Construction begins for new masjid in Kitchener
Posted Jan 4, 2020 04:30:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A new masjid is coming up in Kitchener and construction on phase one of the project could be finished as soon as December 2020.
Imam and Director of the Islamic Humanitarian Service (IHS), Shafiq Hudda, says the funds to build the masjid along Bleams Road in Mannheim all came from community donations, and it has taken about two years to collect enough money for just the first phase of the project.
“We target a certain amount every three months and so based off that, it would take a long, long time [to collect $6.5 million]. It's penny by penny, drop by drop that we try and fill up the bucket.”
He says they are still in the first stage of the construction, which only includes the prayer hall, or the main masjid.
“Then after that, the hall, which is larger than the masjid part, will be there for other activities like lectures, conferences, seminars – it will be used for multi-purposes. Thereafter, in phase two, once we have paid off and completed this part, we are proposing a gymnasium. Youths from around the area can come and take part in sports activities.”
Hudda says the new masjid will replace a smaller building that has served the community for many years.
“It has served our needs for almost 18 years. We've outgrown it. The community has been growing, our activities have been growing as well. The community has definitely outgrown the current facilities. We just didn't have the proper location, zoning – there were a lot of factors. So we spent almost eight years just looking for something.”
The total cost for phase one and phase two is estimated at $6.5 million.
So far, IHS has been able to raise about half of their total cost, which is enough to start building the first part of the new facility.
