Mosque remains a focal point for the Muslim communities worldwide, serving as a home of prayers, marriages, social gatherings, and even funerals.
Therefore, the Muslim community in the town of Sligo in north Ireland are rallying efforts to raise funds to keep their mosque open to the public, Independent reported.
The Sligo Leitrim Islamic Cultural Centre on Mail Coach Road was first opened in 2015. The rented place of worship, along with a communal unit next door and three upstairs apartments, were sold in May at an auction for €400,000 to a private buyer.
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“This place came up for rent and the community approached the landlord about leasing it,” Dr. Ismail Khan, a retired urologist who first came to Sligo from Pakistan in 1990 said.
“It was rented out and the community set up on this ground floor with the carpets and everything. Since then it had all been running smoothly,” he said.
The mosque currently serves 1,000 plus practicing Muslims in the Sligo and Leitrim region.
Keep the Mosque
Buying the facility, Dr. Muhammad Abdul Rehman Akram, an ophthalmologist at Sligo University Hospital who first moved to Sligo in 2020, said he wanted to sell it to the Muslim community to keep it as a mosque.
Therefore, the Muslim community have launched a fundraising campaign to gather €150,000 to buy the center outright. Till the time of writing, the gofundme campaign has raised €15,889.
Building mosques is a highly rewardable act in Islam.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Whoever builds a mosque, desiring thereby Allah’s satisfaction, Allah builds for him the like of it in paradise.” [Bukhari]
It is also a wonderful act of ongoing charity or ‘Sadaqah Jariyah’.
Allah’s Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:
“When a man passes away, his good deeds will also come to an end except for three: Sadaqah Jariyah (ceaseless charity); a knowledge which is beneficial, or a virtuous descendant who prays for him (for the deceased).” Muslim and others