STORNOWAY – The Muslim community in the Western Isles on Scotland western coast are racing against time to get their first mosque before Ramadan.
This came after successfully setting up a crowdfunding campaigns to support the construction of the city’s first Muslim worshipping house.
“It’s a big challenge to get it done in time for Ramadan, but we’ll do our best. Some things are out of our control, but now we have millions of people praying for us. It’s got a lot of momentum,” Aihtsham Rashid, the Leeds-based builder, told The Guardian.
A couple of weeks ago, Rashid was standing in front of a derelict building in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, considering the scale of the task of turning it into the first mosque in the Outer Hebrides.
“This could take years,” he said.
The situation changed after a JustGiving crowdfunding webpage, set up over the weekend to fund the worshipping house, raised more than the £50,000 target.
“This goes a long way to show the love and support we have been receiving from the people of Stornoway,” the mosque team tweeted.
Muslims have lived in Stornoway since the 1950s, adapting to an island on which the Sabbath is still observed and churches retain considerable influence.
With no mosques, prayers were held in living rooms and bodies of the dead were washed in the garages. It could take some days to get an imam for funeral service.
Since the arrival of a new wave of Syrian refugees, the need to a new mosque has taken on a renewed urgency.
“I got a call from this guy and he said, ‘You’re needed up here.’ I had to ask him where Stornoway was, I had to look on a map,” says Rashid.
“I packed my bags and got on a plane, two planes. I took one look [at the building] and thought, ‘These guys need some help’.”
“Suppliers have been very cooperative. Most of the people helping to build the mosque are non-Muslim,” he added.
Work in the mosque interior will begin once the roof is weatherproof. The prayer room will have a women’s section, ablution facilities will be installed and a separate mortuary will be created.
“Christianity and Islam have very similar values, the same values in fact,” says Rashid.
“Once we have finished building, we will have an open-door policy. Everyone is welcome.”