Manchester's First Mosque Still a Couple of Months Away

Ever since January of 2010, members of the have been praying in the basement of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church.

Tarek Ambia, who is the treasurer for the Muslim association, said the church has been great to the Muslim congregation, and Ambia cannot thank the church enough for its generosity.

However, Ambia and the Association of Muslim Community will have their own prayer hall and place of worship in the near future. The house at 46 Cottage St. will become the congregation’s mosque once renovations are completed in about two months. It will be the first ever mosque in Manchester.

Ambia, a Manchester resident for more than a decade, said that the architectural design of the mosque was approved by the town of Manchester last week. Ambia, who owns a local real estate business, hopes for the interior renovations to begin next week.

“We expect it to take six to eight weeks to finish this project,” Ambia said. “The plan is to combine three rooms into a prayer hall, and also to have restrooms for men and women.”

An inspection would be done following the renovations, and if the inspection passes, 46 Cottage St. would officially be the congregation’s place of worship, according to Ambia.

“We are very excited for the renovations to end, so we can finally have a prayer hall there,” Ambia said. “We were hoping to have it done by now, but the architectural design took a bit longer than we expected.”

The Association of Muslim Community has about 40 members, most from Bangladesh and Pakistan, who live and work in the downtown area. The congregation is led by Imam Mustak Ahmed, and Mohammed Islam is the president.

As mentioned before, association members have been meeting in a space in the basement of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church since January of 2010.

Reverend Paul Briggs, who leads St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, said his members welcomed the Muslim association; they were curious about where the Muslim residents came from, and about Islam in general.

At the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting on March 21, Briggs was in favor of the new mosque, saying that “this is an opportunity to welcome the Muslim community into our midst.” He also said that his congregation has developed a cordial and warm relationship with the Muslim association, providing for deeper dialogue.

“Abraham is the patriarch of both Islam and Christianity, and even though we have very different understandings, there is lots of common ground on peace and justice issues,’’ Briggs said.

He said that the new mosque is a sign that Manchester has changed, and that is part of a cultural shift that is happening all over the country.

Before the St. Mary’s Episcopal Church opportunity for the Muslim congregation, they had to travel as far as Windsor to pray at a mosque. Ambia is quite happy that they will have their own mosque in town in the coming months.

“Manchester has been very helpful to us,” Ambia said. “The community has supported us, and we are very grateful for that.”

Mark Pellegrini, the town's director of planning and economic development, said the Muslim congregation tried to get approval for a mosque at a different location in town prior to the Cottage Street property. However, the planning commission did not think that site would be suitable for a mosque.

“The street had heavy traffic, and there wasn’t as much space for parking,” Pellegrini said. “But the 46 Cottage St. location is much better. There’s a larger parking lot, and it’s in the downtown area, so there’s access to downtown parking if there’s ever an overflow.”

Scott Shanley, who is the general manager in town, said that Manchester is a very diverse community, welcoming a wide range of religious beliefs, and the mosque going up in town is just another example of that.