The Shah Jahan Mosque (also known as Woking Mosque) in Oriental Road, Woking, England, is the first purpose-built mosque in the United Kingdom. Built in 1889, it is located 30 miles (50 km) southwest of London. It is a Grade I listed building.
The Mosque promotes understanding, peace and harmony through interfaith activities.
The Shah Jahan Mosque was built in 1889 by Hungarian-British Orientalist Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner. It was partly funded by Sultan Shah Jahan Begum of Bhopal, as a place for students at the Oriental Institute in Woking to worship at. The mosque was designed by architect William Isaac Chambers (1847?1924) and built in Bath and Bargate stone. It was designed in a Persian-Saracenic Revival style, and has a dome, minarets, and a courtyard. The architecture was described by Pevsner Architectural Guides as “extraordinarily dignified”.
The Oriental Institute, for the students of which the mosque was constructed, was founded by Leitner in 1881. He had purchased the former Royal Dramatic College building in Woking and established the Institute in order to promote oriental literature. It awarded degrees from the University of the Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan.