The masjid on the campus of Ahmedu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria, which was started but not completed due to impossibilities, was opened for worship with the contributions of Valide Humanitarian Aid Association. The construction, which started years ago, was left unfinished due to lack of resources and other local problems; university students and faculty members had to pray in a temporary area covered with sand.
Volunteers of the Valide Humanitarian Aid Association, who went to the region for the 2024 Sacrifice Organization, saw this state of the masjid and immediately took action. After returning to Turkey, the Association provided the necessary sponsorships and started the renovation and furnishing of the masjid. The construction process was completed in a short period of two months and the masjid was opened for worship with the participation of university faculty members, students and dignitaries of the region.
It is a great blessing for us to be able to worship Allah here as He deserves.
This project of the Valide Humanitarian Relief Association is not only the construction of a masjid, but also the fulfillment of an important spiritual need for thousands of students and faculty members studying at Ahmedu Bello University. Musa Abubakar, one of the university students who attended the opening ceremony of the masjid, explained what this process means to them:
“We have dreamed of having a masjid here for a long time. We used to have to pray on a sandy floor under a simple roof with no doors or windows. It was far from being a masjid, but we had no choice. Now we have a clean, beautiful and solid masjid. It is a great blessing for us to be able to worship Allah here as He deserves. This would never have been possible without the support of the Valide Humanitarian Aid Association.”
Muhammad Faruk Pirdal, President of Valide Humanitarian Aid Association, said the following about the opening of the masjid:
“In our belief, a masjid is not a place where you come, use and leave when the work is done. Masjid is a place of conversation, meeting, cohesion and solidarity as well as a place of worship. The masjid is also a place of learning and teaching, consultation and dialogue. Our universal brotherhood, which does not recognize class, distance, color, language and race, which we call the ummah, is first embodied in these masjids. A nation, with all its colors, with all its differences, first reaches the consciousness of being an ummah, of being brothers and sisters in masjids. For this reason, every masjid without a congregation is an orphaned and orphaned work, no matter how magnificent it is. Masjids that do not flourish with the voices of children and are not filled with the excitement of young people are doomed to remain sad. I sincerely believe that all my brothers and sisters at this University will inshallah not leave this masjid orphaned and orphaned.”
