Al-Manaar condemns extremists actions

We are aware that certain people have joined ISIS who live in the area of Ladbroke Grove, we have always condemned the actions of these extremists and will continue to do so.

Al Manaar is a centre where we have up to 3000 people attending every week, it is not a membership club and anyone can come and pray. The suggestion that the mosque has radicalized young men shows how ignorant people are of Islam and how mosques work.

Mosques are not like Churches that cater for parishioners, instead it is a place for worship where people come to pray, what sort of ideas they have in their minds is something that we do not know of and we cannot control. Prophet Mohammed always taught us to be on the middle path and those who join ISIS and the like have no understanding of the faith and we do not support their ideology or actions.

The centre is open to people of all faiths and none, we work closely with local stakeholders and statutory agencies we provide over 20 projects including yoga, zumba, social work, counselling, housing and legal advice. We support children’s attainment by working in partnership with organisations such as City Circle who are city professionals who offer their time voluntarily to support disadvantaged children to aim high in their education and provide good role models for the future.

Today over 90 mosques are opening their doors to the public in an event called ‘visit my mosque’ tomorrow Al Manaar are doing the same in the afternoon between 5pm and 7pm.  I urge people to come and visit their local mosques and demystify the myth behind what we do.

As someone who has been involved in social work and community work for over 30 years, I am fully committed to ensuring that our children are not groomed and radicalized,this month we have a conference called Refuting ISIS as well as a conference for women and their roles in mosques.

We regularly hold workshops and conferences to guide our youth and community and are committed to ensuring that they have access to the real teaching of Islam.

Saleha Islam

Director  AL Manaar Mosque