A Birmingham mosque has won the prestigious top award as the UK best mosque in the 2nd Annual British Beacon Mosque Awards 2019, Birmingham Mail reported.
“They have 10 awards to give out and this year we have received the one for Best Run Mosque, which is the most prestigious,” said Kamran Hussain, general manager of the Green Lane Masjid and Community Centre (GLMCC).
“We are really pleased to receive this, it is good recognition for all the work we do,” he added.
In 2018, Faith Associates launched Beacon Mosque Standards, an initiative recognizing excellent practices and establishing global standards for Muslim places of worship.
Mosques are evaluated across ten categories which range from contribution to the local community to management and governance and are subsequently awarded three, four or five-star accreditation.
The Green Lane Mosque and Community Centre (Image: Birmingham Mail)
The Beacon Mosque annual awards took place on September 9 in London.
The applicants included Muslim institutions who strive to provide an excellent service across the ten standards set by the Faith Associates.
Last year, GLMCC won Best Charity Project while another local organization, the Bahu Trust in Balsall Heath, won the Best Green Initiative.
During the celebration, Hussain from the GLMCC dedicated the award to the congregation member who was brutally murdered on way home from prayers.
“I spoke about Islamophobia when I went up to receive the award and we have dedicated it to the member of our congregation who was killed in a hate crime in 2013,” he said.
Birmingham grandfather Mohammed Saleem was murdered by a far-right extremist as he made his way home from evening prayers.
Green Lane Masjid & Community Centre (GLMCC), is a mosque in Birmingham, linked to the Ahl-i Hadith Salafi movement. Established in the 1970s, it has been a registered charity in England since 2008.
The Masjid occupies a prominent corner site in Green Lane, Small Heath, Birmingham. One of the buildings was originally constructed as a public library and baths, designed by local architects Martin & Chamberlain and built in the redbrick and terracotta Gothic-Jacobean style between 1893 and 1902.