West London Islamic Centre

General information

WLIC Greenford Medina Mosque’s vision is for a peaceful and integrated community amongst all faiths and cultures by providing a range of culturally sensitive services for our communities, drawing on our Islamic values and heritage, with a view to improving quality of life and enhancing community cohesion.

Mission
WLIC Greenford Medina Mosque provides inclusive services available to all members of the community to peace and the teaching of Islamic values and heritage.

Aims and Objectives
To advance the Islamic religion, Education and other charitable activities and do all other lawful things necessary to advance the objectives.
To facilitate, organise and establish Cultural, Educational, Religious activities that would enhance & increase the understanding of Islam as a religion and the ‘Way of Life’ of our Holy Prophet Hadrat MUHAMMED, AHMED –e- MUSTAFA Sallallahu Alayhi wa-Aalihe-Wasalam.
To facilitate good community relations and to provide facilities for the teaching of Hadith Holy Quran, Islamic tennats and thoughts; to improve understanding of the intellectual, cultural, artistic, economics science and advance religious studies (including the four Caliphs of Islam) e.g.
1. Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (Raziallah’Enhu)
2. Hazrat Umar Farooq (Raziallah’Enhu)
3. Hazrat Usman-e-Ghani (Raziallah’Enhu)
4. Hazrat Ali-e- Murtuza (Raziallah’Enhu)
To co-operate with Muslim Organisations for better understanding of the religion and for the purpose of preserving our cultural, religious traditions.
To establish a library and reading Room(s) in West London and make available books on Hadith and Fiqqah, Hayyat-e-Tayyabbah, Islamiyati; and to run classes in languages. (Including mother-tongue)
Our long-term ambition is to build the self-confidence of Muslims residing in Greenford and seek positive engagement with the community creating a harmonious neighbourhood.
Serving the Community, Working in Partnership
WLIC Greenford Medina Mosque is in the heart of Greenford town centre, a borough with diverse communities including Muslims. Our principle & primary concerns are to serve the needs of the local community and to work towards the common good. Recently we have enhanced the prayer hall & are making improvements to the education, health provision and community cohesion. We also want to build bridges and remove any misconceptions about the Islamic faith and its followers with the local Ealing Council & all the associates including the Metropolitan Police.

Promoting Tolerance and Opposing Extremism
WLIC Greenford Medina Mosque works actively to promote tolerance and understanding. Along with all the local mosques, we are in liaison with other local Mosques; this binds together Muslims from different backgrounds and strands of Islam. We enjoy excellent interfaith relations – Greenford Medina Mosque has Churches and a Temple nearby where all diverse communities worship in harmony at their places of worship.

Our Imams and community workers encourage constructive engagement in society and a rejection of extremism in all its forms. We explicitly reject all forms of terrorism and insist that Islam is a religion of Peace and the Life of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is a true reflection of Islam.

Youth and Women: Encouraging Participation
WLIC Greenford Medina Mosque offers a range of services that enable young people and women to engage in a positive and safe environment, with increasing numbers of youth actively engaging in programmes of learning and recreation, dealing with issues of anti-social behaviour, drugs, extremism and gang culture. The mosque has regular female attendees who come to pray on a daily basis.

WLIC conducts DBS checks on all our trustees and staff which come in contact with children and women.

Background
During the 1980’s the Muslim community in and around West London (Greenford, Northolt, Perivale, Hanwell) area began to grow. There was no Mosque catering for those living in the above areas .The local people had to travel more than 3-5 miles to offer their Friday prayer. Regular daily prayers were completely out of the question.

It was important to establish a facility for the burgeoning Muslim community at a convenient location. Around 1984, Muslims of the Greenford area began performing Friday prayers at Shackleton Hall in Southall and remained there for several years. In 1985 West London Islamic Centre (WLIC) was first registered with the charity commission. The local Muslim community tried to purchase the aforementioned building, but unfortunately due to the lack of funds at that time they were unsuccessful. Later, this was tragically burnt down. Since the tragic event, the local Muslim community have been using church halls and local establishment for prayers, but only a temporary basis at each location.

In 1995, the WLIC members decided to rent Greenford Hall to perform Friday and Eid prayers on a permanent basis. The Taraweeh prayers during Ramadan were offered at the nearby Stanhope Primary School assembly hall and the local Muslim community have been using the hall for the last four years.

WLIC and the community realised the requirement and the increasing demand for a Mosque for the five daily prayers and the Quranic teaching for the children. WLIC purchased a house in Greenford and applied to the local council for permission to use this place as a Mosque which was refused.

a. In 2009, after a great struggle of over 20 years, the community finally were able to raise sufficient funds to put down the deposit for a Commercial building in Greenford for a total cost of £1.85m and in May 2009, by the grace of Allah, WLIC was able to purchase the building for use as a Mosque. The new Greenford Medina Mosque is situated in the centre of Greenford located in the Borough of Ealing.
b. In Ramadan of 2009, the first Taraweeh was performed and the daily five prayers commenced at the new Greenford Medina Mosque. This was truly a joyous moment and continues to be so far all the locals.
c. In March 2010 weekend Quran classes stared for both boys and girls children and in January 2014 we started provided later afternoon classes for boys only.
WLIC now need to focus on completing this project and providing a fully functional Mosque. WLIC now requires funding to complete this project.