History of BIS

In the 1970s Muslims from all corners of the world were arriving in Bath to study at the prestigious university and to find work. With no place for Muslims to perform their congregational prayers in Bath, a Palestinian businessman by the name of Mr. Diya Eddin Muhiyeddin Al-Muzaffar, allowed people to pray in the basement of his Georgian terraced house on Pierrepont Street. By the 1980s the growing congregation had decided to try and buy the property in order to establish the first Mosque in the area. Mr. Al Muzaffar generously agreed to sell the house at half the market value at £19,000, if the congregation could raise the funds to buy it. Within a few years, the building was bought and the Al Muzaffar Mosque was born and named in honor of our most generous benefactor.

In order to manage the property and run the mosque a limited company was formed, on June 8th, 1983 the Bath Islamic Society Ltd was incorporated and the names and nationalities of the first Directors lodged with Companies House tell a story in itself:

Osama Yousif Mohamed – Sudanese student
Basil Saied – Iraqi student
Mohd Khanil Taib – Malaysian student
Salah Al Mulla – Kuwaiti student
Ishaq Bambale- Nigerian student
Anwar Mufti – Saudi Arabian student
Anwar Suleman – British engineer

It was a truly multinational affair that shows the diversity of Islam. In the mid-1990’s the community become one whole Muslim community as the residents and visitors from all nationalities became united under one roof in the Al Muzaffar Mosque, and it has remained the one and only mosque for all Muslims in Bath to this day.