The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is acknowledged by Yohanan Friedmann as ‘one of the best-documented movements in mod­ern Islam[1]’ The founder of the community, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as) (the Promised Messiah and Imam Mahdi) preserved this historical record in his time, through the publication of two Urdu newspapers, Al-Hakam in 1897 and Al-Badar in 1902, and later an English magazine, The Review of Religions (1902).

The first Ahmadiyya Muslim Foreign Mission was established in the UK in 1913.  Reports of its activities were published in various Urdu and English periodicals of the community. These serve as a primary source material for the compilation of community’s history in the UK.

History Library 1

Among the instructions sent by Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IVrh in  preparation for the commemoration of the Ahmadiyya Centenary Jubilee to be held in 1989, was a directive that  that the history of the Community in each country should be compiled.

A letter was sent to various countries from Wakil-u-Tabsheer (Director of Foreign Missions) in February 1986 instructing them to form a history committee to  collate their historical records.  A draft of a brief history of the UK Community was compiled and sent to Wakalat-e-Tabsheer Rabwah (Ahmadiyya Muslim Foreign Mission Office Rabwah) for their records.

The History Department UK is continuing to compile the history of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in the UK. This includes the interactions and the preaching of the founder of the community Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (The Promised Messiah & the Mahdi) to the western world. The official establishment of the first foreign mission of Ahmadiyya movement in London in 1913 is described by Ron Geaves as “The first organized effort by Indian Muslims to establish Islam in Britain”.[2]

The purpose of the history project is to discover and highlight the contributions of the Ahmadiyya Community in establishing and advancing the Islamic mission in England that spans over a 100-year period, covering the era of five caliphates of the Promised Messiah(as).  

The Project includes:

  • Publishing the history of the UK Ahmadiyya Community in print.
  • Digitizing historical magazines, periodicals, and relevant documents.
  • Interviewing elders of the Community to record their recollections of significant events.
  • Publishing articles on Ahmadiyya History Website.

[1] Prophecy Continues by Yohanan Friedmann Chapter 1 P.1

[2] Islam and Britain by Ron Geaves P.67