prayer

Islamic Review

About: 

The Islamic Review was the organ of the Shah Jahan Mosque at Woking. It was inaugurated in 1913 by the then Imam of the mosque, Khwaja Kamaluddin, and ran until 1967. During its lifespan, the periodical had a series of editors who often also preached at the mosque or served as Imam there for a period of time. It had numerous regular contributors. It was widely distributed, free of charge.

There is much emphasis in the periodical on the misrepresentation of Islam in the British press and misconceptions about Islam on the part of the British people. Indeed, a key aim of the journal seems to be to challenge these by articulating the similarities between Islam and Christianity and the compatibility of Islam with British life. The journal suggests a progressive approach to Islam on the part of the mosque, with an emphasis on inter-faith dialogue and rational argument. Numerous pieces explain and defend Islam’s view on women, often in response to articles in the British press representing Muslim culture as polygamous and Muslim women as oppressed, as well as the religion’s attitude towards alcohol, fasting and prayer, for example. The similarity of their concerns to the concerns of British Muslims now is striking. The journal also includes several testimonials by English converts to Islam including Lord Headley whose conversion triggered numerous articles in the press. Further content includes articles on the celebration of Eid at the Woking mosque, as well as sermons and photographs, and reviews of books about Islam.

Example: 

Ahmed, K. S., ‘Islam in England’, Islamic Review 25.2 (February 1937), pp. 42-4

Other names: 

The Islamic Review and Muslim India

Secondary works: 

Ahmad, Nasir, Eid Sermons at the Shah Jehan Mosque, Woking, England, 1931-1940 (Lahore, Aftab-ud-Din Memorial Benevolent Trust, 2002)

Ally, M. M., ‘History of Muslims in Britain, 1850-1980’, unpublished MA dissertation (University of Birmingham, 1981)

Ansari, Humayun, ‘The Infidel Within’: Muslims in Britain since 1800 (London: Hurst, 2004)

Salamat, Muslim P., A Miracle at Woking: A History of the Shahjahan Mosque (London: Phillimore, 2008)

Content: 

This article describes the celebration of the Eid festival at the Shah Jahan Mosque at Woking. It is accompanied by photographs.

Date began: 
01 Jan 1913
Extract: 

As usual, nearly every member of the Muslim community in England had been informed several days beforehand of the Eid day. This enabled Muslims from different parts of the British Isles, representing various classes, races and countries, to congregate at the Mosque at Woking on this auspicious occasion.

Here in England, during the previous four weeks, we had been passing through a period of most uncertain weather and, on the eve of the Eid, rain fell in torrents continuing far into the night. However, as the darkness of the night gave place to the first rosy streaks of the dawn, the sun, for the first time for a full month, shone brightly and clearly in the azure sky.

This was indeed a happy sign, although admirable arrangements had been made for the comfort of the guests, to enable them to be independent, to a certain extent, of the English climate.

Special trains from London soon began to bring the devotees, many picturesquely and colourfully dressed, to their destination, and the Faithful began to assemble in groups on the rich carpets spread in the large electrically-lit and well-heated Marquee on the lawn of the Mosque grounds.

Here were Fezes in shades of red, top-hats, soft hats, turbans, caps and astrakhan hats, gorgeously covered robes and graceful saris, lounge suits, frock-coats and even ‘plus fours.’ Here were English Muslim ladies and gentlemen from different counties of the British Isles, representatives from Turkey, Iran, Russia, Nigeria, Egypt and India. Here were they all, rich and poor, ready to unite in prayer to Allah, and to prostrate themselves as one before the Almighty, testifying to that vast and all-embracing spirit of brotherhood which is Islam’s unique and peculiar gift to mankind.

It was indeed a demonstration of the common fraternity of mankind, unique in this land where not only political and social differences but also religious and sectarian schisms are rife.

Precise date began unknown: 
Y
Key Individuals' Details: 

Editors: Aftab-ud-Din Ahmad, Khwaja Nazir Ahmed, Khwaja Kamaluddin, Muhammad Yakub Khan, Abdul Majid, Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall.

