Scotland: Former Church Transformed into Mosque and Community Hub
The leader of the new mosque has revealed their plans for the future as they aim to integrate into the local community and set up a centre.
Mohammed Khobaib, 24, is the Imam (prayer leader) at the SHAD Learning Centre which took over the former Morison Memorial United Reformed Church (URC) on Dumbarton Road in Clydebank last year.
Known as the SHAD, it also contains the Central Masjid Abu Bakr Mosque.
The former church which went up for sale in April 2023 after struggling to keep up with running costs, was snapped up by the mosque which has big plans for the 128-year-old building.
Mohammed said: "We'd just seen the church was up for sale when we thought, let's try it.
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"In Scotstoun there's a fair Muslim population, in Drumchapel not so much and in Clydebank they are all spread around so we wanted a place for everybody to come together, and once we're all united, then we can start the community work to start integrating.
"We've done a lot of work in this place, there was a lot of work that needed to be done, but it’s a 100-year-old building so you would expect that.
"We are still confirming a lot of plans but at the moment it is to provide a space for our community so that they can pray and connect together in one place."
The former church, which at one point almost became a listed building, was struggling to maintain worshipers after going online during lockdown.
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In January 2023, the congregation were looking for somewhere smaller to run out of and has since ended up in a unit across the road.
However, it is not the end of their connection as the church reached out to the mosque to begin collaborating on their plans for the future.
Mohammed added: "Just now it's just a mosque but we're still liaising with the church as well.
"We gave Joyce and Barclay at the Morrison Memorial Church a tour of the building.
"They said that they didn't have the congregation anymore, so when we said we were making it into a mosque they were very happy with the fact that it was going to some sort of faith."
Work is ongoing at the SHAD Learning Centre which has been undergoing renovations to keep the century-old building in good condition.
Mohammed said: "The ceiling was a mess and there were a lot of cracks in the wall but we’ve given it our touch, keeping the original historical feature.
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"It’s a 100-year-old building and the beauty in it you won't find anywhere else.
"When we started it was only open for Friday prayers. Then later on we used to have a class on a Monday for the youth to get them off the streets. We don't want them hanging about and getting into trouble, rather they can use their time wisely and plan for their future.
"We were talking about trying to deliver food parcels to people's addresses as I know sometimes people can get embarrassed going in somewhere for food. We're still liaising with a few organisations to try to connect with them.
"We were always looking for a space to make a community centre to help our community and to integrate more into other societies."
Source: Clydebank Post
