Shah Jehan Mosque |
| Hob Uid: 1370723 | |
Location :
Surrey
Woking
Non Civil Parish
|
| Grid Ref : TQ0151059170 |
| Summary : The Shah Jehan mosque (sometimes also spelled "Jahan") was built in 1889 by W I Chambers and was the first purpose built mosque in the country. It is sometimes known simply as the Woking Mosque. It was commissioned by the noted scholar Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner to serve as a place of worship for Muslim students from the Oriental Institute, which he had founded. The building was largely funded by the pious female Indian ruler Shah Jehan (or Jahan) of the principality of Bhopal, in central India. It is thought that also amongst early worshippers were Queen Victoria's Muslim Servants Abdul Karim and Mohammed Buksh. The building was closed for a time and rescued from dereliction by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, who, seeing the usefulness of such a building in close proximity to London with its Muslim community, founded a Muslim Mission here in 1913 and became the mosque's first imam. The building is square with a three bay front articulated by four panelled piers with open turrets above, linked by battlement type decoration. It is built of dressed rubble stone, with stucco facing and a copper dome with finials. |
More information : The Shah Jehan mosque was built in 1889 by W I Chambers. The building is square with a three bay front articulated by four panelled piers with open turrets above linked by battlement type decoration. It is built of dressed rubble stone, with stucco facing and a copper dome with finials. For the full description please refer to the statutory record. (1)
Pevsner describes the building as "extraordinarily dignified". Pevsner cites issues of "Building News" to show that the courtyard and some of the decoration were not by the main architect, and that there had been some friction between Chambers and his client. His account provides some background to the wider context of the building of the mosque. Leitner had taken over the Royal Dramatic Society buildings and founded a centre for oriental studies in Woking. (2)
The website of the successor organisation to the Woking Muslim Mission describes the role of Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din in establishing the mission and reopening the Shah Jehan Mosque in 1913. Amongst the converts he made was the aristocratic Lord Headley, who is buried at the Muslim part of Brookwood Cemetery. The website quotes original source material in the form of issues of the "Islamic Review". (3)
The mosque appears on the 1:2500 scale Ordnance Survey map of 1914 and is labelled as such. It is depicted on modern mapping centred at about TQ 01516 59178. (4-5)
The Exploring Surrey's past website includes a gallery of images about the mosque and associated artefacts. (6)
The "Lightbox" museum website notes that Queen Victoria's prominent Muslim servants Abdul Karim and Mohammed Buksh were early worshippers at the mosque. It is thought that the mission established by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din in 1913 was later responsible for publishing the first English translation of the Qu'ran (Koran) in 1917. (7)
Wilhelm Gottlieb Leitner was an Educationalist and Orientalist of Jewish origin, born in Pest, Hungary in 1840 and died 1899. His family moved to Constantinople, possibly as a result of the failed Hungarian revolt. He later studied in England and also worked in India. He founded the Shah Jahan mosque at Woking using a bequest made by Shah Jahan, the Begum of Bhopal. (8) |