“There was a time when there was only one mosque for the entire community. No matter what side of Leeds you lived, you were expected to walk or take several buses to attend classes or functions and you counted your lucky stars that we had somewhere to call our own house of faith, long before we had options and divisions”.
Remembering Jinnah Mosque
A community without a hub or base can feel like they are a wandering group without a safe haven to root them to Leeds as their new home.
Today the Leeds based Pakistani community is a majority Muslim faith group with well over 26 Mosques and community facilities available to them. But this was of course not always the case. In 1953 a few dozen Muslim men resided across Leeds, of which around 150 were Pakistani’s, with no formal space for prayer or gatherings. The coffee shops, the homes they shared and local parks and picture houses the nearest community spaces where Pakistani Muslim men met. At that point there was little need as this generation saw themselves are temporary guests who would one day return to their villages and communities back in Pakistan.
It is mentioned that after 1944 ,people like P.J. Sha, a civil Engineer ,would open his home in the Quarry Hill Flats for friends and neighbours to gather for socials and prayer. In fact he and a close friend Mr Noor Mohammed kotia ( who arrived in the late 30s) to approach the Sikh community who had founded their first Gurdwara at a corner house on Savile Drive. There were a handful of Muslims gathered to pray in a side room, connected by language and culture to their Sikh brethren with whom they shared a geographic and cultural heritage, made it both easier and welcoming to share a religious space.
As this group of likeminded South Asian Muslim men grew, an informal Association of Leeds Pakistani Muslims was founded in 1953.s the group met from house to house to play cards, drink tea and discuss the needs of the community, pioneers such as Abdul Rahman and Abdul Khan ,both of Sylheti, Bengali heritage, at a time when Bangladesh was known as East Pakistan, began to push for the allocation of of the first few Muslim Burial plots at Harehills Cemetery.
However by September 1958,a small red four storey house on Leopold Street had become to small for its 200 strong Jewish Congregation of mainly Portuguese and Spanish decent ,to continue using as a synagogue. Conversations began between the Leeds Pakistani Muslim and Jewish Community at Leopold street for the purchase of the House . This community would go onto build the purpose-built Sinai Synagogue at Roman Avenue.
A number of men would begin the fundraising efforts, often contributing large portions of their own wages and savings until in June 1961 when number 21 officially became the first masjid .This had been a united effort for a community beginning to grow as more men began to arrive in the early 60s,Post the Mangla Dam Affair and the Masjid became a place of congregation, gatherings, socials and a key place for clarifying news and and seeking help with documents. By this point the Leeds Pakistani community had risen to well over 500 men and several families.
The mosque was named Jinnah Masjid as the first trustees were a diverse group of Kashmiri, Punjabi and Bengali members of the congregation wished to name their mosque after the man who only 15 years earlier had united them wit he creation of East and west Pakistan; Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
At first there were some weeks where people gathered for Friday prayer and there was no one to open up as so many men could not take time off work for Friday prayers and were unavailable. Within short period of Time religiously literate preachers such Hafiz Abdul Rehman ,an Imam who was working in the local steel industry, like many of his fellow countrymen, was appointed to preside as Imam at the Mosque and it was readily opened for regular worship.
A valuable memory for many elders was that of the Sunday school that ran for the study of the Quran, memorization of prayers and even Urdu language skills. It was common for children living in the Blackman lane area, and as far afield as Beeston and Hyde park to either walk or take several buses to attend the weekend and later weekday classes, already having completed a full day at school.
As the community grew, funerals usually supported by the local Cooperative, marriages and Ramadan services became more frequent. Where the Mosque was unable to facilitate gatherings, it was common for the school hall at Cowper hall to be rented out for many intimate social and religious gatherings. As the congregation swelled, It was not uncommon for Church halls like at St Aidans Church on Roundhay Road , to be booked for Eid prayer as well as local parks such as soldiers field.
But by 1971,political rifts between the Bengali and West Pakistani trustees came about with the horrific atrocities attached to the Independence of Bangladesh as a nation free of Pakistan, which caused a ripple effect in the UK.As such the Bengali community begun to look else where for a place of worship and by 1974,the Jinnah mosque was now just too small for the remaining congregation.
So a larger premises at 48 Spencer Place, which was only a few streets away, again on the sight of an old Jewish Synagogue whose community had moved to newer premises. It was here the foundations of the Leeds Islamic centre were formed and over the following 20 years, neighbouring buildings would be acquired to increase the size of the complex to its current size and to meet the growing demands of a community swelling with he arrivals of many more families and the choice of many early pioneers to remain in Leeds as their long-term home.