The visit to the Lincoln Mosque
On Tuesday 10th September Steve and Subash visited Lincoln Central Mosque with the Bishop of Lincoln, The Rt Revd Stephen Conway. It was a great time of discussion and connecting between TCfR, the Islamic Association and Diocese of Lincoln.
At the Mosque we met Dr Ashfaq Qureshi, the first Imam in Lincoln, who said in the 70s Muslims in Lincoln prayed at home as there were only about six families. In the late 1980s the Muslim community bought an old chapel and the first Friday’s congregational prayer held there 8 attended. Gradually the congregation increased and by 1990 the Mosque was getting full on Fridays so they began to hire the Grandstand community centre.
Since 2017 the Islamic community have their own purpose build mosque and this was achieved by the efforts of the Islamic Association Committee members. On Fridays they now have two congregations and during Eid they have three. Dr Ashfaq said ‘the community expanded to this extent by the Almighty’s grace and where there’s a will Allah provides a way.’
Subash said that he has seen and been part of the mosque development since 2012 and it was great to see how the City of Lincoln Council and faith communities supported the Islamic community to build their mosque. He said it was great to be part of the grand opening of the mosque and wonderful to see the growing Muslim community and how it is being served. It is great how they support the wider community and shar about Islam through their open days.
Subash said it was great to be with Bishop Stephen and thanks to Steve, our Chair, for inviting TCfR for this visit. It is great to further build on the links TCfR has with the mosque and the support we together offer the wider community through a Lincoln Hygiene Bank session at the mosque every Saturday alongside their food bank.
When in the mosque Subash said he loves looking at the calligraphy on the internal walls and reminds him of his time studying Arabic. The warm welcome from the Imam is always wonderful too.
It is great to see how Lincoln and Lincolnshire is becoming more diverse and welcoming to faith communities. It is great to see and support increased links between faith communities too as together we can work together, provide more support for the wider community and be there for each other in times of need.
