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Islamabad [lower-alpha 1] , in the village of Tilford, Surrey, England, is an estate which serves as the headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. [1] Islamabad is 10.4 hectares in area, where four hectares are used for headquarter buildings, offices and residential housing. It is the resting place of Mirza Tahir Ahmad, the fourth caliph of the community. [2]
The site, located in the Sheephatch area of Tilford, was formerly an old boarding school, namely the Sheephatch Camp School, [3] one of the 32 camp schools erected in 1939, designed by Thomas S Tait of Burnet, Tait & Lorne architects following the Camp Act 1939 until 1977. [4] During the Second World War, the school had also served as an evacuees shelter for the Ruckholt Road Central School in Leyton and later closed in 1943. [1] The camp was leased to Surrey County Council from National Camps Corporation in 1946 and maintained it as a co-educational boarding school until its closure in 1977. [5] [6] The land was sold for £80,000 but was again put up for sale and bought by the community back in September 1984 in an auction for around £423,000. [7]
It served as the Jalsa Gah, a site used to hold the annual convention Jalsa Salana until 2004, whereafter the Jalsa's were held in Hadeeqatul Mahdi, Alton. [1] [7] [8] The first Jalsa took place in the beginning of April, 1985. [9]
The International Headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was previously set at The London Mosque and served for a period of 35 years since the fourth caliph of the community, Mirza Tahir Ahmad left Pakistan in 1984. [10]
In April 2019, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the fifth caliph of the community had indicated the site would become the new headquarters for the community, and soon after relocated and inaugurated the new site on Friday 17th May 2019. [7] [11] The formal inauguration of the mosque was held on 29 June 2019 in the presence of faith, civic and religious leaders. Around 300 guests were in attendance, including MP Dominic Grieve, former attorney general, MP Sir Ed Davey, chair of Tilford Parish Council Debra Lee, and former mayor of Farnham David Attfield. [12]
As the headquarters of the community, the site accommodates many facilities including: [12]
Rabwah, officially known as Chenab Nagar, is a city in Chiniot, Punjab, Pakistan on the bank of Chenab River. It was the headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community from September 20, 1948 when the community relocated from Qadian, India to the newly created state of Pakistan, where the community bought the area of present-day Rabwah from the government to establish its home. This continued until 1984 and the establishment of Ordinance XX. In 1984, the headquarters were moved to the United Kingdom with Mirza Tahir Ahmed, first to London and then in 2019 to the Islamabad compound in Tilford, Surrey.
Tilford is a village and civil parish centred at the point where the two branches of the River Wey merge in Surrey, England, 3 miles (4.8 km) south-east of Farnham. It has half of Charleshill, Elstead in its east, a steep northern outcrop of the Greensand Ridge at Crooksbury Hill on Crooksbury Common in the north and Farnham Common (woodland) Nature Reserve in the west, which has the Rural Life Living Museum. As the Greensand Ridge in its western section is in two parts, the Greensand Way has a connecting spur here to its main route running east–west to the south.
Muslim Television Ahmadiyya International (MTA), a globally-broadcasting, nonprofit satellite television network and a division of Al-Shirkatul Islamiyyah, was established in 1994 and launched the world's first Islamic TV channel to broadcast globally. It serves as the official media outlet for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, based in Islamabad, Tilford and funded entirely from donations by the members of the community. The network operates ten 24-hour channels for different regions of the world, including terrestrial TV as well as satellite television.
The Baitul Futuh is a mosque complex of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, situated in Morden, London. It is one of the largest mosque complexes in Europe. Completed in 2003 at a cost of £15 million, entirely from donations of Ahmadi Muslims, the Mosque can accommodate a total of 13,000 worshippers. The main mosque has a height of 23m above ground, and to maximise capacity the building extends below ground. Baitul Futuh is located in the south-west London suburb London Borough of Merton. It is situated next to Morden South railway station, 0.4 miles from Morden Underground station and one mile from Morden Road tram stop.
Mirza Tahir Ahmad was the fourth caliph and the head of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. He was elected as the fourth successor of the founder of the community, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. He was elected on 10 June 1982, the day after the death of his predecessor, Mirza Nasir Ahmad.
The Fazl Mosque also known as The London Mosque, is the first purpose-built mosque in London, England. It was opened on 23 October 1926 in Southfields, Wandsworth. At a cost of £6,223, the construction of the mosque and the purchase of the land on which it stands, was financed by the donations of Ahmadi Muslim women in Qadian, Punjab, British India. Between 1984 and 2019 the Fazl Mosque was the residence of the caliphs of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, and therefore its de facto international headquarters. The administrative headquarters now lies at the site of the Islamabad, Tilford.
Mirza Masroor Ahmad is the current and fifth leader of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. His official title within the movement is Fifth Caliph of the Messiah. He was elected on 22 April 2003, three days after the death of his predecessor Mirza Tahir Ahmad.