Relevance: 

This extract emphasizes the commitment of Muslims to practising their faith in Britain as early as the 1930s, and probably before then. By describing Eid celebrations in the context of rainy English weather, the passage locates Islam firmly within Britain. The description of bright coloured clothing adorning the grounds of the mosque further suggests the ways in which this minority religion transformed the geography of a small Surrey town. The passage conveys a sense of the mosque as a focal point for Muslims in Britain, where divisions of ‘race’, class and nationality are transgressed through faith.

Connections: 

Contributors: Aftab-ud-Din Ahmad, K. S. Ahmed, Saiyed Maqbool Ahmed, Begum Sultan Mir Amir-ud-Din, W. B. Bashyr-Pickard, Abdul Karim, Edith M. Chase, Maryam A. Ghani, M. Fathulla Khan, M. Wali Khan, Mushir Hosain Kidwai, B. M. K. Lodi, N. C. Mehta, Syed Muzaffar-ud-Din Nadvi, R. S. Nehra, Khalid Sheldrake, M. Z. Siddiqi, C. A. Soorma, T. L. Vaswani, A. C. A. Wadood, H. G. Wells, Kenneth Williams.

Date ended: 
01 Jan 1967
Archive source: 

Islamic Review, SV 503, British Library, St Pancras

Precise date ended unknown: 
Y

Location

149 Oriental Road
Woking, GU22 7AN
United Kingdom

The Shah Jahan Mosque, Woking

About: 

The Shah Jahan Mosque at Woking was Britain’s first purpose-built mosque. It was established in 1889 by the Jewish ex-Registrar of the University of Punjab, Gottlieb Leitner, with financial backing from the Begum Shah Jahan of Bhopal. It fell into disuse after Leitner’s death in 1899, but was later resurrected by the Indian lawyer Khwaja Kamuluddin, who established the Woking Muslim Mission in 1912.

The mosque flourished under Kamuluddin’s management and became a hub for Muslims who lived in and visited England. In 1913, Kamuluddin established the mosque’s organ, the Islamic Review, which provides a sense of the mosque and its mission’s activities and approach to Islam. Regular Eid celebrations were held at the Shah Jahan, and Muslim dignitaries from all over the world visited the mosque when in Britain. Photographs printed in the Islamic Review as well as accounts demonstrate the eclecticism of the congregation, which included women and men of a range of nationalities, while articles on numerous subjects suggest the mosque advocated a tolerant and non-sectarian brand of Islam, and sought to accommodate itself to its British context and represent Islam to the British public as compatible with and relevant to their lives. Its success in this respect is suggested by the string of conversions depicted in the Islamic Review. These include some elite British figures such as Lord Headley. Indeed, worshippers were largely from a professional middle-class background, and the mosque retained friendly links with the British establishment, despite its highly controversial allegiance to Turkey and the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.

The Shah Jahan had numerous Imams over the years, as well as frequently hosting visiting preachers. A cemetery nearby on Horsell Common provided burials for Muslims, especially for Muslim soldiers who were killed in the World Wars. After the Second World War, the Shah Jahan lost some of its influence, and other mosques were established, such as the East London Mosque and later the Central London Mosque in Regent’s Park. The mosque remains an active place of worship today.

Published works: 

Islamic Review

Example: 

‘Woking – Arrangements with Imam of Mosque at-’, Mss Eur F 143/80, Asian and African Studies Reading Room, British Library, St Pancras, pp. 11-12

Other names: 

Shah Jehan Mosque

Woking Mosque

Woking Mosque and Muslim Mission

Secondary works: 

Ahmad, Nasir, Eid Sermons at the Shah Jehan Mosque, Woking, England, 1931-1940 (Lahore: Aftab-ud-Din Memorial Benevolent Trust, 2002)

Ally, M. M., ‘History of Muslims in Britain, 1850-1980’ (unpublished MA dissertation, University of Birmingham, 1981)

Ansari, Humayun, ‘The Infidel Within’: Muslims in Britain since 1800 (London: Hurst, 2004)

Salamat, Muslim P., A Miracle at Woking: A History of the Shahjahan Mosque

Content: 

This is taken from a statement by Sadr-Ud-Din, Imam of the Woking Mosque, dated 27 August 1915, which was received by the India Office through Sir Walter Lawrence, Commissioner of the Indian Hospitals. In the statement, the Imam complains about the state of the burial ground at Woking and the manner in which the British Government treats dead soldiers. Much of this is disputed in correspondence by government officials and commanding officers at the Indian hospitals (in Brighton, Bournemouth, Brockenhurst) who claim that the Imam is ‘out for mischief’ and a difficult man.

