Timeframe: Sharjah ruler visits UK mosque back in 1968

Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, former ruler of Sharjah, visited the Shah Jahan Mosque in Woking, Surrey in 1968

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Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, former ruler of Sharjah, stands, centre, outside the Shah Jahan Mosque in Woking, Surrey.

Sheikh Khalid was the ruler of Sharjah for seven years, and was known for kick-starting the economy, building roads to connect it to other emirates and working on boosting education. He was involved in negotiations surrounding the union in 1971, but died on January 25, 1972.

This picture was taken on July 9, 1968, and on the far left is the mosque’s Imam, Misri. When it opened in 1889, Shah Jahan was the first purpose-built mosque in the UK (37 years before the first mosque appeared in London in 1926). The Shah Jahan mosque was listed as a Grade I building last year – the highest protection given to buildings of historical significance in the UK. Buckingham Palace, for instance, is also Grade I listed.

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