Source: www.therecord.com

The Bai’tul Kareem Mosque is the only mosque for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in the region, and its members have found a warm welcome in Cambridge.

CAMBRIDGE — For more than a decade, the mosque has been a gathering place for the local Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

But the old Galt building — acquired by the group in 2006 — was showing its age.

The roof leaked, and the basement flooded. Washrooms and windows were old and outdated. Little spiders and ants scurried by as members prayed.

“The kids would get scared,” said Mubarika Ahmed.

Extensive renovations have changed all of that, thanks to the generosity of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community members from across the country.

“Some kids donated their pocket money. Business people donated thousands,” said Nabeel A. Rana, secretary, external affairs for the local chapter. “It’s everybody’s mosque. We all take pride in that.”

On Saturday, the doors to the Bai’tul Kareem Mosque were opened to the community at large for an open house and grand reopening event.

There are a few hundred families in Waterloo Region belonging to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Rana estimated.

The Bai’tul Kareem Mosque is their only mosque in the region, although Rana said the community would like to build or acquire properties for additional mosques in Kitchener, Waterloo and Guelph. The largest concentration of local community members lives in Kitchener.

“A mosque is a centre of activity in Islam…. read more at www.therecord.com