Barbados Muslims Celebrate 70th Anniversary Of First Purpose-Built Jama Masjid

Jama masjid or jame masjid comes from the Persian term masjed-e jame, from the Arabic language term masjid jāmi‘, meaning “congregational mosque”. A Jama masjid is the main mosque of a certain area that hosts the Friday noon prayers known as jumu’ah. For any group of Muslims to bind themselves as a faith community the need for an established place to congregate for the weekly sermon and prayer is an absolute necessity. 

Barbadian Researcher Sabir Nakhuda and I published an e-magazine to commemorate 70 years of the Jama Masjid established in the islands capital city, Bridgetown. 

The information in this magazine was gathered over several years from numerous interviews.

Prior to the construction of the Jama Masjid Muslims prayed at various homes around the city of Bridgetown. They had a deep yearning for a permanent place of worship (Masjid) on the island.

The e-magazine highlights the facilities prior to having the Jama Masjid. “Before 1950 there were two main places where Muslims performed their Jummah prayers.

Both of these places were located at Cheapside, Bridgetown (2nd picture). One at the 3-storey home of the Pandor family (3rd picture, third building from left, partially hidden). The other at the home of Molvi Yusuf Sacha (4th picture, present-day Caribsupply).

Maulana Dawood Pandor led the Jummah prayers at his home, while Molvi Sacha led the prayers at his residence. Persons attending prayers at Maulana Dawood usually discussed getting a place for a Masjid.

The main persons behind this effort were Maulana Dawood Pandor (His actual name is Ahmad, Dawood was his father’s name), Saied Piprawala, Mohammad Yusuf Degia and Haji Mohammad Patel, both from Passage Road.”

You can access the commemorative e-magazine Barbados Jama Masjid – A 70 year history