Funded by people who never saw it. A hundred years on, London’s first purpose-built mosque says thank you with 10,000 free meals for the homeless.
The Fazl Mosque turns 100 on 3 October and launches a year of national service
LONDON — Just over a hundred years ago, people in Qadian, a remote village in India, who had never set foot in England gave what little they had to build a mosque in a London suburb. Most of them never saw it. On Saturday 3 October, the mosque they paid for turns one hundred — and the community behind the mosque will mark it with prayers and 10,000 meals for the homeless, and 10,000 volunteer hours for people in need across Britain.
The Fazl Mosque in Southfields opened on 3 October 1926, and was the first purpose-built mosque in London. From that single mosque, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has grown to more than 150 chapters across the United Kingdom.
In 1984 it became the global headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community when the Fourth Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad, left Pakistan in the face of persecution and settled in Southfields. It was from this building that he founded the humanitarian charity Humanity First during the Bosnian war, and launched Muslim Television Ahmadiyya International, the first global Muslim television channel. The Fifth Caliph, His Holiness Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, was elected here in 2003.
The mosque was granted listed status by Historic England in 2018, and in March 2026 Wandsworth Borough Council awarded it a green heritage plaque.
His Holiness Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the Fifth Caliph and Worldwide Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, said:
“The Fazl Mosque was built through the sacrifice of people who gave what little they had for a place many of them would never themselves see. As we mark this historic anniversary, Ahmadi Muslims will express their gratitude to God through prayers for peace and by helping their neighbours and those in need by giving their time for the betterment of society. This is the true spirit of Islam.”
The centenary arrives at a moment when there are ongoing wider debates about loyalty and integration. The community has chosen to respond with acts of kindness, under the theme Fazl Mosque: Beacon of Peace – A Century of Integration, Loyalty and Service.
Rafiq Hayat, National President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK said,
“Our members were made welcome here, and that welcome has never been forgotten.
“This centenary belongs to Britain as much as it belongs to us and we are marking it by showing once again that we are here not as guests but as loyal citizens who want to help our country in every way possible to progress and prosper – especially by helping the most in need, because this is what our faith teaches us. That has been our mission for the past hundred years and this is what makes us feel at home in this country – where we have freedom to follow our faith and freedom to put that faith in action and help others.”
Over the coming year the community will take its message nationally by bus advertising in cities across the UK, starting with 100 buses in London in October. On 3 October it will also open a new permanent exhibition at the mosque to showcase its hundred-year history.
