Grand event held to inaugurate the UK’s largest mosque which was destroyed in a 2015 fire
Aerial view of the renovated Baitul Futuh Mosque in Morden, London (Image by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
The UK’s largest mosque hosted its grand reopening at the 2023 National Peace Symposium of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community during the weekend.
The Baitul Futuh Mosque in Morden, London, had been destroyed after a fire broke out in 2015 which majorly affected its administration building.
Hundreds of people turned up for the inauguration at the refurbished mosque which now features an ‘ornate, geometric frontage’ after the ‘£20m improvement project’ was completed, the BBC reported.
The mosque, which has a capacity of accommodating over 13,000 worshippers, had about 50% of the administration building’s ground floor damaged due to the fire on 26 September 2015. Part of the first floor and a section of the roof were also destroyed.
Only a few worshippers were reported to have been inside the building when the incident occurred and 70 firefighters came to the scene to put the fire out.
London Fire Brigade station manager Philip Morton said at the time that the mosque had “escaped completely unscathed” as the large prayer halls survived the fire.
The administration building now features a five-storey complex with multipurpose halls, offices and guest rooms, the BBC wrote.
The mosque was destroyed in a fire in 2015 (Image by Makhzan Tasaweer/BBC)
The renovation was fully funded by the Ahmadiyya community and now includes facilities for children to receive education as well, the mosque officials have said.
Mohammed Nasser Khan, the Vice President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association UK, told news agency AFP, “But more importantly for me personally, and I think for many members of the community, is that our neighbours and all the people that visit these premises, that they have a facility that they can be proud of also.”
During the inauguration, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the worldwide head and Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community unveiled the new complex and delivered a keynote address.
Parliamentarians, academics and faith representatives also attended the event which holds a very high significance to the 35,000 followers of the Ahmadiyya sect in the UK.