Bai'at or Bay'ah is an Islamic practice of declaring on oath, one's allegiance to a particular leader. In an Islamic religious context, this oath is the standard procedure of pledging allegiance to a religious leader. It is known to have been practiced by the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his successors (caliphs) after him with those wishing to join the Islamic community. Within the Sufi tradition the term is used to refer to the process of initiation into a Sufi order with the idea of commending oneself to a spiritual master in exchange for the spiritual and moral guidance imparted by him. The Bay'ah is a practice that also forms a notable feature within Ahmadiyya Islam. Following the death of a Caliph, the leader of the Community, a pledge of allegiance is taken by the newly chosen Caliph from members of the Community based upon this prophetic model and the bay'ah is the standard procedure for formally joining the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
The Basharat Mosque or Masjid Basharat is a mosque in Pedro Abad, Córdoba, Spain. The foundation stone was laid by the then head of worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Mirza Nasir Ahmad on October 9, 1980. It is the first purpose-built mosque since the end of Muslim rule at the end of the 15th century. It was inaugurated on 10 September 1982 by the fourth head of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Mirza Tahir Ahmad. The mosque is the centre of Ahmadiyya-Movement in Spain.
Ahmadiyya, officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ) is an Islamic messianic movement originating in British India in the late 19th century. It was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), who said he had been divinely appointed as both the Promised Mahdi and Messiah expected by Muslims to appear towards the end times and bring about, by peaceful means, the final triumph of Islam; as well as to embody, in this capacity, the expected eschatological figure of other major religious traditions. Adherents of the Ahmadiyya—a term adopted expressly in reference to Muhammad's alternative name Ahmad—are known as Ahmadi Muslims or simply Ahmadis.
Jalsa Salana is a formal, annual gathering of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. It was initiated in 1891 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the community, in Qadian, India. Usually, the gathering spans three days, beginning with the flag hoisting ceremony following the Friday Sermon. Although the convention held in the UK is deemed to be the major and 'international Jalsa' attended by Ahmadis from across the world, Ahmadis in other countries hold their own national Jalsas, sometimes attended by the Khalifatul Masih.
Daily Al-Fazl is one of the oldest dailies in the Indian subcontinent, an organ run by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. It was initiated by Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad on June 18, 1913. The initial monetary responsibilities were fulfilled through donations by members of the community. The newspaper has been publishing the sermons, sayings and announcements of Ahmadiyya Caliphates for nearly a century. In Pakistan, the Al-Fazl was subject to the Pakistani law enforcement which suspended the publication of the newspaper for several months in 1984, and since 2015 it is not being published in Pakistan and has also shifted to Islamabad, Tilford in Surrey, England.
Ahmadiyya is a minority religion in Bangladesh. Although the first Bengalis to join the religion did covert during the lifetime of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the religion was first established as a community in the region of Bengal in 1913 by Syed Muhammad Abdul Wahed, during the Caliphate of Hakeem Noor-ud-Din. As the worldwide community is itself is an highly organised group under the Caliph, the national community works under the name Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Bangladesh or Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at Bangladesh. There are an estimated 100,000 Ahmadis in the country as of 2004.
Jāmi’ah al-Ahmadīyyah is an International Islamic seminary and educational institute with campuses in Pakistan, United Kingdom, India, Ghana, Canada, Germany, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, In addition, there are affiliated Mu'alimeen centers in Pakistan, Nigeria, Kenya, Sierra Leone Madagascar and some other countries. This historical institute was founded in 1906 as a Section in Madrassa Talim ul Islam by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, it is the main centre of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community for Islamic learning.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was established in United Kingdom was established in July 1913 as one of the oldest Islamic associations in the UK. The community has built its presence with the establishment of significant sites such as The London Mosque in 1926. Over the decades the community has grown and become known for its annual convention the Jalsa Salana, interfaith dialogues and humanitarian efforts. The UK has also served as the headquarters of the community since 1984 currently in Islamabad, Tilford, in Surrey.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is the second-largest sect of Islam in Sierra Leone, behind only Sunni Islam. The earliest history of the Community in Sierra Leone dates back to the early period of the Second Caliphate, when at least six people are said to have conveyed their adherence to the faith. The sect attained rapid growth in the country after the 1937 arrival of Nazir Ahmad Ali, the first permanent Ahmadi missionary in Sierra Leone. Recent estimates by Ahmadi community suggest that there are approximately 560,000 Ahmadi Muslims in Sierra Leone, which is about 9% of the country's total population. Sierra Leone has the largest percentage of Ahmadi Muslims by share of total population in the world.
Al Hakam is an English-language, Islamic newspaper, published weekly by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at.
The Mubarak Mosque is a mosque in Tilford, Surrey, England, on the site of the international headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, formally known as Islamabad, Tilford. It was inaugurated on Friday 17 May 2019 by Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the fifth caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was founded in Belgium in 1981, with an approximate 2000 adherents and over 15 branches within Belgium as of 2024.