As investigation continues on the fire that engulfed parts of Baitul-Futuh Mosque in London,  two suspects have been nabbed – a 16-year-old boy and a 14-year-old boy. Both have since remained  in custody at a south London police station. According to a reliable source, The fire started from the ground floor and through to the first floor of the building  without affecting the mosque on the first floor.

The National President of the UK Jamaat, Rafiq Hayat, confirmed that “By the grace of God the mosque is safe and unaffected and there were no injuries and no loss of life.

History

In the late 90s and with the rapidly growing number of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in the United Kingdom, there was need to build a new mosque that could serve the ever growing need of the community. Over the last few decades, the Jamaat has built new mosques across the country including London, Sheffield, Bradford, Hartlepool, Birmingham, Oxford, Scotland as well as other parts of England.

The Baitul Futuh mosque -meaning ‘House of Victories’ which was on fire last week is notable for it award winning architectural designs and perfect construction. The main construction started in 1999 and the foundation stone was laid on October 19, 1999 in a ceremony attended by about 2000 guests. With the spirit of giving by members, donations poured in from far and near and four years later, the 5.2 acre site became an edifice, taking the status of the larges mosque in Britain and one of the largest in Western Europe. On October 3, 2003, it was commissioned by His Holiness Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad.

The most noticeable feature of the mosque is its simplicity. Apart from the administrative, community facilities as well as MTA’s studio, there are two prayer halls of identical size, one for men on the first floor and the other for women in the lower ground floor. The women’s prayer hall has a creche in an adjoining room that enables children to participate in the proceedings without distracting others. It has its own kitchen and mother and baby facilities while its triple glazed partition ensures that any noise from the creche is not audible in the women’s prayer hall.

For a number of years, the baitu Futuh mosque has played hosts to Annual Peace Conferences where representatives of other religions and people from all walks of life attend. It has about 5000 capacity.