About Us
About Us
“Our goal is to serve humanity”
The ‘Mohaddis-e-Azam Mission’ is a distinguished and well-established worldwide organization named after one of the great Sufi Scholars and Saints of recent times, Mohaddis-e-Azam Hind (Allama Pir Syed Shah Muhammad Abul Muhamid Ashrafi al-Jilani, born 1894 CE).
Formed and initiated in the latter part of the 20th century by Mohaddis-e-Azam’s son and appointed spiritual successor, the eminent and world-renowned Imam-e-Humam ‘Raeesul Muhaqiqeen Huzur Shaikhul Islam’ Syed Mohammad Madani Ashrafi al-Jilani, who has blessed us by visiting the U.K. regularly since the early 1970s.
The main aim and purpose of the Mission were to educate the community and serve humanity. This is beautifully summed up in the Urdu phrase: “Kaum ki Khidmat” which translates as “Serving Humanity”.
The very first U.K. branch was established in the North-West town of Blackburn, Lancashire in the 1990s. Alhamdulillah, the Mission has gone from strength to strength.
Since then other branches have been established around the UK, including Bolton, Preston, Lancaster, Dewsbury, Birmingham, Leicester, and London.
The volunteers in Bolton has been active since the 1980s to the present day. However, they purchased their first building in September 2014. The 19th Century church building was refurbished and converted into a masjid and madrassah. Interestingly, the name that was first given to the church was Halliwell Road Mission; it was later changed to Halliwell Road Free Church. Over 100 years later it is now called M A Mission Learning Centre Bolton.
M A Mission Bolton serves its community by holding weekday evening Madrassah classes for children aged 3-18 years old. We also have a dedicated Alim and Alimah class, as well as a Hifz class.
We offer other community services like Karate classes for children and have other projects in the pipeline.
MA Mission Bolton has also helped to raise funds for the local homeless and have collected aid for Syrian refugees. We also raise money annually for other charities and organizations.
Our goal to SERVE HUMANITY and we pray that Allah gives us the strength and ability to carry out this noble task to the highest standard.
Why is it called M A MISSION?
Mohaddis-e-Azam Mission is named after a very accomplished scholar and gnostic who lived in India during the first half of the 20thCentury. He passed away in 1961. During his life time his MISSION was to educate Muslims and non-Muslims, bring them closer to Allah, bring them out of poverty and give them the means to provide for themselves and their families. He tirelessly travelled from village to village to fulfil this mission. He was also a key founder member during the creation of Pakistan and Bangladesh. His son, S M Madani Miya, took over his mission and decided to set up a charity in his noble father’s name–the purpose :to educate and serve people. Since 1961 he has travelled the globe and established branches of M A Mission all over the world–from USA to Bangladesh. In the UK there are7branches serving their local communities, carrying out the mission that Mohaddis-e-Azam carried out in the last century.
Our Brief History
MA Mission
- Cottages on the current site were purchased in August 18991
- December 1899 premises opened and known as Halliwell Road Mission
- In 1902 name changedto Halliwell Road Free Church
- The church building was completed in March 1931
- The Sunday School and other community activities were very successful over the years
- However, falling numbers and a difficulty to recruit youngsters meant the church went into decline
- On 13th September 2014, the church was purchased by M A Mission so that it could be run as a mosque, madrassah, learning centre, and community centre
- Extensive refurbishments and repairs took place (especially the roof)
- The madrassah classes started in September 2015 (started with 20 pupils, now we have 140 pupils ranging from 3.5 years to 14 years old), including a nursery class
- Daily congregational prayers started on 1st January 2016
Activities at The Mission
Daily Madrassah classes and nursery classes from 5pm to 7pm: The children are taught how to read the Qur’an, Islamic manners and etiquettes, how to keep clean, the fundamental beliefs in Islam, the history of Islam and how to live peacefully in the UK as a law-abiding citizen .
