Didsbury Mosque

Distinctive aspects

The Didsbury Mosque and Manchester Islamic Centre says that it "represents a wide range of the Muslim community of various origins and/or Islamic schools of thought". The mosque holds open-days with displays, talks, question-and-answer sessions, and guided tours.

Didsbury Mosque has a gardening volunteering group for maintaining their paradise themed garden on Burton Road containing roses, sweet peas, Mediterranean plants, salad garden with pergolas. A Youth group has also been set up encouraging them to play table tennis, badminton, chess and others along with food, Islamic reminders and prayers.

The mosque has a Sharia (Islamic law) Department which issues fatwas (Islamic decrees), oversees family affairs, helps calculate zakat (a type of alms-giving), and provides advice and mediation with regard to financial transactions.

With radio coverage of most of South Manchester, the mosque broadcasts adhan (Islamic call to prayer), prayers themselves, Friday sermons, and daily reminders, as well as talks and lectures given in the prayer hall of the mosque. The Manchester Islamic Centre is registered as a charity with the Charity Commission.

During the 2021 COVID-19 lockdown they offered hot food and a foodbank for their neighbours and those in need as well as briefly holding a pop-up vaccine centre. On 21 January 2021 an emergency flood warning given to many Didsbury residents encouraged them to evacuate. In response, the Mosque provided voluntary emergency overnight stay for residents including the Didsbury West councillor.

Attendees

There are strong Libyan ties within the mosque, with various people from the mosque having been involved, in Libya, in the civil war. In 2011, the (current) mosque imam travelled to Libya, where he aided moderate rebel groups to help topple Gaddafi. Another person from the mosque was described variously as a "member" and a "senior member" of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. A regular worshipper at the mosque, Abd al-Baset Azzouz, al Qaeda operative left Britain in 2009 to join the terror group’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Pakistan, before heading to Libya to run an al Qaeda network in the east of the country.

At least two British recruits of Islamic State also worshipped at the mosque. Rapper and ISIS soldier Raphael Hostey worshipped at the mosque together with Salman Abedi, who went on to set off a suicide bomb at Manchester Arena in 2017. Hostey travelled to Syria where he was killed.

In December 2017, mosque attendee Mohammed Abdallah, was jailed for 10 years for being a member of Islamic State, where he was listed as a "specialist sniper".

Link to Manchester Arena bombing

The perpetrator of the Manchester Arena bombing was identified as Salman Ramadan Abedi, an attendant of the mosque. His father, Ramadan Abedi (also known as Abu Ismael), called the adhan at the mosque; his older brother, Ismail Abedi, was a tutor in the mosque's Qur'an school. Both men were arrested.

The mosque released a statement condemning the terror attack. The mosque also held a moment of silence to remember the victims of the bombing.

Muslims opposed to militant Islamic ideologies, cited by the Voice of America, have said that the mosque must bear some responsibility for Abedi's radicalisation because of the conservative Salafi brand of Islam it allegedly espouses. Rashad Ali, senior fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and counter-terror expert, told Vice News the mosque preached a "fairly radical, puritan" brand of Salafist Islam and was "effectively taken over at certain points by various Libyan militia groups, including ones associated with the Muslim Brotherhood." He said the Abedi family subscribed to a radical political strain of Salafism, a background which suggested the bomber would have had a shorter pathway to radicalisation than others. According to a secret recording unveiled by the BBC, 10 days before the Abedi bought his concert ticket, Mostafa Graf, the imam of the Didsbury Mosque, made a call for armed jihad, according to scholars. An investigation by Greater Manchester Police into the report found that no offences had been committed.

One attendee said in 2017 that allegedly, "every other Friday khutba [sermon] at Didsbury was about how bad ISIS are" and that the bomber allegedly, "hated the mosque", whereas another attendee said Salman Abedi "learned the Qur’an by heart" at the mosque. On 4 November 2017 the mosque was put on lockdown after receiving a "threatening letter".

2021 Arson

On 10 and 11 September 2021 an arson attack caused minor damage to a door. Passersby helped put the fire out. Police have CCTV footage and are investigating, they are asking for help from anyone with dashcam footage or other information that may help in their enquiries. Police stated, "We believe there were several vehicles that may have driven past at the time and would ask anyone who may have any dashcam footage to get in touch." and asked witnesses to call 0161 856 4973 or 0800 555 111 anonymously. Furthermore it was also revealed that they had received threats to destroy the mosque for a period before the arson.

2025 Sharia Law Advertisement

On 24 July 2025, an advertisement was posted in the government's Find A Job portal, for a job labelled "Sharia Law Administrator", sparking backlash from right-wing MP's affiliated with the Reform UK party, and Conservative Party (UK).

