Our Story
Our story begins in the 1990s, as a vibrant & thriving community of Bangladeshi families grew and developed a large presence within Longsight, Manchester and in neighbouring regions. At the heart of this community were a large number of hardworking Bangladeshi Muslims, who had to travel great distances and at great expense, in order to fulfil their worship of Allah (SWT).
As such, a number of these prominent figures within the community gathered regularly to discuss their concerns about their difficulties in praying at a Mosque and how this may affect the future generations of Bangladeshi Muslims.
In March 1994, 18 people gathered at the home of the Late Maulana Faizul Islam in Rusholme, Manchester. At this meeting the attendees agreed that a new Mosque was necessary in order to provide a place of worship for Muslims of all cultural backgrounds, and not just Bangladeshi Muslims. The 18 individuals therefore pledged as much money as they individually could, in order to purchase a building that could be transformed into a Mosque. A short time later, with the funds donated by the 18 people, the building at 47 Slade Lane was purchased. With the hard work and resources of these founding members, and the local community, a building that had previously beeng used as a laundrette was transformed into a Mosque and Darus Salam Mosque and Islamic Centre was established in 1994.
Our founders
- MA Rahman
- MD Abdul Khalique
- MD Abid Miah
- M Faizul L Islam
- MD. Akin Ali
- MD Faizur Rahman
- Sobh (Siraj) Miah
- MD Abdun Noor
- MD Abdul Kadir
- Syed Ekramul Hoque
- MD Abdul Gofur
- S Mahbubur Rahman
- Muslim Khan
- Boshur Uddin
- Ramzan Khan
- MD Abul Hussain
- MD Rahmat Ali
- MD Sanawar Ali
Mohammad Abdur Rahman was elected as Chairman of the Mosque by the
founders and a number of trustees were assigned to lead the mosque and ensure
that the Quran and Sunnah was and is always followed and to ensure that the mosque did not just serve as a place to pray but also a place to nurture future
generations of Muslims; therefore by the end of 1994, the Madrasha (classes)
was formed for young Muslims to learn about their creator and teachings of the
Quran and Sunnah. To assist with this, the trustees sought religious advice
from the renowned Islamic organisation Da’watul Islam UK & Eire.
The Mosque was thriving, the congregation and the number of students grew each and every year and by the start of the new millennium it became apparent that one building was no longer sufficient to serve the congregation. The needs of the community had grown too large, therefore through community led fundraising, 45 Slade Lane was purchased in 2002, to expand the place of worship and teaching.
In 2003, Abdul Malik Al-Mohsin arrived to serve the local community as the Imam of Darus Salam Mosque. To this day Imam Al-Mohsin, serves as the lead Imam at the mosque. He has integrated himself within the community and emphasised the importance of community cohesion. He continues to spread the true message of Islam to both young and old by arranging, for example, monthly interactive lectures from respected Islamic Scholars. Our Imam has also overseen and ran a number of successful classes for members of the community e.g. the classes of Tafseer, Tajweed, Hifz and Seerah amongst others. In line with the ethos of our Mosque, he has promoted the message of peace, unity and compassion to many generations of Muslims of numerous cultural backgrounds.
In 2006, after obtaining planning permission, the walls between 47 and 45 Slade were knocked down, and through the continued efforts and dedication of the community Darus Salam Mosque was able to grow again. It is through the continued donations of the local community that we are currently able to offer two prayer halls for our congregation and continue to provide support to the new generation of Muslims.
By 2012, the congregation that Darus Salam was serving was still growing, as was the community as a whole. It became apparent that even two buildings were not sufficient enough for our worshippers, with many people being forced to pray outside. It was therefore agreed that we would expand the mosque further for our community. The community would again fundraise and donate towards the vision of Darus Salam expanding and through such support the building of 41 Slade Lane was purchased, in 2013. A few years later the building in between 41 and 45 Slade Lane was finally purchased. Thanks again to the hard work, efforts, dedication and resources of the local community, 43 Slade Lane was finally purchased in 2019. This would follow, per the demands of the local community, our official registration with the Charity Commission as a recognised Charitable Incorporated Organisation, our charity number being 1181237.
Darus Salam now has four properties that will soon be transformed into one Mosque, one house of Allah (SWT) that will form a place of worship, a place of enjoyment and a place of prosperity for many generations of Muslims Insh Allah. It will be able to provide our 500+ congregation a place to stay close to Allah (SWT) and to expand their knowledge of Islam.
To ensure this our longstanding Mosque Management Committee continues to recruit the best and brightest individuals from our local community, thus ensuring our deep-rooted philosophy of the community running the Mosque is preserved and continues into the future. The committee has taken the pledge to promote Peace, Unity and Compassion and ensure all decisions made are in the best interests of the Mosque and the community that it serves.
Currently, many services and activities are offered at Darus Salam Mosque and Islamic Centre, ranging from our Educational services such as our acclaimed Weekend Madrasha for Children and the Qur’an classes for Women. We also provide Islamic Marriage services and recreational activities, such as children’s football and coffee evening. In all that we do we look to promote the message of Peace, Unity and Compassion. Our mission is to strive for excellence in Prayer, Education and in community services. We champion community cohesion by reaching out to all faith and cultural groups and develop strong, trustworthy bonds, and find common ground that unites us a community.
May Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala /سبحانه وتعالى ) reward everyone associated with Darus Salam Mosque and Islamic Centre, including the founders, the staff, the volunteers and our wonderful congregation.
