Our Editor writes: In 1910 a Mosque Committee was formed under Syed Ameer Ali with the intention of building a great London Mosque yet by 1940 the funds only added up to £10,417 despite the efforts of the respected British convert to Islam, Lord Headley who was given funds from the Nizam of Hyderbad in 1923.

Britain's oldest existing mosque is the Shah Jehan mosque in Woking of 1889. This was the base for the mission of Khwaja Kamal-ud Din , a Lahore born lawyer who headed the British Muslim Society with Lord Headley.

They turned their attention to the London project when the Woking Mosque became associated with the Ahmadiyya sect. Peter Clarke holds that the Mosque became associated with the Ahmadiyya Mission founded by Ghulam Ahmad. Acording to L.O.Sanneh the Mosque was in fact first founded by an Austrian Orientalist Dr. Lightener who had once been Registrar at the Punjab University.

Today the Committee of the Mosque appoints its own Imam and the Pakistani Ambassador is its President.

Between two World Wars Muslim communities grew in the dockland areas of Cardiff and South Shields. The people were often Somali, Bengali and Yemeni. These two far flung communities were greatly influenced by the Alawiyah Sufi order. The followers of Shaik Ahmad al-Alawi, an Algerian Sufi teacher, established a large number of Zawiyalh or centres for disciples (murid) throughout the Middle East and Europe in the 1920s. The Alawi work in Britain was spearheaded by Abdullah Ali al-Hakami, a Yemini who founded an instruction school for children in Cardiff. He was particularly keen to involve women in the affairs of the community. A Shaik Ahmad did similar work in South Shields before moving to the similar Cardiff community.

The Mosques founded by this movement were not purpose built in the early period and a high degree of interpersonal contact between worshippers was encouraged. Women converts were often given responsibility for teaching children.

These two early Zawiyah Mosques created a great sense of community, solidarity, unity and mission. The Alawi Sheiks were very successful in these mixed race seaport communities where the convert wives of Arab and Asian seamen were highly regarded members of the community. In areas where there had been few Muslims before the 1920s, good local relationships were formed, Mosques serving also as schools, community centres, and sources of help for the poor. The Sheiks had a pastoral as well as a teaching function. An Islamic identity was formed with little reference of countries of origin.