Harry St John Bridger Philby, CIE , also known as Jack Philby or Sheikh Abdullah , was a British Arabist, adviser, explorer, writer, and colonial office intelligence officer. As he states in his autobiography, he became something of a fanatic and in 1908 the first Socialist to join the Indian Civil Service. After studying Oriental languages at the University of Cambridge, he was posted to Lahore in the Punjab in 1908, acquiring fluency in Urdu, Punjabi, Baluchi, Persian, and eventually Arabic. He converted to Islam in 1930, and later became an adviser to Ibn Saud, urging him to become King of the whole of Arabia, and helping him to negotiate with the U...
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