For a number of months now I have been based in the newly acquired Muṣṭafā Mount site in Bradford working under a master in the Gothic-Revival Architectural Tradition - Warwick Pethers. Under the guidance of our dear teacher Shaykh Ibrahim Osi Efa, we have been developing proposals for what will God willing become the Rawḍah Mosque.

The mosque will be born out of the existing 1877 Grade II listed Emm Lane Building and will form a truly authentic expression of western Islamic architecture. It will be designed with a deep-rooted understanding from within an architectural tradition that embodies the highest form of spiritual architecture within the western world. The project seeks to re-restablish a crucial prophetic sunnah. 

Just as when the earliest prophetic communities spread out to the lands beyond the blessed cities of Madinah and Makkah, they encountered other peoples, cultures and local sensitivities towards building. They were tasked with establishing themselves permanently and building places of worship in their new environments, they carried with them the principles of the Prophetic Mosque that had been built by the Prophet ﷺ in Madinah, and the guidance they had received.

The earliest communities reaching Syria took from the local Persian, Hellenistic and Byzantine styles and infused them with the light and beauty of Prophetic guidance, just as the Prophet ﷺ had done in Madinah with the local vernacular ways of building. This early endeavour developed much of what we now identify as Islamic architecture. The same took place when the Companions travelled as far as China and early communities entered West Africa.

The Rawḍah Mosque is a humble attempt to continue this Prophetic sunnah and establish a Prophetic mosque rooted in the land in which it is located. Under the guidance of Warwick Pethers, the UK’s pre-eminent architect in the style of the Gothic revival, and our beloved teacher Shaykh Ibrahim Osi-Efa, the mosque is to be established within the Emm Lane building on the Muṣṭafā Mount Site. The early Gothic revival building was built in an architectural style which arguably represents the highest form of spiritual architecture within the western world.

The mosque will form an authentic expression of western Islamic architecture and designed with a deep-rooted understanding from within the tradition. It will provide prayer spaces for over 550 worshippers, including a women’s gallery, library, wudhu facilities, a mortuary and body washing facilities. An outdoor paradise garden will form an extension to the mosque and mirror the main prayer space connecting worshippers to their Creator through the beauty of the natural world. The mosque will be, like many mosques and cathedrals of the past be built to stand for 1,000 years. 

Greensville Trust are still at the very beginning of what is undoubtedly a momentous journey – a journey which, God willing, allows us to build a lasting legacy that benefits many generations to come. 

I Invite you to join me to raise funds for the 124,000 bricks required to build this sacred space and to support the project in any way you can.