Sunday Feature: Three Centuries of the British Mosque

Professor Humayun Ansari from Royal Holloway, University of London tells the story of mosques in Britain, giving an insight into the changing place of Muslims within British society that stretches across a surprising three centuries. Humayun hears stories reaching back to 1887 of eccentric Victorian travellers, with a passion for the language, art and architecture of Islam, as well as visitors and immigrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East seeking a place of worship. He also debates the controversy over mosque building - often seen as too 'exotic', too large, too tall or just too foreign. Humayun meets with Dan Cruickshank to discuss the conversion of a Huguenot chapel, also formerly a synagogue, into a mosque. And he discusses the case of the much disputed Camberley Mosque - once a Victorian school