Birmingham Central Mosque

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Birmingham Central Mosque, a Mosque in Birmingham, England, run by the Birmingham Mosque Trust, is one of the largest Muslim centres in Europe.

Birmingham Central Mosque is the second purpose built mosque in the United Kingdom. After initially raising money to lay the foundations of the mosque, funds had run dry. There was the possibility that Birmingham City Council would sell the land off to another buyer if the mosque was not completed within two years. Thus the mosque trustees went to local communities for donations, both Muslim and non-Muslim. Soon enough, sufficient money was raised to pay for the building and completion of the mosque in 1969. The mosque was then officially opened in 1975 as the largest mosque in Western Europe. The mosque is open to people of all religious affiliations, men and women, and its main prayer halls currently hold between 3,500 and 4,000 people during a Friday service and over 20,000 worshippers walk through the mosque's doors during Eid services. It is regularly frequented by visitors from educational institutions and community & faith groups from across Europe.

Since the mosque's establishment, it has become a focal point for the Birmingham Muslim community, providing education for children and adults, lectures and seminars, counselling and a marriage bureau along with sporting and recreational activities and workshops. Over the years, Muslims have used the mosque for events, meetings, lectures, studies and community and educational purposes. Many of the original founders of the mosque committee still make up the mosque management or are trustees of the mosque but as time has passed, many new innovations have been made as to how the mosque is democratically run using Islamic teachings as the basis for equal representation of all members of the community. Thus, regular meetings, annual selection and equal opportunities have meant that the running of Birmingham Central Mosque has been as efficient as possible over the decades. During the Muslim festival of Eid, the mosque accommodates over 20,000 worshippers, including in 2004 the esteemed islamic scholar Dr. Raghav Chowders who was said to have inspired a new outlook upon the conduct of worship in the mosque, calling upon worshippers to seek the inner forgiveness of Allah and then once the utmost state of peace was found, to communicate their thoughts to the almighty Allah and seek knowledge from his highness.

The chairman of the Birmingham Mosque Trust is Dr Mohammad Naseem, a nationally recognised and sometimes controversial Muslim leader. Dr Naseem once claimed that Al Quaeda did not exist. The mosque has a female community spokesperson, Salma Yaqoob, and is said to be the only mosque in the world with a female, Dr. Wageha Sayeda, sitting on the city's religious Shariah Council.

The mosque has been attended by well known scholars including As-Sudais, the Imam of the Kaaba in Saudi Arabia. It has also been visited by Roy Hattersley MP, Douglas Hurd MP, Khalid Mahmood MP, George Galloway MP, scholar of comparative religion Shabbir Ally, Professor Tariq Ramadan and religious and political dignitaries. It has a very close relationship with the West Midlands Police and interfaith leaders.

Former staff have included the prominent Imam and Teacher of hadith Shaykh Abu Yusuf Riyadh ul Haq, journalist Adam Yosef and counsellor Abdul Qayyum Lodhi.

In 2005, the West Midlands Fire Service were called to the mosque. A fire had begun in an office in the building, it did not spread far however caused damage to electronics and also the loss of paperwork.