Date began: 
01 Jan 1889
Extract: 

At first the Government blankly refused to do anything, and many months went past. I could not bury the dead soldiers in the marshy piece of unfenced ground over which people and dogs could stray: therefore I buried twenty-five of them in the Mahommedan burial ground at Brockwood at my own expense. This is now full, and I have already buried three in the new burial-place but, though it is fenced in, it is in such a disgraceful state that it would not be policy to allow the Indian soldiers to go and see the burial-place of their comrades. They have frequently asked, but I have had to put them off because – being a loyal subject of His Majesty – I did not desire to raise the resentment which must inevitably be felt when the truth becomes known of the manner in which the British Government have treated their dead heroes.

I have had bodies sent to me bearing the wrong names: bodies sent without any flowers: bodies sent to me at any hour of the day or night without previous notice, and no respect shown for them whatever – not even any military demonstration at their graves.

...

I desire to point out to the Government the very grave danger or allowing the impression to gain ground in India that England is not showing sufficient respect to the memories of her Indian heroes.

Precise date began unknown: 
Y
Key Individuals' Details: 

S. M. Abdullah (in charge of the mosque and mission from 1949), Aftab-ud-Din Ahmad (Imam and editor of Islamic Review), Khwaja Nazir Ahmed (Imam and manager/editor of Islamic Review), Syed Ameer Ali (chairman of the committee), Abdullah Yusuf Ali (involved in Woking Mission), Begum Shah Jahan of Bhopal (funded the original mosque), Khwaja Kamuluddin (established the Woking Muslim Mission and first Imam), Muhammad Yakub Khan (Imam and editor of Islamic Review), Mustafa Khan (Imam and editor of Islamic Review), Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner (established the original mosque), Abdul Majid (Imam), Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall (edited Islamic Review, preached at the mosque), Sadr-ud-Din (Imam), Hafiz Shaikh Wahba (preached at the mosque).

Relevance: 

While the Imam’s complaints suggest the treatment of Indian Muslim soldiers as second-class British citizens, despite their sacrifice of life for ‘King and Country’, the assertive nature of his requests also implies a justified sense of entitlement on the part of South Asian Muslims in Britain to the right to have their most fundamental cultural and religious needs met by the British Government. The Imam’s declaration of his loyalty to the King points to his (and potentially other Muslims’) desire to accommodate his faith to Britishness.

Connections: 

Lord Headley (convert, worshipped there), Mohammed Ali Jinnah (attended Eid congregations), Abdul Karim (worshipped there), Syedi Mohamedi (trustee), Firoz Khan Noon (attended Eid congregations), William Bashyr Pickard (convert, worshipped there), Khalid Sheldrake, Hassan Suhrawardy (attended Eid congregations).

Archive source: 

Islamic Review, SV 503, British Library, St Pancras

‘Woking – Arrangements with Imam of Mosque at-’, Mss Eur F 143/80, Asian and African Studies Reading Room, British Library, St Pancras

Location

149 Oriental Road
Woking, GU22 7AN
United Kingdom
Involved in events details: 

Eid celebrations

Second World War (burial of Indian Muslim soldiers at Brockwood Cemetery then Horsell Common)

Liverpool Mosque and Muslim Institute

About: 

The Liverpool Mosque and Muslim Institute of Brougham Terrace was officially established in 1891. Prior to this, however, from as early as 1887, its founder William Quilliam, an English convert to Islam, led a small congregation of Muslims in premises on Mount Vernon Street. The Institute expanded rapidly, encompassing, by the mid-1890s, a madrassa, a library, a printing press, a museum, schools for boys and girls, a hostel and a literary society, as well as the mosque itself, enabling Muslims not just to worship but to conduct their daily lives according to the requirements of their faith.

