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A group of faithful resorted to rent space to perform Jumua Prayers.It was from these humble beginnings that the idea acquiring land and building an Islamic Centre was formed.The mission of this centre was to establish congregational Salah ;to provide guidance and learning ; to propagate Islamic values and promote unity; to provide forums for communicating themessage and meaning of Islam and to provide community counseling and support.
This idea grew into including a complex anchored by the mosque with prayer halls for male and females, wudu and ghusl facilities and a social hall equipped with kitchen facilities. An Education Centre and Resource Centre completes the complex and comprised of classrooms, a youth centre and a library that will be open to general public that is muslims and non muslims.
The Burnaby Branch actively looked for property since 1995 and fifteen potential sites were looked at. After extensive search and with help of the City of Burnaby Mayor, Drummond, a suitable site was located at 5060 Canada Way in Burnaby. The site, centrally located and has good access from Trans Canada Highway was submitted to the City of Burnaby for rezoning. The first reading took place on October 5th 1998 and passed unanimously. After the third reading in 1999 the City approved the construction of a Mosque on this land. The Branch paid the final payment to the vendor and the property was purchased for $750,000 inc.tax, on March 31 1999.
The Muslim community in Burnaby had provided valuable input into the design process. The community approved the design of Sharif Senbel, the architect of two mosques in Coquitlam and Surrey. After the soil contamination on site, due to previous land use, was cleared, construction began in May 2002. Presently the interior of the building had been completed and the first Taraweeh Salaah was conducted in November 2005. Since then 5 times salaah had been established. The class rooms had beenoccupied by madressa classes in the weekends.The library had taken shape and soon will be fully functional by the end of Ramadaan. The remaining outside work had been resumed. The outside brick work will be completed by end of October and then the waterproofing of courtyard will take place. The landscaping and beautification will follow soon after the minaret is completed.
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