Shah Jahan Mosque, Woking

Shah Jahan Mosque
Basic information
Location Oriental Road, Woking, England
Geographic coordinates 51°19′18.5″N 0°32′51″W / 51.321806°N 0.54750°W / 51.321806; -0.54750Coordinates: 51°19′18.5″N 0°32′51″W / 51.321806°N 0.54750°W / 51.321806; -0.54750
Affiliation Sunni Islam
Website shahjahanmosque.org.uk
Architectural description
Architect(s) W. I. Chambers
Architectural type Mosque
Architectural style Indo-Saracenic Revival
Completed 1889 (1889)
Specifications
Dome(s) 1
Minaret(s) 0 (2 miniature)

The Shah Jahan Mosque (also known as Woking Mosque) in Oriental Road, Woking, England, is the first purpose-built mosque in the United Kingdom. Built in 1889, it is located 30 miles (50 km) southwest of London.

Construction

The dome of Shah Jahan in 1945
Drawing by W. I. Chambers, in The Building News and Engineering Journal, 2 August 1889

The Shah Jahan Mosque was built in 1889 as one of the first mosques in Western Europe by Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner.[1] It is built in Bath and Bargate stone in Indo-Saracenic Revival style commissioned by Shah Jahan, Begum of Bhopal (1868–1901), and maintained since then as a Waqf.

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.

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.[2] It was opened to the public in October or November, 1889.[1]

Ahmadiyya period

The mosque fell into disuse briefly between 1900 and 1912. And in 1913, Leitner's son was on the point of selling the mosque to a developer. The Indian lawyer Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, who had just arrived in England, was instructed by Noor-ud-Din, the first successor of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and founder of the Ahmadiyya movement, to establish an Islamic mission in the mosque.[3] 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.[4][5] The Woking Muslim Mission was thus established.

Imams of the mosque include: Kamal-ud-Din, Sadr-ud-Din, Abdul Majid, Shaikh Hafiz Wahba, Marmaduke Pickthall, Muhammad Yakub Khan, William Bashyr Pickard, Mustafa Khan, Nazir Ahmad, Aftab-ud-Din Ahmad, S. M. Abdullah, Muhammad Yahya Butt, Iqbal Ahmad, Ghulam Rabbani Khan, Sheikh Muhammad Tufail.[6]

Sunni mosque, 1968 onwards

In 1968 the Mosque broke ties with the Ahmadiyya movement and returned to being a Sunni mosque.[7] Current Head Imam of the mosque is Muhammad Saeed Hashmi.[8] It is a Grade II* listed building.

The mosque remained under the influence of Ahmadiyyah movement till November 1968. The last Imam as their employee was Hafiz Bashir Ahmed Misri successor of Sheikh Tufail Ahmad. The struggle to its conversion to Sunni Muslims started in January 1968 by setting a Woking Mosque Regeneration Committee ,comprising Khalid Hussain Qamar (Woking), Moulana Habibur Rehman UK Islamic Mission ( Manchester), Allama Khalid Mehmood (executive director Manchester Mosque), Editor of Faran Magezine (Leicester), and Gondal( Reading). The committee wished to see High Commissioner of Pakistan , who was officially President of Registered Trust responsible for affairs of the Mosque, but all in vain for nine months. The state of the Mosque was miserable as there was no place for abolution, or taharat. There were no five times prayer established in the Mosque. Only on Sundays the Imam use to deliver a sermon to non Muslim visitors over a cup of tea. The Islamic Review magazine was regularly published from Shah Jehan Mosque as the only Muslim Organ under Editorship of Moulana Majeed Ahmad and Imam Hafiz BASHIR Ahmad Misri. Khalid Hussain Qamar started Quran Nazira lessons to 80 children of Sunni Muslims of Woking voluntarily with kind permission of the Imam in January 1968. That continued till November 1968. Because of this permission the Ahmadiyyah Movement terminated Hafiz Bashir Ahmed as Imam. Hafiz BASHIR Ahmad Misry , while leaving for Uganda authorised Khalid Hussain Qamar for arranging Traveeh Prayer during Ramadan first time ever in the history of the Mosque. Khalid Hussain Qamar (Woking), Chaudhary BASHIR Ahmad(Woking), and Raja Muhammad Asghar (Woking) availed this opportunity to install a new Imam for leading Traveeh Prayer while Hafiz BASHIR Ahmed Misri moved to Uganda as terminated Imam. Forceful capture of Mosque's Residence and Mosque itself for prayers during Ramadan 1968 was beginning of Sunni Era of usage of the Mosque. That reached as blowing news to staff of Pakistan High Commissioner. Col Nazir Ahmed Dence Attachee and Haroon High Commissioner shown their concern about this possession. After one week of consistent request of the High Commissioner, Khalid Hussain Qamar along with local Muslims asked Col Nazir to visit them in the Mosque to resolve the issue. Woking Muslims presented the case that Mosque is to be natural worshipping place for local Muslims and therefore should be run along the wishes of local Muslims. Col Nazir agreed and requested the audience, let the High Commissioner offer them list of possible next Imams for their choice and High Commissioner could restore the official responsibility. So the First ever Sunni Imam (an employee of High Commissioner) Khawaja Qamar-Ud-Din took the charge as First Sunni Imam in December 1968. Since then the Mosque is in possession of Sunni Muslims.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Dr Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner (1840–1899), builder of the Shah Jehan Mosque, and founder of the Oriental Institute.
  2. ↑ Woking Mosque architect’s drawing, 1889
  3. ↑ Siobhan Lambert-Hurley Muslim Women, Reform and Princely Patronage: Nawab Sultan Jahan ... 2007 — Page 57 ... the aforementioned Khwaja Kamaluddin, to resuscitate the neglected mosque patronized by her mother at Woking, Surrey, just outside London, and establish the Woking Muslim Mission of which she was the primary benefactor – making ..."
  4. ↑ History of the Mosque, page 2, viewed at July 15th, 2008
  5. ↑ British Muslim Heritage – London’s Mosques
  6. ↑ Remembering 50 years ago (The Light & Islamic Review, Volume 72, No. 3, May–June 1995, pages 10–13);
    Dr. S. M. Abdullah, Imam of the Woking Mosque;
    Eid Sermons at the Shah Jehan Mosque;
    Biography of Iqbal Ahmad Sahib
  7. ↑ C. T. R. Hewer Understanding Islam: The First Ten Steps 2006 – page 190 "But in 1935, it broke all ties to the Ahmadiyya movement and returned to being a Sunni mosque. It became the custom at Woking to rotate the imams for Friday Prayers between the different schools of law so that all groups could be kept ...
  8. ↑ Shah Jahan Mosque: The Imam
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