A mosque at the "heart" of a Wirral town is opening its doors to the public in a bid to unite people across the borough.
Wirral Deen Centre was set up in 2016 by a group of local British Muslims who wanted to establish, not only a place of worship, but a community hub to serve the people of Birkenhead. Situated on Borough Road, the centre operates under the motto 'We stand together'; an ethos which has perhaps never been more potent than right now when Merseyside has been rocked by a spate of horrific crimes and the rising cost of living is sparking crisis in Wirral and beyond.
"It’s a very important building in a very prominent place," Pauline Cocker, Patron of Wirral Deen Centre, told the ECHO. "It serves its own community well but it's also open to any faith. It was set up in the first place by young people who wanted it to be more outward looking.
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"Over the years we’ve made a lot of important contacts with police, local authorities and other religions, more or less with our own funding. This year we’ve managed to get a couple of grants which means we can do even more things.
"It’s an amazing building and it's been so important what we’ve done with a small amount of funding and committed people."
There are more than three million Muslims in Britain, 3,000 of which live in Wirral. One of the young people working to enhance the Deen Centre's visibility in the local area is Community Engagement officer, Mohammed Zaman, whose family moved to Birkenhead from Birmingham more than two decades ago.
Mohammed told the ECHO: “I was invited to join the Deen Centre after my artwork got noticed online. It felt like a calling from God because I was being asked to help a mosque.
"It felt really in line with my values and who I am as a person because I’ve always imagined myself helping the community and using my gifts and my talents to help others.
"We’re always growing here and I’d describe it as the heart of the community. The amount of people I’ve met throughout this whole journey is amazing.”
He added: “The Muslim community is growing but we’re still a minority. Compared to around 20 years ago when my dad and everyone first came, there wasn’t a lot and when we used to go to the mosque there weren’t many people there. But nowadays Birkenhead is one of the safest and best places to be around because of the accessibility of halal meat and beaches not so far away."
As well as operating as a mosque, the Deen Centre is host to a community café, and runs projects helping to tackle food poverty in Wirral as well as educational outreach programmes in local schools. The centre has previously relied heavily on donations from its congregation, but has recently secured temporary funding the Voluntary, Community and Faith Sector, which education manager, Neil Sledge is hoping will increase scope for more community projects in the future.
Neil said: “As a non Muslim, I think it's a really open and welcoming place to find out a little bit about what a mosque is and how Muslims worship, which is really interesting. It’s a multifunctional place for people to come and if you’ve never been it's just warm and friendly and interesting. That’s why I like it, and you meet new people who are often quite different to yourself as well.
“What we’re really working on is the engagement and getting local families, children and community members involved with all sorts of different things we’re offering. It’s very early days but we’re getting there. I first started getting involved five years ago and I just couldn’t keep away. We’ve got lots of ideas, it's just having the capacity to make it happen.”
The Deen Centre's next major event is a community open day as part of the national Visit My Mosque Day initiative. The centre is inviting locals from all religious backgrounds to explore the Mosque, learn about its history and significance to Muslim life, and meet those who worship there on Saturday, September 3.
The day will feature tours, refreshments, children’s activities, and a chance to observe prayer in the mosque and learn more about the Islamic faith. Pauline said: “I know first-hand all the good work that the mosque has done for communities in Birkenhead as well as the rich spiritual life which it hosts week in, week out. I am looking forward to the event which I hope will help bring people together and build bridges between communities.”
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