London’s Fazl Mosque Celebrates 100 Years of Faith and Community Service

Key Points

• London’s Fazl Mosque in Wandsworth has marked the centenary of its opening in 1926.
• The mosque, also known as London Mosque, was London’s first purpose-built mosque and remains associated with the UK’s Ahmadiyya Muslim community.
• The centenary programme is centred on a message of community connection, with 10,000 free meals planned for homeless people.
• Putney Labour MP Fleur Anderson has highlighted the mosque’s longstanding links with the surrounding community.
• Mahmood Rafiq of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK said community service remains central to the mosque’s ethos.
• The mosque has served purposes beyond worship, including as an air raid shelter during the Second World War and as a venue for blood donation and Covid-19 vaccinations.
• Munir Dean, whose family has longstanding connections with the mosque, described the founders’ vision as one focused on faith, peace and bringing humanity together.
• The mosque has a notable historical connection with Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Abdur Rahim Dard, who was an imam at the mosque during the 1930s.
• Jinnah delivered a major speech on India’s political future at the mosque in 1933 before returning to India and later becoming Pakistan’s first governor general.
• Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the fifth leader of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, has described the mosque’s history in terms of service to neighbours, loyalty to Britain and peace between people.
• The centenary provides an opportunity to examine the mosque’s changing role in London over the past century and its continuing community activities.

Britain Post News (BPN) October 3, 2026 – London’s Fazl Mosque is marking 100 years since its opening, commemorating a century in which the building has served as a place of Muslim worship while also developing a wider role in community life. The mosque in south-west London, also known as London Mosque, was opened in 1926 and has since become an established part of the local area. According to Diane Taylor’s report for The Guardian, the centenary celebrations include plans to provide 10,000 free meals for homeless people, while mosque representatives are emphasising a message of connection with the wider community.

Why is London’s Fazl Mosque celebrating its centenary in 2026?

The anniversary marks 100 years since the opening of the Fazl Mosque in Wandsworth. The building was established in 1926 and has subsequently become an important institution for members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Britain.

Diane Taylor of The Guardian reported that the mosque’s original opening attracted about 600 eminent guests. Contemporary reporting described the white building and its surrounding gardens as an unusual but striking presence in south London. Taylor’s report recalls how the large black doors were opened with a silver key during the ceremony.

The centenary is therefore being presented not simply as an anniversary of a religious building, but as an opportunity to reflect on the mosque’s relationship with the people and institutions around it.

The current celebrations are taking place against a history in which the mosque has been used for religious, civic and community purposes.

How has the mosque become part of the local Wandsworth community?

The mosque’s relationship with its neighbours is a central theme of the centenary.

According to Taylor’s Guardian report, Putney Labour MP Fleur Anderson visited the mosque during preparations for the anniversary and spoke about its place in the local community. Anderson highlighted the contribution of the mosque to local events, including the food provided at street parties.

Mahmood Rafiq of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK told Taylor that engagement with the wider community forms an important part of the mosque’s ethos.

The activities described include distributing sweets to local children during Eid, extending Christmas greetings to neighbours, helping with environmental cleanliness and supporting other religious communities when they experience attacks.

These activities illustrate how the mosque’s community role has extended beyond the people attending it for daily prayers.

The centenary programme is continuing this approach. The planned distribution of 10,000 free meals to homeless people is intended to form part of the anniversary’s community-focused activities.

What role did Fazl Mosque play during the Second World War?

The mosque’s history includes a practical role during wartime.

As reported by Diane Taylor in The Guardian, the Fazl Mosque was used as an air raid shelter during the Second World War. Its function therefore extended beyond worship during a period when London communities were facing bombing and other wartime dangers.

The building has also been used for community services in more recent periods.

Taylor reported that the mosque has provided space for blood donation and Covid-19 vaccination activity. These uses demonstrate the changing practical relationship between the religious institution and the wider community over different periods of British history.

The examples also form part of the mosque’s current centenary narrative: a religious building that has periodically been used to support wider public needs.

What does the mosque’s centenary message of ‘connection’ mean?

Mosque leaders have described the anniversary around the theme of “a century of connection”.

That theme relates to the mosque’s relationship with its immediate neighbours as well as its longer history in Britain.