Posts made by MP's such as Nigel Farage claimed that the country was being 'destroyed'. He said: "Our country and its values are being destroyed," in a post on X. Rupert Lowe, an independent MP, posted: "I've formally questioned the DWP on what the hell they are playing at... We live in Britain - we do NOT have, or want, Shariah law."

The mosque released a statement on the events saying individuals on the 'far-right' had 'maliciously misinformed the public to incite hate and for political gain or out of ignorance' following the publication of the ad, by the Manchester Islamic Centre (MIC). The mosque had advertised for the role within its religious service and it was not a government-funded post, but rather had a salary paid for by the mosque from community donations. The job was posted by the independently registered charity - not affiliated with the Government.

References

References

1. (25 April 2015). "Didsbury Mosque and Islamic Centre". Muslims in Britain.
2. (2017). "Sheikh Mustafa Abdullah Graf".
3. France & Woodall (1976). A New History of Didsbury. E.J. Morten, 203. {{ISBN. 0-85972-035-7
4. South Manchester Reporter: [http://www.southmanchesterreporter.co.uk/news/s/366556_true_meaning_of_islam News: True meaning of Islam] {{webarchive. link. (10 March 2009)
5. "About Us".
6. (3 August 2016). "Manchester Islamic Centre and Didsbury Mosque".
7. (10 January 2011). "Didsbury Mosque, Sharia Department".
8. "327235 - The Islamic Centre (Manchester)".
9. Didsbury Mosque. (2021-05-21). "Home".
10. (2021-01-22). "Freeze expected on heels of flooding damage from Storm Christoph".
11. (2021-01-21). "Didsbury flood alert: From lockdown river haven to major evacuations". BBC News.
12. (22 November 2017). "Born in Britain, forged in Libya: the Manchester suicide bomber's story". [[The National (Abu Dhabi).
13. Jones, Sam. (27 May 2017). "Terrorism: Libya's civil war comes home to Manchester". [[Financial Times]].
14. Trew, Bel. (25 May 2017). "Worried parents took Manchester bomber Abedi to Libya and confiscated passport". [[The Times]].
15. Hume, Tim. (2017-05-25). "The Manchester bomber grew up in a neighborhood struggling with extremism".
16. Dettmer, Jamie. (29 May 2017). "Manchester Bomber's Mosque Comes Under Scrutiny". [[Voice of America]].
17. Parveen, Nazia. (2017-05-25). "Salman Abedi had connections to gangs and terrorists in Manchester". [[The Guardian]].
18. Karia, Sejai. (7 December 2017). "British jihadi with links to Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi jailed for being Islamic State member". [[ITV News]].
19. (2017-05-26). "Everything we know about Manchester suicide bomber Salman Abedi".
20. (23 May 2017). "Manchester attack: Who was the suspect Salman Abedi?". BBC News.
21. Parveen, Ian Cobain Frances Perraudin Steven Morris Nazia. (23 May 2017). "Manchester Arena attacker named by police as Salman Ramadan Abedi". The Guardian.
22. (23 May 2017). "Manchester Arena attacker named by police as Salman Ramadan Abedi". The Guardian.
23. (23 May 2017). "Salman Abedi & Didsbury Mosque: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know".
24. (24 May 2017). "The face of hate': Manchester Arena attack suspect Salman Abedi's home raided, disturbing book found".
25. (24 May 2017). "Ismail Abedi: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know".
26. "Didsbury mosque distances itself from Manchester bomber".
27. Hume, Tim. (25 May 2017). "Road to radicalization". [[Vice News]].
28. Titheradge, Ed and Thomas Noel. (16 August 2018). "Manchester mosque sermon 'called for armed jihad', say scholars".
29. Pidd, Helen. (16 August 2018). "Manchester police investigate arena bomber's links to imam".
30. (29 January 2019). "Didsbury Mosque 'military jihad' sermon probe ends". BBC Nes.
31. "Manchester's Libyans react to killer in their midst".
32. "Salman Ramadan Abedi named by police as Manchester Arena attacker". The Guardian.
33. (4 November 2017). "Didsbury Mosque on lockdown in response to 'threatening letter'".
34. [https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/sep/11/police-investigate-arson-attack-on-didsbury-mosque-as-a-hate Police investigate arson attack on Didsbury mosque as a hate crime] ''[[The Guardian]]''
35. (15 September 2021). "Didsbury Mosque to host 'heroes dinner' for arson attack saviours".
36. (11 September 2021). "Didsbury Mosque: Police investigate fire as hate crime".
37. https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/mosque-hits-back-against-misinformation-32154411
38. https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2087529/nigel-farage-dwp-shariah-law-job-ad
39. https://disa.org/mosque-rebuts-claims-of-misinformation-regarding-sharia-compliant-job-advertisement/