Quilliam was keen for the mosque to be integrated into Britain and to engage with the British public – no doubt in part in an attempt to fulfil his aim of converting the British nation to Islam. Its orphanage, the Medina Home for Children, was open to children of any faith (who would then be brought up as Muslims) and was established in response to the increase of illegitimate births in the city. Further, the Institute undertook social work beyond its congregation, within the local community. Quilliam encouraged open debate and dialogue about the mosque by writing articles in the local press, also founding and editing two journals, The Crescent and The Islamic World, both of which had an international circulation. According to Ansari, Quilliam ‘was attempting to found an indigenous tradition that would be able to connect with the religious practices of potential converts and so create a sense of receptive familiarity’ (p. 125). Perhaps as a result of this, his congregation, dominated by middle-class converts, grew, with an estimated 600 conversions taking place over twenty years. While the majority of worshippers were English converts, there is evidence that some South Asians resident in Liverpool also attended the mosque. 

Published works: 

The Crescent (1893–1908) [journal of the LMI]

The Islamic World [journal of the LMI]

Example: 

Liverpool Review, 28 November 1891, p. 14

Secondary works: 

Ansari, Humayun, ‘The Infidel Within’: Muslims in Britain since 1800 (London: Hurst, 2004)

Wolffe, John (ed.), Religion in Victorian Britain, Vol. V: Culture and Empire (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1997)

Content: 

This article was written in response to an article in the Liverpool Post and is critical of the latter for being too tolerant of the LMI’s activities. The article makes reference to an incident involving a crowd throwing fireworks and other missiles at the mosque. It defends this attack, arguing that its perpetrators had a right to feel alienated and antagonized by the presence of the incongruous presence of the mosque and its practices in an English city.

Date began: 
01 Jan 1891
Extract: 

[I]t is not the private and inoffensive worship of Mohammed that is objectionable, but the public advertisement of him. Travellers in the East expect to hear the 'Muezzin' call the faithful to their devotions, for there is nothing unusual or incongruous in the custom there, but the warning voice that fitly sounds from the midst of Eastern minarets and mosque towers is ridiculous from the balcony of a three-storey house in Brougham Terrace. Here it is most incongruous, unusual, silly and unwelcome, and the man who stands howling on a first floor balcony in such a fashion is certain to collect a ribald crowd, anxious to offer him a copper to go into the next street, or even ready to respond to his invitation with something more forcible than jeers. Such things cannot be done with impunity, for they may be expected to interfere with the ways and beliefs of the vast majority, more than one can expect a Catholic band to go scatheless through an Orange district, or an Orange band through a Catholic neighbourhood. It is all very well to preach that the law upholds what people have a right to do, but we are governed by custom as well as by law, and if prevailing customs are not sensibly respected, hard knocks are the inevitable consequence, and should arouse little sympathy.

Precise date began unknown: 
Y
Key Individuals' Details: 

Moulvie Barakat-Ullah (Imam of the LMI), William Quilliam (founder of the LMI).

Relevance: 

This extract is evidence of the hostile response by the press and British public to the practice of Islam in Liverpool. It highlights the dominance of cultural racism (as opposed to colour racism), even in this early period, and resonates with contemporary demands that religion should be confined to the private sphere – demands that entrench the exclusion and marginalization of minorities within the public domain. The extract also suggests the role of space as a site of struggle. It is interesting to contrast this with the positive response on the part of government officials to plans to build a London mosque in Regent’s Park, a central location where the mosque would be highly visible.

Locations

8 Brougham Terrace
Liverpool, L6 1AE
United Kingdom
Mount Vernon Street
Liverpool, L7 8
United Kingdom

East London Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre

About: 

In November 1910, a fund for a mosque in London was established. By 1926, a deed of trust was executed and the fund became known as the London Mosque Fund. Trustees included distinguished Muslims such as Syed Ameer Ali, Firoz Khan Noon and the Aga Khan, as well as sympathetic British peers. Until 1928, the trustees arranged for prayers to be held at various addresses in west London. Poor attendance and the eventual realization that the majority of Muslims in London lived in its East End led to the relocation of prayer meetings to the King’s Hall on Commercial Road in 1935. At this point, the trustees handed over the organization of prayer meetings and religious functions to the Jamiat-ul-Muslimin, an east London based organization.

