Outer Hebrides to get first mosque despite church’s prayers to stop it

 The first mosque in the Outer Hebrides is set to open this summer despite local church leaders praying that it is never built.

A fundraising drive for the mosque, which already has planning permission, raised £56,000 within days, outstripping its £50,000 target.

The plan has faced fierce opposition from the local arm of the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) which urged followers to pray that “no mosque will ever appear in Stornoway”.

Plans to create the mosque have been led by Aihtsham Rashid, 39, a builder from Leeds, West Yorks, who said the Syrian community on the Isle of Lewis had asked him for help. Six more families have recently arrived from Syria, growing the area’s small Muslim community, which at the 2011 census stood at 61 people.

A derelict house is being converted into a mosque for the community.

In a press release last year, the Rev David M Blunt, of the Presbytery of the Outer Hebrides, said the construction of a mosque would mean that “Islam will be able to promote itself in our midst through public worship, despite its beliefs and practices being alien to the religious convictions of the vast majority of our community”.