Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 536
! ! 536 T a hrik Scheme of Chanda for Berlin Mosque Delivered by Hazrat Mirza Bashir - ud - D in Mahmud Ahmad Khalifat - ul - Masih II ra July 20, 1923 Note: This excerpt was received afterwards so it could not be published in the section of the book where Ha z rat Khalifa t - ul - Masih’s ra sermons of 1923 are published. “As I announced in the last Friday Sermon, today by the blessings of Allah Almighty , the foundation of the Berlin M osque will be laid. The telegram indicates that the time of this ceremony will be three o‘ clock in the afternoon, which coincides with our [current] time now considering the time difference. This was announced outside, and we have gathered here also to pray to God Almighty that He blesses the building of this m osque. Though a building was purchased for England’s M osque earlier, it has not been renovated yet into a m osque because enough funds have not been collected as of now. That is why this Berlin M osque is the first Ahmadiyya m osque in Europe. Not only that, but this m osque is also the first m osque built by Muslims. Even though three m osques were built in Europe before this. O ne of which is in Woking, built by an Englishman. O ne is in Berlin , which is old and unoccupied, and was also built by the government when prisoners of war were brought from Russia. M any of them were Muslims , totaling about twelve thousand, and hence, the government built that m osque for them. Therefore , in contemporary Europe, this is the first m osque built by Muslims. I said contemporary Europe because Muslims have been living in different parts of Europe for thousands of years and they built m osques there, but once they were forced to convert to Christianity, those m osques were abolished. Even now there are m osques in Europe where Muslims live, but those areas are not considered to be a part of Europe anymore and are rather considered separate. Therefore, this is the first m osque in this area, which is actually considered Europe, and from where Muslims have been evicted. That is why I asked all friends to gather and pray that God Almighty blesses this m osque and make it a source of propagation and development of Islam. ”