Lakemba Mosque

Lakemba Mosque Masjid Ali Bin Abi Taleb
Basic information
Location	Lakemba (Sydney), New South Wales, Australia
Affiliation	Sunni Islam
Status	Active
Leadership	Shaykh Yahya Safi (Imam)
Website	Lakemba Mosque
Architectural description
Architectural type	Mosque
Founder	Lebanese Muslim Association
Completed	1977
Specifications

File:Lakemba Mosque Construction.png

Lakemba Mosque under construction in the 1970s

Part of a series on Islam in Australia

History

Early history Afghan cameleers Battle of Broken Hill Contemporary society Halal certification in Australia Islamophobia in Australia

Mosques

List of mosques Lakemba Mosque · Auburn Gallipoli Mosque Central Adelaide Mosque • Marree Mosque

Organisations

Islamic organisations in Australia AFIC · ANIC • LMA · IMAA · IISNA • ICQ • ICV • MWA

Groups

Afghan • Albanian • Arab • Bangladeshi Bosnian • Indian • Indonesian • Iranian Iraqi • Lebanese • Malay • Pakistani • Turkish

Events

National Mosque Open Day

People

Prominent Australian Muslims Ibrahim Abu Mohamed

Lakemba Mosque (also known as Masjid Ali Bin Abi Taleb) is reportedly Australia's largest mosque.

Lakemba Mosque is the first purpose-built mosque in Sydney and is located in the suburb of Lakemba, Sydney. The mosque is owned and managed by the Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA). The Lakemba Mosque and the LMA are co-located in Wangee Road, Lakemba.

History

The Lebanese Muslim Association commenced construction of the mosque in 1972, with it being completed in 1977, with about half of the funds coming from the Middle East and the largest donation coming from the Saudi royal family. It was the first purpose-built mosque in Sydney and remains Australia's most well-known mosque.

While historically Muslims of Lebanese heritage constituted the majority of the congregation, today people of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Somali and South-East Asian backgrounds are also of significant numbers, along with a small but growing number of converts. The overwhelming majority of the congregation is either of Hanafi or Shafi'i background.

Mosque Personnel

Lakemba Mosque has a number of staff who assist in the running and maintenance of the mosque.

Currently the mosque has two official Imams:

• The Imam of Lakemba Mosque is Shaykh Yahya Safi, the "Australian Representative of Dar ul Fatwa of Lebanon". Born in Tripoli, Lebanon in 1970, he was awarded a degree in Islamic Jurisprudence in 1992. He worked as an Imam in Tripoli, before arriving in Australia, to be the Imam of Lakemba Mosque in 1996. Awarded a "Masters degree in the interpretation and studies of the Qu'ran in 2002," Shaykh Yahya is preparing for a PhD in Islamic studies. He has gained Certificate IV in English for Academic Purposes. Shaykh Yahya also gives the khutbah each week, unless there is a visiting Shaykh from overseas.
• The assistant Imam, as of 2015, is Shaykh Mohamed Harby. Shaykh Mohamed is a young qāriʾ from Egypt who specialises in the sciences of Qur'an which he teaches at an advanced level to students at the Lebanese Muslim Association.

The mosque also has a committee which oversees the mosque and its operations.

Activities

The mosque offers a number of religious classes, such as in Prophetic biography, Fiqh and Aqidah. The mosque gives a platform to a number of local Shaykhs to speak and teach, such as Shaykh Wesam Charkawi.

On Fridays, the mosque normally hosts 4,000 to 5,000 congregants, while on Eid Prayers the mosque and the outside road regularly host 40,000 worshippers, making it the largest eid prayer in Australia.

Wider community

There was controversy in late 2012 after Shaykh Safi told the congregation, during prayers, that they should not take part in anything to do with Christmas. A fatwa warned that, "disbelievers are trying to draw Muslims away from the straight path". The Grand Mufti of Australia, Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, said these views did not represent the majority of Muslims in Australia. Keysar Trad, former director and president of the LMA, said they previously greeted people with merry Christmas, "I don't know what has changed."

The mosque is not a supporter of marriage equality with Shaykh Safi saying, "it's a major sin to have such relations between men and men, a sexual relation." Similarly there is not gender equality, with women having to go to a second floor and remain behind tinted glass.

See also

• Islam in Australia
• Islamic schools and branches
• Keysar Trad
• List of mosques in Oceania
• Taj El-Din Hilaly

External links

• Lakemba Mosque