Woking Mosque, with formal gardens on a Postcard of 1905
Surrey History Centre ref. PC/160/ALB1/85

In the nineteenth century, religious worship was starting to become more varied, with an increasing mix of different cultures and faiths. Surrey was at the forefront of this change with the building of the Shah Jehan Mosque in Woking in 1889: the oldest mosque in Britain.

Explore some objects associated with the Mosque, from the Lightbox, Woking.

Metal grille from the Royal Dramatic College, Maybury, 1860s
made by James Walker Group Ltd
Image: The Lightbox acc. 2005.58.1

‘Some of the sayings of Muhammad’. Published by the Trust for the Encouragement and Circulation of Muslim Religious Literature, The Islamic Review Office, Shah Jehan Mosque in Woking, 1940s
Image: The Lightbox acc. 2000.54

Page of the Qur’an, 1840. The marginal devices are typical of the work of the Kashmir scribes, with neat gold floral devices in the corners of the page. This was written in Kashmir, in naskh script
Image: The Lightbox acc. 2004.20

‘Mathnawi’ manuscript, 1724. Page from a poem by Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207 – 1273), written in Lucknow, India. Jalal al-Din Rumi is considered to be the greatest Sufi (mystic) Muslim poet. He is famed for the Maulawi (whirling) dervishes. His greatest work is perhaps the ‘Mathnawi’, an explanation of the spiritual and moral concepts of the Suni tradition
Image: The Lightbox acc. 2004.21

Commemorative foundation stone from the Royal Dramatic College, Maybury. Benjamin Webster, theatrical impresario, laid the first brick of the central halls of the Royal Dramatic College in 1860
Image: The Lightbox acc. 2007.52

‘The Islamic Review’, April 1932
Image: The Lightbox acc. 2007.52

‘The Islamic Review’, January 1960
Image: The Lightbox acc. 2004.34