Khwaja Kamal-ud-Dins
report of his first visit to the Woking Mosque
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After his first visit to the Woking Mosque, Khwaja
Kamal-ud-Din sent a report of his visit in Urdu, addressed
to the Head of the Ahmadiyya Movement, Maulana Nur-ud-Din,
which was published in the Ahmadiyya Community newspaper Badr
(27 February 1913, pages 67). That report is translated
below. This visit most likely took place in January 1913.
[note 1]
Mosque in England
Woking is a place thirty miles from London. Dr
Leitner, who had been Registrar of the Punjab University and
the Founder and first Principal of the Oriental College [Lahore],
collected funds from some leading Muslims, promising to build
a mosque in England.
Woking would probably be his birth-place. [note
2] He selected this place and bought a large amount
of land, upon which he constructed a vast residential house,
a room for keeping mementos from the East, and a small mosque
on one side which is in fact a room, five yards square. There
is a very beautiful dome over it, on top of which is affixed
a crescent. It has a high pulpit and a rihal [low stand]
on which is placed a three-volumed copy of the Quran in large
print, having the Husaini commentary in the margin.
In the mirhab [niche for the Imam] the Sura
Fatiha is inscribed in Arabic. Some small plaques with
the Divine names on them are on the walls. There are three
or four prayer mats in the mosque. In one corner of
the mosque there is some equipment for performing the wudu
and in the other is a small enclosure for the Imam. In front
of the mosque there is a large, open courtyard, within which
is a fountain occupying an area one, or one and a half, yards
square. All around the courtyard is a wire fence and trees
have been planted. In this non-Muslim land, this is truly
a scene having all the attributes of an Islamic mosque, and
if its builder has not done justice to the amount of money
he collected in the name of the mosque, then seeing this mosque
a lover of Islam can forget all the injustice. A few yards
from this mosque is a small resthouse known as the Sir Salar
Jung Memorial Hall, where a traveller is permitted to stay
for a day or so. Apart from the courtyard of the mosque, there
are a few more acres of land attached to the mosque.
After the death of Dr. Leitner all this property
attached to the mosque came into personal use. But after much
effort, the mosque, courtyard, the memorial hall and some
acres of land were separated and became a trust along with
the mosque. The remainder of the property and residential
houses, which had been built as private property in the first
place, remained in private hands.
You, sir [Maulana Nur-ud-Din], had referred to
this mosque in a letter, [note
3] and here too there was a movement. After last
Friday prayers, I and Chaudhry Zafrullah Khan went to Woking,
reaching there at 5 p.m. Here the sun sets at 4.10 p.m. and
even the isha prayer is at 6 p.m.
From the station we hired a carriage and reached
our destination where a polite young man agreed to show us
the mosque. The courtyard and the mosque were locked. Upon
my enquiry it was discovered that for years no Muslim has
come here nor prayed here. O Allah! Only thirty miles from
Woking is London where there are hundreds of Muslims full
of national spirit, day and night. But no one came to see
the mosque. Please do not judge thirty miles according to
India. Here we travel fifteen, twenty, thirty miles in the
course of ordinary, daily business in half an hour to three-quarters
of an hour.
Anyhow, all the sadness I had felt towards Dr.
Leitner for many years vanished upon seeing this mosque. We
entered the mosque, and upon opening the Quran anywhere the
passage that appeared was by a fortunate coincidence. Reading
it, we prayed for Dr. Leitner because the verse that appeared
on the right hand page and here I copy the whole of
that page because the text was in large letters and this occupied
the entire page was as follows. The page also begins
at this point:
Certainly the first house appointed for
men is the one at Bakka, blessed and a guidance for the
nations. In it are clear signs: the place of Abraham; and
whoever enters it is safe; and pilgrimage is a duty which
men owe to Allah, whoever can find a way to it. And whoever
disbelieves, surely Allah is above need of the worlds.
[Ch. 3, verses 9697]
Glory be to Allah! Today, after full four
months, in a non-Muslim land, I saw a mosque of God, and then
a Quran in it, moreover this verse appearing from that Quran
as a coincidence! I was out of control with joy. I said to
the English gentleman that I wanted to say prayers if he could
wait. He went outside and we prayed as a Jamaat. My
voice is usually loud in any case, but now I recited the Quran
even more loudly, the dome echoing with the recitation of
the Quran after many years. In the first raka
I recited the prayer of Abraham: And when Abraham said:
My Lord, make this town secure
[14:35], to the
end. I felt so much pleasure that my own voice and its echo
was enough to make me exuberant. We made a lengthy prostration,
crying and pleading to be given the opportunity for the preaching
and propagation of Islam, and praying that the mosque may
become the place for the dawn of the light of Islam. This
mosque, in a non-Muslim land, is truly the first house
appointed for men. What a wonder if God were to make
it an Islamic centre.
In the second raka I recited Sura
Ikhlas several times. Thus our prayer came to an end.
Although the journey cost us nine rupees, the solace and joy
we felt outweighed this cost very greatly. May Allah be gracious
and let the vision of the Promised Messiah be fulfilled soon
through a lowly servant of his. Amen.
KAMAL-UD-DIN
Notes by Website Editor
Note
1. In the article by Kazi Abdul
Haq in The Islamic Review of July 1930 it is stated
that this first visit took place in November 1912. I think
it took place in January 1913, on Friday 3rd or 10th. In his
letter published in Badr dated 20th March 1913, the
Khwaja gives an account of his second visit which definitely
took place on Friday 17th January, and that letter, as it
shows, is the next one he wrote after this one. Also he writes
above that he has seen a mosque after four
months. As he arrived in England on 24th September 1912
(having departed from India on 7th September), this clearly
places his first visit to the Woking Mosque in January 1913.
Note
2. This is his guess. Dr. Leitner was born in Budapest,
Hungary.
Note
3. The letter of Maulana Nur-ud-Din referred to here by
Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din was published in Badr, 31 Otcober
1912. Its image is shown below:
It is stated in this letter: I
had heard that there is a mosque in London [meaning England]
and it is in Woking. Dr. Leitner had collected donations for
the mosque.
The letter translated above (Mosque in England)
is immediately followed in that issue of Badr by a
short note signed Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, and is given the heading
in the paper Fog in London. For completion and interest,
this is translated below:
Today there is fog here. It began at 11 a.m. Outside, it
is pitch dark as at night. It is now 1.00 p.m. and the same
condition is persisting. Although we are inside the house
and the door is closed, it is somewhat difficult to breathe
even in here. The condition outside must be very bad.
KAMAL-UD-DIN |