Established in 2017, the Linwood Islamic Charitable Trust has opened doors to the Linwood Islamic Centre located at 223A Linwood Avenue, Christchurch, at the start of this year. This is the second mosque and Islamic centre in the Garden City after the Al Noor Mosque located on Deans Avenue.
Ibrahim Abdelhalim, Iman of the new mosque said, “With the blessing of Almighty Allah and huge efforts from our brothers and sisters, we have begun regular daily five-times prayers, as well as weekly Friday (jummah), with some good attendance.
“Our mission is to cover all needs of Muslims living in the eastern part of the city, and of course for New Zealand Muslims in general. Apart from prayers, we aim to conduct weekly visits to Muslim families on Fridays, organise weekend Islamic classes for children, provide facilities for marriage ceremonies and funerals, and celebrate all Muslim festivals including Ramadan, Eid-al-fitr and Eid-al-adah. The centre will also be open to any gathering, meeting, or event organised by any ethnic Muslim group.”
The Iman further informed that the new mosque will in total cost $397,000 due by 2019. “This, considering no real state agents involvement, no bank interest, no mortgage, and no buying fees. We deal directly with the owner who has given us a good amount of time to pay in full.
“Therefore, we humbly request all our Muslim families, individual brothers and sisters, Muslim businessmen, and any other organizations and sponsors, here and abroad, to donate generously to accomplish this project by next year,” he added.