The desirability of a mosque to meet the needs of the many seamen and other working-class Indians who inhabited the East End and attended these meetings was keenly felt, and in 1940 three adjoining houses on Commercial Road were purchased and converted into the East London Mosque. The mosque was inaugurated by the Egyptian Ambassador, Hassan Nachat Pasha, at a ceremony that took place on 1 August 1941. The ceremony was attended by approximately 300, including representatives from the Indian Company of the Pioneer Corps, and speeches were made by Sir Hassan Suhrawardy (Muslim Advisor to the Secretary of State for India), Sir Ernest Hotson (on behalf of the London Mosque Fund Trust), and Said Amir Shah and Ahmed Din Qureshi as officials of the Jamiat-ul-Muslimin.

Also located at the East London Mosque was the Indigent Moslems Burial Fund which raised money to provide for the burial of Muslims in Britain and the upkeep of their graves. The Islamic Cultural Centre, which was still in need of funds and at the planning stage in the mid-1940s, aimed to provide ‘secular education combined with facilities for vocational and technical training in an Islamiah Madrassah’.

Example: 

Extract from Metropolitan Police Report, 14 October 1943, L/PJ/12/468, India Office Records, Asian and African Studies Reading Room, British Library, St Pancras, pp. 269, 271

Secondary works: 

Visram, Rozina, Asians in Britain: 400 Years of History (London: Pluto, 2002)

Content: 

This Indian Political Intelligence file documents the activities of Muslims in Britain from the 1920s to the 1940s. It includes government reports and correspondence between key Muslim figures and British government officials relating in particular to the establishment of the East London Mosque and the Central Mosque (Regent's Park), and proposals for the establishment of the Nizamiah Mosque (West Kensington). It also includes a copy of the pamphlet produced for the inauguration of the mosque in 1941.

Date began: 
01 Aug 1941
Extract: 

The Jamiat…resolved to hold a public meeting at the Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, W.C.1 on 10th October 1943, at which the Executive Committee of the Jamiat decided to state its case…

This meeting was attended by about 400 persons, the majority of whom were Punjabi and Bengali Muslims…While there was no disorder there was an atmosphere of suppressed excitement and little encouragement would have been needed to inflame the passions of those present…

Khan…gave a history of the LONDON MOSQUE FUND, making it quite plain that it was only through the agitation of the JAMIAT that the East London Mosque came into being. When the Jamiat came into being in 1934, no effort had been made to build a mosque and it was only after repeated representations to individual Trustees by members of the JAMIAT that any move was made to implement the objects for which the LONDON MOSQUE FUND was raised.

Referring to the ISLAMIC CULTURE CENTRE, he said the JAMIAT had never favoured the financial support given by the British Council. Muslim institutions were not in need of donations from un-Islamic organisations as there was enough money among Muslims to endow a purely Islamic scheme.

Said Amir SHAH repeated, in Urdu, the history of the LONDON MOSQUE FUND, but he struck a personal note, and he implied that the India Office ran the affairs of the Mosque through its representatives, the Trustees. He did not consider the Muslim Trustees as good Muslims, declaring that they put the interests of the British Government before their duty to Islam. He mentioned the name of Sir Hassan Suhrawardy whom he alleged never came to the Mosque merely to pray – there was always a sinister motive for his casual visits.

Key Individuals' Details: 

Abdullah Yusuf Ali (trustee), Syed Ameer Ali (original member of the Board of Trustees for the London Mosque Fund), Waris Ameer Ali (trustee), Munshi Ghulam Mohammed Buta (Arab who led prayers at the mosque), Sir Ernest Hotson, The Aga Khan (President of the Board of Trustees), Sahibdad Khan (Secretary of the Jamiat-ul-Muslimin), Firoz Khan Noon (High Commissioner of India in England, 1936-41, and trustee), Hassan Nachat Pasha, Said Amir Shah (Treasurer of the Jamiat-ul-Muslimin), Hassan Suhrawardy (Muslim Advisor to Secretary of State for India, Chairman of the Board of Trustees).

