his constant travelling between india and britain took its toll on his marriage and his wife teresa mary shalders was unfaithful to him and gave birth to an illegitimate child in 1910, causing him to divorce her in 1912 and gaining custody of their four children, whom he left with a governess in england. however, his children rejected him and on future visits to london during the 1920s and 1930s he stayed at the national liberal club. in 1914 ali resigned from the ics and settled in britain where he became a trustee of the shah jehan mosque in woking and in 1921 became a trustee of the fund to build the east london mosque. with the outbreak of world war i, unlike many muslims in britain who felt uncomfortable with supporting the british war effort against fellow muslims of the ottoman empire, ali was an enthusiastic supporter of the indian contribution to the war effort, to that end writing articles, giving public speeches and undertaking a lecture tour of scandinavia and was awarded a cbe in 1917 for his services to that cause. in the same year he joined the staff of the school of oriental studies as a lecturer in hindustani.