Shah Jahan Mosque, Woking
The Shah Jahan Mosque (also known as Woking Mosque) is the oldest mosque in the United Kingdom and is located in Woking, 50 km south-west of London in Oriental Road.
- 2.1 founding
- 2.2 Working
- 2.3 end
History
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 in the Indo- Saracen style by order of Sultan Shah Jahan Begum ( 1838-1901 ), and has since been built by a foundation ( waqf ) entertained. Shah Jahan was one of several Muslim rulers of the princely state of Bhopal who ruled this 1819-1926.
Shah Jahan donated considerable sums of money for the construction of the mosque in Woking. In addition, they also contributed to the establishment of Muhammadan Anglo - Oriental College at Aligarh, which is now integrated into the Aligarh Muslim University.
A drawing of the architect WI Chambers of Woking Mosque was published shortly before the completion of the mosque on August 2, 1889 "The Building News and Engineering Journal". In October or November 1889, the mosque was opened to the public.
Use
In the period 1900-1912, the mosque was hardly used. 1913 Leitner's son wanted to sell the mosque to a city planner. Since the just -arrived in England Indian lawyer Khwaja Kamal ud- Din made the decision to use the mosque to establish a mission. He complained to the argument that a mosque the same rights and status as a church would be entitled and won in court. So he could take over the Mosque for a formal sum of money by the previous owner.
Imams of the mosque were among others Khwaja Kamal ud- Din, Maulana Sadr ud- Din, Maulana Abdul Majid, HE Shaikh Hafiz Wahba, Mr. Marmaduke Pickthall, Maulana Muhammad Yakub Khan, Mr. William Pickard Bashyr, Maulana Mustafa Khan, Khwaja Nazir Ahmad, Maulana Aftab -ud -Din Ahmad, Sheikh Nasir Ahmad, Maulana Muhammad Yahya Butt, Mr. Iqbal Ahmad, Mr. Ghulam Rabbani Khan, Maulana Sheikh Muhammad Tufail.
Current Imam of the mosque is the Mufti Liaquat Ali Amod.
Woking Muslim Mission
Foundation
The mission station was founded in 1913 by Khwaja Kamal ud- Din, who was from late 1912 until August 1914 on behalf of Noor ud- Din in England. After the division of the Ahmadiyya movement in 1914 Khwaja Kamal ud- Din remained connected to the Lahore branch. The Ahmadiyya Anjuman -i -Islam Lahore Ischat ( AAIIL ) presented in Woking Imam Shah Jahan Mosque to about 1964. Until the mid- 1960s, the Woking Mosque and the mission station was the center of Islam in England. Since then, the mosque of Sunni Muslims is used.
Work
Khwaja Kamal ud- Din began its work by organizing the Friday prayer for the Muslim students in London. As of February 1913, he published the monthly journal The Islamic Review, which remained the most important Islamic journal in the Western world for 55 years.
During the Islamic festival of sacrifice gathered in the Woking Mosque Muslims of all nations. Woking was in those days. Due to the multi-national spectacle in its diversity into a kind of Mecca miniature in the West
People in England who converted to Islam did so until the 1960s, usually in the Woking Muslim Mission. In 1924 the Muslim population of England was estimated at 10 000, of whom 1,000 converts.
End
The mission worked under several imams who were sent from Lahore from the AAIIL. The end became apparent when migrated since the 1960s Muslim workforce in large numbers from Pakistan to England. A short time later also limited religious leaders arrived, which made its influence felt. They could not run by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission tolerate and immediately launched a campaign " Ahmadi Kafir " ( German: Ahmadis are infidels ); successfully they took over the mosque and joined the mission station.
As long as the Muslims in England consisted of professionally trained people as well as from British converts to Islam, it was accepted that Lahore Ahmadiyya initiated the mission station, and taught their faith. However, as a small-time mullahs from Pakistan arrived in England, missionary work was brought to a standstill.
Some Muslims who wrote short histories of Islam in England in recent times, the Woking Muslim Mission not mention, even though it represented the center of Islam in England for over 50 years. On the current Web page of the mosque is used in relation to the mission ( " Within a few years, through the work of Kamal -ud -Din and his Muslim Mission Islam had established a definite foothold within England ...") no indication of the AAIIL.
Islam - Our Choice
1961 brought the Woking Muslim Mission, the book " Islam - Our Choice ", which contained many reports of converts to Islam who illustrated their way to Islam. Most of these reports, the Islamic Revue were taken. Today circulates an edition of this book, which was censored by other Muslim writers, by all mentions of the Woking Mission and the name of Khwaja Kamal ud- Din and the many other Lahore Ahmadiyya missionaries were removed.