Relevance: 

This is an extract from a police account of a meeting held by the Jamiat-ul-Muslimin, an organization integral to the inauguration and management of the East London Mosque, in protest at the notice served against them by the board of trustees as a result of a dispute regarding control of the mosque's affairs. Evident here is mobilization on the part of a group of working-class South Asian Muslims in Britain, suggesting a significant and perhaps surprising degree of agency on their part. Evident also in this dispute between members of the Jamiat (largely working class) and the Board of Trustees (largely elite and partly British) is a desire for cultural autonomy on the part of the Muslim protesters, as well as division and dissent along lines of class within the South Asian Muslim 'community' in London, which is in turn suggestive of the significant role played by class (as well as faith) in the experience and identity formation of South Asian migrants in Britain.

Connections: 

Ayub Ali (Treasurer of the East London branch of the India League, involved with Jamiat), Dr Mohammed Buksh (original President of the Jamiat), Allah Dad Khan (involved with Jamiat, Treasurer at some point), Ghulam Mohammed (Co-Secretary of the Jamiat), Ahmad Din Quereshi (silk merchant and Co-Secretary of the Jamiat).

Archive source: 

L/PJ/12/468, India Office Records, Asian and African Studies Reading Room, British Library, St Pancras

L/PJ/12/646, India Office Records, Asian and African Studies Reading Room, British Library, St Pancras

Locations

446-450 Commercial Road
London, E1 2NE
United Kingdom
46-92 Whitechapel Road
London, E1 1DN
United Kingdom
Involved in events details: 

Inauguration ceremony, 1 August 1941

Dispute between the Jamiat-ul-Muslimin and the trustees of the East London Mosque regarding the management of religious ceremonies and other duties, October 1943

Jamiat-ul-Muslimin

About: 

The Jamiat-ul-Muslimin, based at the East London Mosque, was a charitable society for the promotion of Islam, founded in 1934. It membership consisted predominantly of working-class lascars, peddlers and other workers who inhabited the East End of London. The Jamiat’s stated objectives were: ‘To serve the cause of Islam truly and practically by creating facilities for the observance of its Principles: to produce a weekly paper…to collect funds for a Mosque in the East End of London: to provide for the training and education of Muslims generally; to succour poor and needy Muslims: to promote social intercourse between resident Muslims and visitors to this country and generally to adopt all practical and legitimate means to work for the moral, intellectual and economic advancement of Muslims throughout the world’ (L/PJ/12/468). Thus, its objectives combined faith with the social and political. The organization first came to notice by government authorities in 1938 when it staged a protest against H. G. WellsA Short History of the World. The Jamiat organized a march to India House, Aldwych, where a deputation presented a petition to the High Commissioner for India, Firoz Khan Noon.

Before the establishment of the East London Mosque in 1941, the organization’s members would gather and worship at King’s Hall in Commercial Road. The Jamiat played a key role in the establishment, inauguration and management of the mosque. In 1943 they were involved in a dispute with the trustees of the mosque, claiming that they should have ultimate control over its management and affairs. There were also active branches of the Jamiat in Glasgow, Cardiff, Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham. 

Secondary works: 

Visram, Rozina, Asians in Britain: 400 Years of History (London: Pluto, 2002)

Date began: 
01 Jan 1934
Precise date began unknown: 
Y
Key Individuals' Details: 

Dr Mohammed Buksh (original president), Allah Dad Khan (salesman and original treasurer), Sahibdur Khan (secretary of the Jamiat), K. Z. Lazhesar, Ghulam Mohammed (silk merchant and co-secretary), Mr Nakitullah, Ahmad Din Quereshi (silk merchant original co-secretary), Fazal Shah (leading figure in Jamiat, president of Hindustan Social Club and brother of Said Amir Shah), Said Amir Shah (treasurer of the Jamiat), Laj Mohamed Shank.

Connections: 
Archive source: 

File IOR: L/PJ/12/468, African and Asian Studies Reading Room, British Library, St Pancras

File IOR: L/PJ/12/646, African and Asian Studies Reading Room, British Library, St Pancras

Locations

59 Canton Street Poplar
London, E14 6ES
United Kingdom
30 Church Lane Whitechapel
London, E1 7QR
United Kingdom
Involved in events details: 

Inauguration of the East London Mosque, 1 August 1941

Dispute with the trustees of the East London Mosque and bid for ultimate control over its management and affairs, October 1943

Subscribe to RSS - prayer