Brick Lane Jamme Masjid ( bn, ব্রিক লেন জামে মসজিদ, ar, جامع مسجد بريك لين "Brick Lane Congregational Mosque"), formerly known as the London Jamme Masjid (, "London Congregational Mosque"), is a Muslim place of worship in

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...

and is in the

East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

. The building at 59

Brick Lane Brick Lane (Bengali: ব্রিক লেন) is a street in the East End of London, in the borough of Tower Hamlets. It runs from Swanfield Street in Bethnal Green in the north, crosses the Bethnal Green Road before reaching the busiest ...

, on the corner of

Fournier Street Fournier Street, formerly Church Street, is a street of 18th-century houses in Spitalfields in the East End of London. It is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and runs between Commercial Street and Brick Lane. The street is named after a m ...

, has been home to a succession of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities since its construction in the mid-eighteenth century, reflecting the waves of immigration in the neighbourhood of

Spitalfields Spitalfields is a district in the East End of London and within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The area is formed around Commercial Street (on the A1202 London Inner Ring Road) and includes the locale around Brick Lane, Christ Church, ...

. The former Great Synagogue is a Grade II* listed building; the adjacent former school buildings (now used as an ancillary building to the mosque) is listed Grade II.

The current mosque

Brick Lane Jamme Masjid (parallel verticals version)

The majority of worshippers of the mosque are of Bangladeshi descent; the mosque serves the largest concentration of Bangladeshi Muslims in the country (see

History of Bangladeshis in the United Kingdom Bangladeshis are one of the largest immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents o ...

). The mosque can hold up to 3,200 (including women) and is most crowded during the ''

jummah In Islam, Friday prayer or Congregational prayer ( ar, صَلَاة ٱلْجُمُعَة, ') is a prayer ('' ṣalāt'') that Muslims hold every Friday, after noon instead of the Zuhr prayer. Muslims ordinarily pray five times each day according ...

'' prayers on Friday. All sermons are delivered in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

and

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

. In terms of beliefs and practices, the mosque follows the traditions of

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagre ...

. The mosque has close links with the Bangladesh Welfare Association, which addresses social and community needs.

and

mother tongue A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...

classes are available for children on the top floors. The Brick Lane Mosque was once known as the London Great Mosque, but much larger places of worship for Muslims in the capital opened in

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...

(the

London Central Mosque The London Central Mosque (also known as the Regent's Park Mosque) is an Islamic place of worship located on the edge of Regent's Park in central London. Design and location It was designed by Sir Frederick Gibberd, completed in 1977, and ...

, 1978) and then nearby Whitechapel Road (the

East London Mosque The East London Mosque (ELM) is situated in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets between Whitechapel and Aldgate East. Combined with the adjoining London Muslim Centre and Maryam Centre, it is one of the largest mosques in Europe accommodating ...

, 1985).

History of the building

The building has served the religions of a succession of other communities in the area.

Christian

It was first established in 1743 as a Protestant chapel ("La Neuve Eglise", i.e. "the New Church") by London's

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

community. These were refugees who had left France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, to escape persecution by the Catholics. Many Huguenots settled in Spitalfields, bringing with them their silk-weaving and textile skills. As they were Protestant Dissenters, not members of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

, they built their own chapels.

Christ Church, Spitalfields Christ Church Spitalfields is an Anglican church built between 1714 and 1729 to a design by Nicholas Hawksmoor. On Commercial Street in the East End and in today's Central London it is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, on its western bord ...

, designed by the architect

Nicholas Hawksmoor Nicholas Hawksmoor (probably 1661 – 25 March 1736) was an English architect. He was a leading figure of the English Baroque style of architecture in the late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries. Hawksmoor worked alongside the principa ...

, was built during the reign of Queen Anne to demonstrate the power of the

established church A state religion (also called religious state or official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state), while not secular, is not necessarily a t ...

. 59 Brick Lane survived as a Huguenot chapel for more than six decades. In 1809 it became a

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charles W ...

chapel, bought by the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews, an organisation now known as the

Church's Ministry Among Jewish People The Church's Ministry Among Jewish People (CMJ) (formerly the London Jews' Society and the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews) is an Anglican missionary society founded in 1809. History The society began in the early 19th ...

, but this phase of its history lasted only 10 years. From 1819, the building became a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

chapel.

Jewish

In 1891, the building was adopted by yet another community: it became the

Machzike Hadath The Machzike Hadath community synagogue is a Lithuanian synagogue founded in 1891. The synagogue, also known as the Spitalfields Great Synagogue, was founded in 1891 in the East End of London, England. In 1893, it merged with the Machzike Shom ...

, the Spitalfields Great Synagogue. During this time (see

History of the Jews in England The history of the Jews in England goes back to the reign of William the Conqueror. Although it is likely that there had been some Jewish presence in the Roman period, there is no definitive evidence, and no reason to suppose that there was any ...

), the area was home to many Jewish refugees from

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...

. From the 1880s through the early part of the 20th century, massive

pogroms A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russian ...

and the May Laws in Russia caused many Jews to flee the Pale of Settlement. Of the East European Jewish emigrants, 140 000 settled in Britain. From 1916, the synagogue's leader was the notable

Abraham Isaac Kook Abraham Isaac Kook (; 7 September 1865 – 1 September 1935), known as Rav Kook, and also known by the acronym HaRaAYaH (), was an Orthodox rabbi, and the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of British Mandatory Palestine. He is considered to be one ...

, later the first

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

chief rabbi Chief Rabbi ( he, רב ראשי ''Rav Rashi'') is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. Since 1911, through a ...

of the British

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

. Nearby was the purpose-built Great Synagogue of London and another church building that had become a Jewish place of worship, the

Sandys Row Synagogue Sandy's Row Synagogue is a historic ''Grade II'' listed synagogue and former Christian church in the East End of London. After the Great Synagogue of London, the city's first Ashkenazi congregation, was destroyed by German bombing in the London ...

. The population of Jews decreased over the years, with many moving to other parts of

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

, to North London and elsewhere. The synagogue eventually moved to new premises in Golders Green.

Muslim

During the 1970s, the area of

and

was populated mainly by Bangladeshis who had come to Britain from the Sylhet region looking for better work. Many found work in factories and the textile trade. That growing community required a place of worship, and the building at 59 Brick Lane was bought and refurbished. In 1976, it reopened as a mosque, the London Jamme Masjid. Today, although it has been renamed, it still serves the Bangladeshi community as a mosque.59 Brick Lane: a History
Icons of England. Retrieved on 2009-04-27.

References

External links

* {{Mosques in the United Kingdom Sunni mosques in London Religion in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Bangladeshi diaspora in the United Kingdom Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Grade II* listed religious buildings and structures Religious buildings and structures converted into mosques 18th-century churches in the United Kingdom 19th-century synagogues 20th-century mosques Spitalfields