I didn't go in the main door - that seemed presumptuous. And I never realised quite how much lay behind the brick façade until I stepped beneath the minaret. This was topped off with a further extension opened in 2013, adding even more communal facilities and an even larger area of carpet. It wasn't until 1985 that the current purpose-built mosque was built, and the swelling congregation forced an extension on adjacent land in 2000. Funding for London's first mosque began in 1910, but Muslims had to meet in temporary rooms until three houses on Commercial Road were bought in 1941. It has a long history, far longer than you might expect from the relatively modern building fronting Whitechapel Road. I went to the East London Mosque, one of Britain's earliest and largest, with kneeling space for up to 7000 worshippers. Sadiq Khan probably didn't need to go specially.
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