New Mosque Funded by Nigerian Muslim Community Opens in Manitoba
For Titi Tijani, the first mosque built by Winnipeg's Nigerian Muslim community is “a dream come true."
She was one of dozens of people at the official opening of the new mosque and resource center at 500 Dovercourt Dr. in Winnipeg's Whyte Ridge neighborhood on Saturday morning.
The Al-Haqq Masjid is the first mosque in Manitoba to be opened by and for the Nigerian Muslim community. Al-Haqq translates to "truth" in Arabic.
The mosque was entirely funded by the community, through the Winnipeg-based Al-Haqq Prayer Group of Canada Inc.
Tijani said the Nigerian Muslim community was small when she first came to Manitoba 37 years ago. Along with other community members, she started a prayer group in her home because they didn't have a dedicated mosque to go to.
On Saturday, the new mosque was packed with worshippers.
“The community has grown tremendously in the past maybe 15 years," she said. "So when you have more people here, that’s when we come together and say, ‘where can we gather, where can we pray together.’”
She said community members had previously been gathering at the Manitoba Islamic Association building on Waverley Street.
“So today we are able to acquire our own,” she said. “It is a community mosque, but it is funded by the Nigerian Muslim community, so we are very happy today to open it.”
She added the mosque will invite and welcome community members of all faiths and denominations, and also offer community programming, education and resources for people to learn about Islam.
Tijani believes more and more mosques are going to open in Winnipeg, as the Muslim community in this city and province grows.
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"There are many mosques coming up with the population of Muslims in Manitoba, and so we needed this for the whole community, and the whole of Winnipeg," she said.
According to officials with the Al-Haqq Prayer Group of Canada, they set a fundraising goal of $1.5 million to get the mosque built. All funds for the project came from community members.
“We discovered many years back that the Muslim population is growing rapidly in Manitoba,” Yunusa Salami, the new mosque's Imam.
“It’s so important for us to see that we have a new area to accommodate the ever-growing Muslim community here in Manitoba.”
He said many from the community were celebrating on Saturday as the new mosque officially opened its doors.
“Today everybody is happy that our dream became a reality,” he said. “This is one of the happiest moments in my life for having the dream come to reality, and this is so wonderful for our community."
Source: Cbc.ca
