For our October Bus Trip on Wednesday October 23rd, we visited Abu Bakr Masjid, one of the large Mosques in Southampton. One of the essential beliefs of the Mosque is the coming together of Muslims and non- Muslims to create a cohesive and tolerant society; with the aim of greater understanding they often reach out to other community. Judith received an invitation from Zahmed for our u3a to visit the Mosque, and passed it on to me, thinking our group would be interested in visiting. We were treated to presentations & demonstrations; a freshly cooked lunch of Rice, nan bread, chicken curry, Veg Curry, Dall and Pokora, sweet and tea, we watched mid-day prayer asked questions.
Many Muslims came to this country in the 50’s and 60’s, when they first arrived here from the Indian sub-continent some spoke little English but hoped to make a better life for themselves by getting good jobs. The Southampton Mosque Trust has been serving the Muslim community of Southampton for past 50 years, those who settled in Southampton started praying in the upstairs room of a local café on Derby Road in St Mary's. They then started collecting money to build the city's first official mosque. The first mosque was built in 1969 on 189 Northumberland Road. It was built by the growing Muslim community who bought a shop and converted it into a two-floored mosque.
There was a small community growing back then, but in the 1980s the original Mosque became inadequate and they needed a bigger place. In 1989 the trust purchased the Argyle Centre :- a prominent community building with important educational history, completed in 1895 by architect John Blizard and following alterations by the architect JA Crowther, it became the Southampton Girls Grammer School from 1907 – 1933 and later the Central Boys Senior School. The Argyle Centre was converted into a mosque and an Islamic Cultural Centre that officially opened in 2005. It is now the largest Masjid in the south of England. Accommodating over 1000 worshippers at any time.
Zahmed was a very good host, making us all feel extremely welcome, was a very interesting trip.
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