Blackhall Mosque

Blackhall Mosque is a Islamic Education centre in north-west Edinburgh. Our Mission is to developing the youth and benefiting the community. In a move designed to go against the tradition of foreign religious leadership of Britain's Muslim places of worship, the imams at the Blackhall mosque are all native English speakers and Scottish citizens. (However, the Friday Khutba is still held in Arabic or Urdu). The idea for such an institution came from Sohail Ashfaque, 33, who is the main Imam of the Blackhall mosque. Speaking to The Journal, Mr Ashfaque said: ıThe main purpose was to build an infrastructure enabling Muslims to provide many services to other English-speaking Muslims and the entire community of Edinburgh. We wanted to make a society which could fully integrate Muslims by using the official language of the country.ı His goal was to make an environment for Muslims to be confident and comfortable in their faith, which includes understanding everything that they study and pray for. The recently converted mosque also offers classes in Arabic and Qur'an study, and is equipped with a spacious prayer hall, a community hall, a kitchen and a youth common room. In addition, a brand new Wudhu area has just been completed.