Aberdeen worshippers are facing a “desperate choice” between illegal parking or missing the most important prayer of their week.
Community leaders “never thought it would get so busy” at the former Frederick Street School, which Aberdeen Mosque and Islamic Centre (AMIC) took over in 2021.
The popularity of Aberdeen Central Mosque is leading to problem parking, with leaders even urging members to “miss prayers” rather than compound the issue.
Now “very, very worried” trustees have asked the city council to help.
But the Imam, Ibrahim Alwawi, has called for the change to cover all city mosques and other places of worship too.
The root of the problem parking: ‘Everyone loves to go and pray’ at Aberdeen Central Mosque
Councillor M Tauqeer Malik painted the the city transport committee a picture of the problem, as he called for assistance.
The mosque is next door to the Frederick Street multi-storey, which has earmarked spaces for the Aberdeen Health Village across the road.
“AMIC is a great addition for our Muslim community, a really good, reasonable space to pray on Fridays,” Mr Malik said.
“There are a few other venues but it’s very, very busy on Fridays because everyone loves to go there and pray.
“Sometimes people are breaking the law, parking on double yellow lines and across the road or using NHS-marked spaces.”
Aberdeen Central Mosque leaders urge people to ‘miss prayers’ rather than break the rules
Mr Malik said trustees were so worried by the problem parking that they have urged worshippers to even “miss the Friday prayers”, rather than add to the trouble.
Their concerns have fallen on deaf ears though.
Currently, parking is free in Aberdeen’s pay and display car parks until 1pm on Sundays.
This allows Christian worshippers to drive to church without a financial barrier or fear of landing a fixed penalty notice ticket.
But Sunday is not a universal sabbath. The Qur’an’s most important day of prayer is a Friday.
City chiefs will now price up how much it would cost to afford Aberdeen’s Muslims the same flexibility over Friday lunchtimes.
Aberdeen Central Mosque Imam: ‘Equality for all houses of worship’
Imam Ibrahim Alwawi told The Press And Journal it is “all about equality” and supporting Aberdeen Central Mosque to succeed.
He fears the issues could deter people from attending at all, especially given the present cost of living.
“This is a consideration of the religious need to encourage those who want to practice their faith,” he said.
“We are not talking about every day. It would just be once a week, for two hours for the most important sermon and prayer of the week.
“Lunchtime is very tight. People want to pray and to eat and when you introduce finding parking and paying it becomes stressful.
“We are talking about all mosques. And I want to be clear, we are calling for this to cover all houses of worship.”
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