weekly magazine, Orient and Occident.

He showed much promise to contribute greatly in theological and scholarly circles of Islam but instead chose to serve the local church in Cairo.

[2] His father served as a professor of medicine at Glasgow University and bestowed upon young Gairdner his passions for music, science, and philosophy.

Gairdner remained on the fringe of this group until March 1893 "Where he experienced the overwhelming ‘embrace of Christ’, and responded in faith.

In 1910 after serving eleven years with the Church Missionary Society in Cairo, Egypt, Gairdner was granted a one-year leave of absence to study Arabic and Islam.

At this point Gairdner was ordained and the Church Missionary Society (CMS) sent him to Cairo with his beloved friend, Douglas Thornton.

[7] Upon his return to Cairo after his year of absence to study Arabic and Islam during 1910-11, Gairdner found himself in a much different role than he had before.

[4] Some of his last endeavours before his death in 1928 include his speaking on "Brotherhood, Islam’s or Christ’s" at a Scottish Missionary Conference in 1922 as well as the composition of several literary works.

[4] For a more complete bibliography, see Lyle L. Vander Werff, Christian Mission to Muslims, the Record: Anglican and Reformed Approaches in India and the Near East, 1800–1938 (South Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 1977), 279–282; and Constance E. Padwick, Temple Gairdner of Cairo (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1929), 327–330.