Newsreel film clips of events and functions at the Woking Mosque

During the history of the Woking Muslim Mission (from 1913 to the mid-1960s), several events at the Woking Mosque were filmed by newsreel film companies for inclusion in the cinema news broadcasts of those days. Film clips showing those events are now openly available on various websites, notably YouTube, having been published by the copyright owners.

May 2023: We have produced a video presentation on YouTube, containing several of the clips listed below with contextual information added by us. (This link is to the latest August 2024 version.)

British Pathe

The famous British Pathe newsreel company has most of the newsreel clips relating to the Woking Mission & Mosque.

In the first table below, we list below the clips we found in 2002 on the British Pathe website. In this list, the Film ID and Title of each clip, by which it is identified on British Pathe’s website, is provided.

In April 2014 British Pathe made all its newsreels available on YouTube. In th table below, the Title of each clip is a link to that clip on YouTube.

Film ID	Title	Year	Our comments
166.12	MOSLEMS END 30 DAY FAST	1954	With sound. The date of this Id-ul-Fitr was 3 June 1954.
426.01	THE BEGUM OF BHOPAL	1925	Silent. Visit of the Begum of Bhopal to the Woking Mosque. Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din shows her around the Mosque. Lord Headley also appears in the opening sequence. This Begum of Bhopal was Sultan Jehan, daughter and successor of Shah Jehan, Begum of Bhopal who had funded the construction of the Woking Mosque. See The Islamic Review, December 1925.
903.02	NEWS IN A NUTSHELL Subtitled: News in a Nutshell includes Muslims at a Mosque in Woking, ...	1936	Only first item on clip is about Woking. Sound of parts of prayers. Function would be Eid-ul-Fitr, Tuesday 15 December 1936. See The Islamic Review, February 1937.
703.14	THE FESTIVAL OF EID UL AZHA	1933	Sound of parts of prayers. This would be on Tuesday 6 April 1933. See The Islamic Review, July 1933.
891.25	EMPEROR HAILE SALASSIE	1936	Silent. Visit of Haille Selassie to Woking. The day would be 25 August 1936. See The Islamic Review, November-December 1936.
782.20	IN THE NAME OF ALLAH	1929	Silent. Eid-ul-Fitr.
488.08	FESTIVAL OF EID-UL-FITR	1926	Silent.
208.16	THE PROBLEM OF TURKEY	1920	Silent. Famous Indian political leader and orator Mohamed Ali addressing a meeting at Woking in support of the Turkish Khilafat cause. Abdullah Quilliam and Maulana Sadr-ud-Din are also on clip. For further details, see our Quilliam page.
214.28	FEAST OF RAMZAN	1920	Silent.
196.46	THE FEAST OF SACRIFICE AT WOKING MOSQUE	1919	Silent, short clip.
2894.05	ID AL-ADHA FESTIVAL AT WOKING	1958	Collection of silent cuts from Eid-el-Adha, 28 June 1958. Imam is Ghulam Rabbani Khan. A report of this gathering appeared in The Light, 8 July 1958. See report at this link.

In the April 2014 release of British Pathe newsreels on YouTube, we have found the following clips in addition.

Title	Our comments
Moslem Festival - Qurban Bairam (1914-1918)	Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din is seen in the opening shots. Lord Headley is in the background till 12 secs. From 28 secs Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din leads the Eid-ul-Adha prayers. From 54 secs he greets members of the congregation after the prayers. We think this is Eid-ul-Adha, 16 September 1918 (see The Islamic Review, October-November 1918).
Moslem Celebration (1910-1919)	From 17 secs onwards, the imam can be seen, who is Maulana Sadr-ud-Din. Hence the year is likely to be from late 1914 to 1916.
Islamic Ceremony In England AKA Moslem Ceremony (1914-1918)	From 33 secs onwards, the imam can be seen, who is Maulana Sadr-ud-Din, first addressing the congregation and later leading the prayers. Hence the year is likely to be from late 1914 to 1916.
Muslim Festival - Woking (1920-1929)	We think it is nearer to 1920 than 1929.
Out Takes and cuts from the Festival of Eid-ul-Fitr (1926)	The broadcast clip corresponding to these out-takes is in the first table above as FilmID 488.08.

British Movietone

Movietone was another well-known newsreel film company. Its archive on YouTube has the following three clips:

Film title	Year	Our comments
Moslem Festival at Woking	1930	Id-ul-Fitr prayers. Between 1 min 35 secs and 1 min 45 secs when worshippers are shown greeting each other after prayers, the film speeds up for some reason. From 1 min 46 secs to the end, the imam, Maulvi Abdul Majid speaks to the camera about Islam being a religion of peace and friendship.
Moslem ceremony at Woking	1941	Id-ul-Fitr, 23 October 1941. Muslim soldiers of the British Indian army praying at Woking Mosque. Imam is Maulvi Abdul Majid, who can be heard leading the prayer and delivering the khutba.
Islamic Ceremony	1955	Id-ul-Fitr prayers.
Aga Khan’s Tribute	1957	Memorial service for the late Aga Khan. The Queen (Elizabeth II of England) was represented by the Earl of Scarborough.

British Film Institute

Title	Year	Our comments
Feast of Eid-ul-Fitr, 1924	1924	Correlating this with The Islamic Review for June 1924, this would be the Id-ul-Fitr on Sunday 4th May 1924. Clip shows the prayers. At 55 seconds there is a close up shot of Lord Headley, in conversation with two Indian boys. Abdullah Quilliam is also in the clip. For further details, see our Quilliam page. For the full report, see The Islamic Review for June 1924 at this link (opens a pdf file). The Imam, according to the report, was Khwaja Nazir Ahmad, who was son of Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din.
Moslem Festival at Woking, 1928 — broken link to be updated	1928	Eid-ul-Fitr 1928
Oriental Atmosphere, 1928 — broken link to be updated	1928	Eid-ul-Fitr 1928

Other films

Title	Year	Our comments
Moslem Festival (1926)	1926	For the full report, see The Islamic Review for May 1926 at this link (opens a pdf file).

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the successor of the Woking Muslim Mission.