The Ammar Mosque and Osman Ramju Sadick Islamic Centre () or Wan Chai Mosque is a mosque and Islamic centre in

Wan Chai Wan Chai (Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: 灣仔) is located in the western part of Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It is bounded by Canal Road, Hong Kong, Canal Road to the east, Arsenal St ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. It is the third mosque built in Hong Kong.

History

First building

The original building of this mosque can be traced back to the first Muslim cemetery in Hong Kong located at 7 Seymore Street where there were only five or six burials took place. By that time, the Ammar Mosque was just a small mosque built adjacent to the cemetery which was used primarily to offer funeral prayer. However, once the Muslim population increased, Muslims living nearby the mosque began to use it for daily prayers as well. The earliest grave can be traced back to the year of 1864. The site is now used for Jewish synagogue and the Muslim cemetery was moved to Happy Valley Muslim Cemetery.

Second building

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the new Ammar Mosque was constructed. In December 1978, the land in which the mosque was built was requisitioned by the

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was under British Empire, British rule from 1841 to 1997, except for a Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, brief period of Japanese occupation during World War II from 1941 to 1945. It was a crown colony of the United Kingdom from 1841 ...

government for the construction of the

Aberdeen Tunnel Aberdeen Tunnel, part of Route 1, is a dual-carriageway tunnel linking Happy Valley and Wong Chuk Hang near Aberdeen on the Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It shortens the travel time between Wong Chuk Hang and Causeway Bay of the Hong Kong I ...

. The government offered them a new plot of land in the current location of Ammar Mosque at the Oi Kwan Road in

and paid $2.5 million towards the re-provisioning for the new mosque.

Current building

The construction of the current mosque building started in September 1979 with funds from the

Islamic Union of Hong Kong The Islamic Union of Hong Kong is an Islamic charitable and non-profit organisation in Hong Kong, China. The headquarters of the union is at the Ammar Mosque and Osman Ramju Sadick Islamic Centre. History The organisation was founded over 110 ...

and was formally opened on 14 September 1981. In 2012, the mosque underwent major renovation which the cost of

HK$ The Hong Kong dollar (, sign: HK$; code: HKD) is the official currency of Hong Kong. It is divided into 100 cents. Historically, it was also divided into 1000 mils. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is the monetary authority of Hong Kong an ...

14 million which lasted for 6 months. This includes the installation of new central air conditioning system, CCTV, new outer painting colour, replacement of toilet and ablution areas, new study rooms etc.

Architecture

The mosque was designed by a

Chinese Muslim Islam has been practiced in China since the 7th century CE.. There are an estimated 17–25 million Muslims in China, less than 2 percent of the total population. Though Hui Muslims are the most numerous group, the greatest concentration of Mu ...

, Ramju Sadick. The centre of the mosque is an eight-storey complex with multi-purpose facilities, such as ablution halls for men and women on the first floor, mosque male prayer hall on the second floor, mosque female prayer hall on the third floor and Chinese restaurant, Halal bakery, medical services, classrooms, library, offices for Imam and Quran teachers, conference and seminar rooms are located on the fourth until eighth floor .

Activities

Ammar mosque houses the headquarters of

Incorporated Trustees of the Islamic Community Fund of Hong Kong The Incorporated Trustees of the Islamic Community Fund of Hong Kong () is an organisation recognised by the Government of Hong Kong that represents the interests of the Muslim communities in Hong Kong. It is generally known as The Board of Tru ...

and Hong Kong Islamic Youth Association. The mosque regularly holds Islamic workshops every weekends. It also holds classes for newly converts to Islam and proper Quran reading. Occasionally, the mosque hosts tour visits by school or university students on organised field trips.

Transport

The building is accessible east from

Wan Chai station Wan Chai () is a station on the of the Hong Kong MTR rapid transit system. The livery colour is lime green. It serves the Wan Chai locality within the district of the same name. The station platforms are located underneath Hennessy Road, a m ...

and also west from

Causeway Bay station Causeway Bay () is an underground metro station on the MTR network in Hong Kong. It is located between and stations on the , and sits underneath Great George Street near Hennessy Road and Yee Wo Street. Named for the Causeway Bay area and it ...

References

{{Mosques in Hong Kong 1967 establishments in Hong Kong Mosques in Hong Kong Mosques completed in 1981 Mosques completed in 1967 Wan Chai