The Shah Jahan Mosque is the first purpose-built mosque

Mosque

A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...

 in Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 built 1889 in Woking

Woking

Woking is a large town and civil parish that shares its name with the surrounding local government district, located in the west of Surrey, UK. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and the London commuter belt, with frequent trains and a journey time of 24 minutes to Waterloo station....

, 30 miles south-west of London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in Oriental Road.

Construction

The Shah Jahan Mosque was built in 1889 as one of the first mosques in Western Europe by the Orientalist Dr Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner

Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner

Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner or Gottlieb William Leitner M.A.,Ph.D.,L.L.D.,D.O.L. was an Anglo-Hungarian orientalist.-Early life and education:...

 in Bath and Bargate stone in indo-saracenic style commissioned by Shah Jahan

Sultan Shah Jahan, Begum of Bhopal

Sultan Shahjahan Begum GCSI CI KIH was the Begum of Bhopal for two times: 1844–60, and secondly during 1868–1901....

, Begum

Begum of Bhopal

The Nawabs of Bhopal were the Muslim rulers of the princely state of Bhopal, now part of the modern state of Madhya Pradesh, in India. The last Nawab was Hamidullah Khan, who acceded his state to India in 1947....

 of Bhopal (1868–1901), and maintained since then as a Waqf

Waqf

A waqf also spelled wakf formally known as wakf-alal-aulad is an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law, typically denoting a building or plot of land for Muslim religious or charitable purposes. The donated assets are held by a charitable trust...

.

Shah Jahan Begum made sizable donations towards the building of the mosque and also contributed generously towards the founding of the “Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College” at Aligarh, which developed into the Aligarh Muslim University

Aligarh Muslim University

Aligarh Muslim University ,is a residential academic university, established in 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan as Mohammedan Angelo-Oriental College and later granted the status of Central University by an Act of the Indian Parliament in 1920...

.

A drawing of the Woking Mosque by the architect W. I. Chambers was published in The Building News and Engineering Journal, dated 2 August 1889, shortly before the Mosque was completed. It was opened to the public in October or November, 1889.

Ahmadiyya period

The mosque fell into disuse briefly between 1900 and 1912. 1913 Leitner's son was on the point of selling the mosque to a developer.
The Indian lawyer Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din

Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din

Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din , a lawyer by profession, was a member of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement and the author of numerous publications about Islam and the Ahmadiyya movement.- Life :...

, who had just arrived in England, was instructed by Noor-ud-Din the first successor of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad

Mīrzā Ghulām Aḥmad was a religious figure from India and the founder of the Ahmadiyya Community. He claimed to be the Mujaddid of the 14th Islamic century, the promised Messiah , and the Mahdi awaited by the Muslims in the end days...

, founder of the Ahmadiyya

Ahmadiyya

Ahmadiyya is an Islamic religious revivalist movement founded in India near the end of the 19th century, originating with the life and teachings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad , who claimed to have fulfilled the prophecies about the world reformer of the end times, who was to herald the Eschaton as...

 movement to establish an Islamic mission in the mosque.
Khwaja took the case to court arguing that the mosque was consecrated ground and enjoyed the same rights and status as a church. He won and as a result was able to purchase the mosque and its grounds for a nominal sum from the inheritor. The Woking Muslim Mission

Woking Muslim Mission

The Woking Muslim Mission was founded in 1913 by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din at the Mosque in Woking, 30 miles southwest of London and was managed by members of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement . It was run by Lahore Ahmadiyya missionaries until the mid-1960s.- Woking Mosque :The Woking Mosque was built by...

 was established.

Imams of the mosque include:
Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, Maulana Sadr-ud-Din, Maulana Abdul Majid, H. E. Shaikh Hafiz Wahba, Mr. Marmaduke Pickthall

Marmaduke Pickthall

Marmaduke Pickthall was a Western Islamic scholar, noted as an English translator of the Qur'an into English. A convert from Christianity, Pickthall was a novelist, esteemed by D. H. Lawrence, H. G. Wells, and E. M. Forster, as well as a journalist, headmaster, and political and religious leader...

, Maulana Muhammad Yakub Khan, Mr. William Bashyr Pickard, Maulana Mustafa Khan, Khwaja Nazir Ahmad, Maulana Aftab-ud-Din Ahmad, S. M. Abdullah, Maulana Muhammad Yahya Butt, Mr. Iqbal Ahmad, Mr. Ghulam Rabbani Khan, Maulana Sheikh Muhammad Tufail.

Today

Head Imam of the mosque is Hafiz Muhammad Saeed Hashmi (MA Political Science, MA Islamic and Arabic Studies). It is a Grade II* listed building.

See also

• 2 Glynrhondda Street
  2 Glynrhondda Street
  2 Glynrhondda Street in Cathays, Cardiff is accepted as the first mosque in the United Kingdom.The masjid was founded by Yemeni and Somali sailors on their trips between Aden and Cardiff Docks, and recorded by the Register of Religious Sites , as a registered place of worship from 1860.It is still...
  
   in Cathays, Cardiff was the first registered mosque in the UK in 1860
• Woking Muslim Mission
  Woking Muslim Mission
  The Woking Muslim Mission was founded in 1913 by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din at the Mosque in Woking, 30 miles southwest of London and was managed by members of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement . It was run by Lahore Ahmadiyya missionaries until the mid-1960s.- Woking Mosque :The Woking Mosque was built by...
  
  
• Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din
  Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din
  Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din , a lawyer by profession, was a member of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement and the author of numerous publications about Islam and the Ahmadiyya movement.- Life :...
  
  
• Muslim Burial Ground, Horsell Common
  Muslim Burial Ground, Horsell Common
  The Muslim Burial Ground, Horsell Common was the original resting place of two dozen Muslim soldiers who died during World War I and World War II. It measures about by 30 metres and is located at in the southeast corner of Horsell Common about 100 metres off Monument Road...
  
  

External links

• Website: Shah Jahan Mosque
• AAIIL: Woking Mosque and the Woking Muslim Mission
• BBC: Forty Eight Hours – Tour: Woking Mosque (Photo of the Mosque in the 1900s)
• British Muslim Heritage – London’s Mosques