How Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad inspired the Woking Muslim Mission

Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din was one of the leading followers of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement in India (d. 1908), and was inspired to undertake the work of propagation of Islam through his influence. Many other missionaries and scholars of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Anjuman also served in the Woking Muslim Mission as its Imams and Heads. A Muslim scholar associated with the Woking Mission, Shaikh Mushir Hosain Kidwai of Gadia, wrote in a booklet, Islam in England, in 1929:

“I am far from being a follower of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, but I cannot but give him credit for having fired English educated Muslims with a missionary zeal for Islam. Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din is one of those men who were, so to say, reclaimed to Islam by the Mirza sahib, and that to this extent that he gave up his flourishing practice at the Bar and voluntarily accepted to be an exile and came to England with the sole object of preaching Islam.” (p. 7)

Maulana Muhammad Ali

Maulana Muhammad Ali (d. 1951), the first Head of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, was a close, life-long friend of Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, and indeed was introduced to Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in 1897 through the influence of the Khwaja. Near the end of his life he wrote a booklet in 1949 explaining what prompted him to devote his life to the cause of the propagation of Islam. He wrote:

“Whoever went to him [Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad] he put a spark of the fire of the love of God in the heart of that disciple. Just like me, the late Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din too, by sitting at the feet of the Imam of the age, was blessed with opening the first Islamic mission to Europe at Woking, shedding such light on the teachings of Islam and the life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad that the entire attitude of Europeans towards Islam changed.

To those people who harbour ill-feeling against the honoured Mujaddid [Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad], or who fail to give him the respect and love due to such a servant of the faith, I say: Has there ever been in the world a liar and imposter who filled the hearts of his followers with such an urge for the propagation of Islam, and to whom Almighty Allah gave so much help as to continue fulfilling his dreams and aspirations long after his death?”

Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din himself wrote in 1914:

“It was through him [Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad] that in 1892 I became a Muslim anew. Not only did I become a Muslim, but through his guidance and prayers I was able to make amends for the sin which had been taking me towards Christianity by showing Christians the right path today. It was the most auspicious and blessed day of my life in 1893 when I took the pledge, at the hand of the Messiah sent by God, to hold religion above the world. I would give anything for those times which I spent in the company and service of this spiritually perfect man, which enabled me to fulfil my pledge as best as I could. How can I forget those favours and that love which he bestowed on me, especially on me! Even if I spent my whole life working for the aims and objects of the Divine mission of this Muslim Messiah, it would be little recompense for the continuous prayers he said for me.”