Guardian: Thousands of people have attended Friday prayers at the Baitul Futuh mosque in south London to mark its reopening, almost a week after substantial parts of the complex were gutted by fire.
With an acrid smell of smoke still hanging in the air, regular worshippers were joined by representatives of other faiths, community leaders, local councillors and members of the police service. The prayers were broadcast to 200 countries and translated into seven languages.
The fire raged through the mosque – which claims to be the biggest in western Europe – last Saturday, destroying two community halls and offices. Seventy firefighters were called to the blaze, which took 24 hours toextinguish. The main prayer areas of the mosque in Morden escaped damage.
Two youths were arrested on suspicion of arson. One, aged 14, was bailed pending further questioning; a 16-year-old was released with no further action. A Metropolitan police spokesman said the investigation was continuing, but there was “nothing to suggest this was a hate crime”.
The mosque belongs to the Ahmadiyya community, which has up to 100 million followers worldwide, but is considered heretical by orthodox Muslims because it follows Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as the messiah and a prophet who came after Muhammad. Ahmadiyya followers are subject to persecution in some countries, including Pakistan.
Categories: Ahmadiyyat: True Islam, Caliphate, Europe and Australia, UK
When Baitul Futuh complex was on fire a non-Ahmadi friend of an Ahmadi said to him if prayers of Ahmadis gained acceptance why was the mishap taking place. The Ahmadi reasoned with him saying did tribulations not came to the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) why would they not befall believers!
ot of damage was sustained in the recent fire in two ancillary halls of the Mosque. It was a very intense fire. When different media reported it some malicious people expressed joy at the burning of the Mosque, in fact they said it is not a mosque, these people are not Muslim, and so it is their place of worship which is on fire. Later they expressed regret that only two halls were burnt and the Mosque in itself did not burn! Such is the way of some Muslims today. But all are not the same. Muslims of some areas were sympathetic. Muslims of one locality sympathised citing their own experience of their mosque sustaining fire damage and said they had reopened only a few days ago.
Some unaware British people also said it was good that the Mosque was burning. Anti-Muslim sentiment are wide-spread anyway but our neighbours and those who know us silenced both non-Muslims and non-Ahmadis who spoke against us telling them they ought to be ashamed of themselves as Ahmadis followed correct Islamic teaching.
Media round the world gave the news of the fire saying the largest mosque in Western Europe was on fire. This led to comments as to who these people are, what sort of a community it is and thus the Jama’at received wide exposure. Although we were sad, but we remained patient, we said ‘Surely, to Allah we belong and to Him shall we return’ and God raised people in our support even in this loss and this told the world that He is with us.
The police has not explained as to what caused the fire but perhaps indications are that the fire started in a store room adjacent to kitchen where plastic goods and other things caused the fire to flare quickly and spread through wooden beams in the ceiling or air-conditioning ducts. Whatever the cause of fire, it also indicates failing on part of the staff and management of the Mosque. They should engage in istaghfar a lot. There could have been a lot more damage the way the fire flared. Even the Fire Brigade said that we got away with it somewhat. Fire as intense as this was with temperatures in hundreds of centigrade could have caused much more damage which relatively speaking it did not. Indeed, God facilitates others to make good impressions for the Jama’at. During the fire a journalist started interviewing our Ishaat Secretary on the roadside and asked him what sort of relations we had with our neighbours and what were their impressions. Just then a car stopped and an English lady emerged saying she was a neighbour and offered her help and support. Similarly others came, representative of church came and gave their comments directly. Listening to these people the journalist said he had had the answer to his question!
On the one hand is this attitude majority of whom are not even Muslim and on the other hand a few Muslims were expressing joy and were invoking subhanAllah. Fine, today they invoked subhanAllah in derision and to call on Divine sense of honour, they may do so. But inshaAllah, soon we will rebuild in a better and more beautiful manner and truly invoke subhanAllah as well as mashaAllah. As mentioned earlier, it is a way of God that He puts people through trials. We do not know what caused the fire and how all this happened. If this was a conspiracy or mischief, such matters cannot impede progress of Jama’at. However, as mentioned earlier the management should see this incident as a wake-up call to identify their failings and reflect on them.
http://www.alislam.org/friday-sermon/2015-10-02.html
[2:187] And when My servants ask thee about Me, say: ‘I am near. I answer the prayer of the supplicant when he prays to Me. So they should hearken to Me and believe in Me, that they may follow the right way.’
[2:187] اور جب میرے بندے تجھ سے میرے متعلق سوال کریں تو یقیناً میں قریب ہوں۔ میں دعا کرنے والے کی دعا کا جواب دیتا ہوں جب وہ مجھے پکارتا ہے۔ پس چاہئے کہ وہ بھی میری بات پر لبّیک کہیں اور مجھ پر ایمان لائیں تاکہ وہ ہدایت پائیں۔
Hudhur(ABA)asked the AMJ to recite 3 prayers frequently.
Dr. Shamyla deserves pat for her comments on the fire incident in the London Ahmadiyya Muslim Mosque and she has faithfully reproduced the jist of the Friday sermon of the Head of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim community, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih 5th, and it was really a great spiritual, soul stirring experience for the community members of more than two hundred countries of the world to see their beloved khalifa addressing them in Friday sermon from the same pulpit of same mosque, The Baitul Futuh, which their opponents thought, has caught fire as an act of punishment of God. But Alhadolillah, it was not so and the Mullah has to express their sorrow because the Mosque as well as the location of the world wide Ahmadiyya television net-work was not damaged by the strong fire.It was really a great miracle and the blessing of God Almighty, the greatest of all, Alhamdolilla, that the Mosque and the AHmadiyya TV were saved and the Holy Khaliftul Masih of Islam-e-Ahmadiyyat had instructed the voluntary workers of MTA that the live program being witnessed in the whole world must continue as normal so that the worried members of the community must not have any more sleepless nights caused by the fire. And they performed this duty to earn the prayers of the God fearing Ahmadis throughout the world. MTA zindabad and Long live Khalafat-e-Islame Ahmadiyyat.Ameen.