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The Baitul Ahad Mosque in the western suburbs of Nagoya is said to be the largest mosque in Japan.

The mosque, which belongs to the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, opened in 2015, in what was once a game center.

The Baitul Ahad Mosque, which has two floors and four minarets, can accommodate around 500-800 worshipers and was financed by generous subscriptions from the Ahmadi Muslim community in Japan, which has been active in Japan since the 1930's.

Ahmadi Muslims, however, now face terrible persecution in Pakistan, where the largest number of their followers are based, and in other majority Muslim countries throughout the world. One of the men present told me of his ordeal in Pakistan, where he was beaten, jailed and tortured as a youngster, before becoming the first refugee allowed into Japan on grounds of religious persecution in the late 1980's, when Pakistanis did not need a visa to enter the country.
The headquarters of the faith is now in London, at the Fazl Mosque in Southfields, which was inaugurated in 1926, and was the first purpose built mosque in the British capital.

I visited the mosque in Nagoya a few weeks ago, on a Sunday, and was welcomed inside by the young inam, who explained how the mosque came to be built and something of the history of Ahmadiyya, which was founded in India at the end of the 19th century.

I was invited inside for tea and delicious Pakistani cakes and was put at ease by the friendliness of the people who had...