The activities cited in Taylor’s report include engagement with people from different religious backgrounds, support for neighbours and community initiatives. The planned meals for homeless people similarly place a practical social activity alongside the religious significance of the centenary.

For the mosque’s members, the anniversary is consequently being used to look backwards at its origins while also identifying activities that continue in the present.

Munir Dean, 65, is among those reflecting on that history. According to Taylor, Dean has a family connection to the mosque extending across generations, with both his grandfather and father involved in its development.

Dean said the founders had a vision shaped by the aftermath of the First World War, with an emphasis on faith, peace and bringing humanity together.

How did the mosque’s early history reflect British social life?

The social environment around the mosque in its early decades was different from that of contemporary London.

Dean told Taylor that the mosque welcomed visitors from British high society, including Viscount and Viscountess Allenby. The mosque also developed traditions that reflected its location in Britain, with tea served in fine china and visitors sometimes being offered scones with clotted cream.

The historical account also describes the practical circumstances facing Britain’s Muslim population at the time.

According to the report, halal butchers were not readily available in the area during the mosque’s early years. Members of the community would consequently travel to Blooms, a well-known kosher salt beef restaurant in Aldgate East, for meat sandwiches.

The historical explanation given in the report notes that kosher meat is accepted as halal because the respective methods of slaughter have similarities.

These details provide an indication of how much London’s Muslim communities and the city’s food infrastructure have changed during the past century.

Who was Bilal Nuttall and what was his connection with the mosque?

The mosque’s history also includes British converts to Islam.

Bilal Nuttall, who grew up on the same street as Lancashire-born actor, singer and comedian Gracie Fields, converted to Islam after serving in the Middle East during the First World War.

According to the historical account reported by Taylor, Nuttall subsequently became the mosque’s muezzin, the person responsible for calling Muslims to prayer.

His story forms part of a broader historical picture of the mosque, where people from different backgrounds became connected through the institution during a period when Britain’s Muslim population was considerably smaller than it is today.

What is the connection between Fazl Mosque and Muhammad Ali Jinnah?

One of the most historically significant aspects of the mosque is its association with Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who later became the founder of Pakistan.

Taylor reported that Abdur Rahim Dard, who served as the mosque’s imam during the 1930s, played a significant role in encouraging Jinnah to return to Indian politics.

Jinnah, an Indian politician and barrister who had trained at Lincoln’s Inn in London, was living in Hampstead at the time. According to Dean’s account in Taylor’s report, Jinnah had become disillusioned with politics in India and was considering remaining in Britain to continue his legal career.

Dard encouraged him to reconsider that decision.

Jinnah subsequently delivered a speech at the Fazl Mosque gardens on the political future of India. The event became part of the mosque’s historical record and is regarded by the Ahmadiyya community as an important moment in Jinnah’s return to Indian political activity.

Independent historical material also records Jinnah’s April 1933 appearance at the London mosque and his speech concerning India’s future.

Jinnah returned to India the following year and continued his political career. In August 1947, following the creation of Pakistan, he became the country’s first governor general.

The connection between the mosque and Jinnah therefore places the building within a wider history extending beyond London and into the political history of the Indian subcontinent.

What was Abdur Rahim Dard’s role in the mosque’s history?

Abdur Rahim Dard was an important figure in the early history of the Fazl Mosque.

Historical material from the Ahmadiyya community identifies Dard as an early imam of the mosque and records his involvement in its development. The organisation’s historical account says he supervised construction of the mosque and served as its first imam.

His later association with Jinnah is another major element of the mosque’s historical significance.

According to Ahmadiyya historical accounts, Dard met Jinnah after the latter had become disillusioned with Indian politics and sought to persuade him to return to the political scene. Jinnah subsequently attended an Eid-ul-Adha gathering at the Fazl Mosque in April 1933 and delivered a speech on India’s future.

The precise interpretation of the episode is associated particularly with Ahmadiyya historical accounts, which emphasise Dard’s role in encouraging Jinnah’s return. Contemporary and later accounts differ in how they characterise the significance of the meeting, but the mosque’s association with the event is well established in the community’s historical record.

How does the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community describe the mosque’s legacy?

Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the current and fifth leader of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, has linked the mosque’s history with principles of serving neighbours, loyalty to Britain and peaceful relations between people regardless of their faith or background.

In comments reported by Taylor, Ahmad described the centenary as an occasion to hope that the mosque would continue contributing to peace and bringing people together in future generations.

The position reflects the community’s longstanding emphasis on the phrase “Love for all, hatred for none”, which has been associated with Ahmadiyya community messaging.

The centenary celebrations consequently place considerable emphasis on practical community activity rather than solely on commemorating the mosque’s architectural or religious history.

What has happened to the mosque’s historical status?

The Fazl Mosque has retained its physical and historical significance as London has changed around it.

The mosque was originally built when Britain’s Muslim population was much smaller and when Muslim institutions were considerably less numerous across the capital.

Its survival as a functioning mosque for a century has made the building part of London’s religious and architectural history.

The mosque was granted listed status by Historic England in 2018, according to material summarising the centenary report.

Its historical importance is therefore not limited to its continuing use as a place of worship. The building also represents an early stage in the institutional development of Islam in modern London.

Why is the Fazl Mosque’s history significant to Britain and Pakistan?

The mosque’s history connects several strands of twentieth-century history.

At a local level, it reflects the development of a Muslim community in south London and its relationship with neighbouring residents.

At a national level, it provides an example of how a religious institution participated in community activities during wartime and during the Covid-19 pandemic.

At an international level, its connection with Jinnah and Dard links the building with the political history that eventually led to the creation of Pakistan.

The mosque therefore occupies a position at the intersection of religious, social, British and South Asian history.

The Jinnah episode should nevertheless be understood through its historical sources. Ahmadiyya publications particularly emphasise Dard’s influence on Jinnah, while the broader historical record contains a more extensive account of Jinnah’s political development and the circumstances surrounding his return to India.

What does the next century mean for Fazl Mosque?

The centenary has placed the mosque’s future alongside its history.

Munir Dean told Taylor that the message associated with the mosque was not limited to one generation and that he expected it to continue into the future.

The activities surrounding the centenary indicate the areas in which the mosque currently interacts with the wider community: religious observance, local relationships, charitable activity, interfaith engagement and public services.

The 10,000 free meals planned for homeless people provide a specific example of how the centenary is being translated into a present-day community initiative.

For local residents, the anniversary also offers an opportunity to examine a building that has remained part of the neighbourhood for 100 years.

What is the background to the Fazl Mosque’s development?

The Fazl Mosque was established in London in the 1920s as the Ahmadiyya Muslim community developed its presence in Britain. Historical accounts within the community identify Abdur Rahim Dard as an important figure in the mosque’s foundation and early operation.

The building opened in 1926 and quickly became a location for religious worship and public engagement.

Over subsequent decades, the mosque witnessed major changes in both Britain and South Asia. The Second World War brought its use as an air raid shelter, while later decades saw it accommodate community activities including blood donation and Covid-19 vaccination services.

Its association with Jinnah provides another important historical layer. Jinnah’s 1933 appearance at the mosque occurred during a period when he was reconsidering his future in Indian politics. Historical accounts from the Ahmadiyya community identify Dard as an important influence in that process.

The mosque has consequently remained connected to both local London life and events with wider historical significance.

How could the centenary affect the local community and wider audiences?

The immediate effect of the centenary is likely to be greater public attention on the mosque’s history and its continuing role in Wandsworth. The planned charitable activities, particularly the distribution of 10,000 meals to homeless people, also provide a practical community dimension to the anniversary.

For local residents, the centenary can provide an opportunity to engage with an institution that has been part of the area for a century. For historians and heritage audiences, the anniversary draws attention to a building associated with the development of Muslim life in Britain and with a significant episode in the political history of South Asia.

For members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the anniversary also provides an opportunity to reflect on the mosque’s religious and community mission.

The longer-term effect will depend on how the mosque continues to balance its historic identity with its contemporary activities. The record of the past century shows that its role has changed according to the needs of the surrounding community, from wartime shelter to health-related activities and charitable initiatives.

The centenary therefore marks both an historical milestone and a point of transition towards the mosque’s next century of activity.