Shah Jahan Mosque

Today I went on a trip with the WI. We visited the mosque in Woking, which is the first purpose built mosque in England, built in 1889. It has a very mixed heritage, it was built by a Hungarian jew who was educated in a madrasah, and spoke 50 languages. It was funded by Begum Shah Jahan, who was Indian. The mosque fell into disuse in 1900, and was revitalised in 1912 by an Indian lawyer. Many of the early members were pillars of the local community. It remained the main centre for Islam in the UK until the mid 50’s. An interesting visit.