- Daily congregational prayers (5 times per day) and Friday (Jummah) congregational prayers
Regular gatherings where guest speakers from around the UK and around the world are invited to address the community and teach them about Islam
Weekly classes for ladies and girls to help them learn how to recite and understand the Qur’an
Regular gatherings for ladies with our main Imam so that they can learn more about their faith and ask any questions they may have
The community halls are hired out for weddings, religious gatherings and other social events
The purpose-built industrial kitchen caters for large gatherings that take place – any food that is left is donated to the Salvation Army
Islamic literature is distributed
We are hoping to start a weekend club to provide recreational activities for youngsters
We are also hoping to have regular classes for girls and young ladies so that they can attain an Islamic scholarship certificate
Karate Classes for children during the week and Karate classes for ladies/girls on Sundays.
Syrian Refugee Appeal – in Dec 2016 we helped to raise over £15,000 for Syrian Refugees living in refugee camps and also sent a full container of aid..
- Helping the Homeless: In Dec 2017 our students collected essential items for the homeless living rough in Bolton. Several bags of essentials (including sleeping bags, food, underwear and socks) were handed over to the homeless via the charity Homeless Aid UK
- Ripple Effect – (Ramadan/June 2018) clothes for refugees in Greece: The Ripple Effect Charity (based in Lancaster) got in touch with us because they were helping refugees from Syria and the Middle East stranded in Greece. However, they needed Abayas and women’s clothing which they couldn’t source (as they were a non-Muslim organisation). They contacted a brother in Lancaster, who then contacted us. We made an appeal to our community and with a few days the entire Community Hall was filled with clothes! It took several vans and cars to transport the clothes to Lancaster where they were sorted and shipped off to Greece. All this was in the last 10 days of Ramadan!
- Palestine 2 Bolton: In April 2018 we helped raise over £3000 to help 12 Palestinian children and their 2 teachers visit Bolton for 10 days. This was in partnership with the National Education Union (NEU) and Julia Simpkins who is the secretary of the Bolton branch.
- Interfaith Iftar Evenings in Ramadan: In 2016 we held our first Interfaith Iftar Evening. Its purpose was to establish positive relationships with the local non-Muslim community. In 2017 our 2nd Interfaith Event was held in the wake of the Manchester Arena bombings. Many faith leaders attended the event. In 2018, our attention turned to helping the homeless and needy in Bolton. We partnered up with Homeless Aid UK. Many faith leaders attended. In 2019, our topic was “Love thy neighbour – what does it mean today?” A very fruitful and important conversation was had and we saw the demographic of attendees change and increase. We were unable to hold the event in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Online during the Lockdown: During the pandemic and the subsequent Lockdown we were forced to close the Masjid and Madrassah. Children’s classes were moved online. Our Imam – Mufti Ayyub Ashrafi Sahib – also went online and delivered lectures, webinars and daily talks to the local as well as international community. Some webinars involved scholars addressing the audience from as far as Pakistan and Baghdad.
- Repair and renovation: As the building is over 100 years old it constantly needs attention. In 2018 the wooden floor in the Community Hall needed to be replaced. The kitchen and classrooms were refurbished at the same time. In 2020, we took the Lockdown as an opportunity to build a new mehrab and change the stage area in the main prayer hall.
- Live Streaming: since we opened in Sept 2015 we were keen to ensure that our audience would be able to engage with our programs even if they were unable to attend, so we decided to invest in equipment that would allow us to stream live on the internet. Our Stream Team have worked incredibly hard in the background to ensure our streams maintain a high quality and overall our efforts have been warmly received. We are looking to invest in more equipment to make the streams even better.
- Darul Uloom Ahl Al Sunnah: In 2021 we managed to acquire the Halliwell Conservative Club (situated 50 meters up the road) in order to expand and further our offer for high-quality education to the local community. The building, once refurbished and renovated, will be a centre of excellence providing high quality education for young people and adults in the sacred Islamic sciences. Traditional courses like the Dars-e-Nizami course, as was well as shorter bespoke courses will be offered in both Urdu and English. All the courses will be delivered under the supervision of our resident Imam – Hazrat Allama Mufti Muhammad Ayyub Ashrafi Sahib. The renovation work started in July 2024 and we hope it will be completed by September 2025