About Us
Abbotsford Branch
A Brief History of the Abbotsford Islamic Center: Abbotsford is a beautiful city located in the heart of Fraser Valley. Muslim community here began with a small population of four to five families. Initially, only Friday (Jummah) prayers and Eid prayers were arranged by families at the local community halls and in each others’ homes. Over time, the community kept growing.
In 2003 it was felt that a permanent prayer place was needed as moving from place to place was no longer an option. A few brothers took the responsibility to rent a 650 sqft location in Abbotsford and the first non-residential Musallah was established. This attracted more Muslim brothers and sisters to the area. Within two years this location ran out of space.
In 2005, a 1200sqft hall was found at Cedar Park Place, a West Abbotsford commercial plaza and the Musallah was moved here. This helped increase activities and daily Quran classes for children as well as Quran lecture nights for adults were started in addition to the five daily prayers and the Jummah prayers. With increasing activities and growing popularity, within only the first two years, even this location became too small to accommodate all the brothers and sisters for the Jummah prayers.
In 2008 we moved to the Musallah to a 4000 sqft rental facility within the same building, aiming to more effectively run all the activities. The brothers in the management at the time felt comfortable now, dreaming about a place of our own.
Hardly a year had passed when an older Church building came up for sale in the fall of 2009 in central Abbotsford. Priced a bit out of range given the size of the community at the time, many felt this was not the right time to be able to finaly buy our own property. A test fundraiser was held and the small community surprised everyone by exceeding the the minimum required target to be able to start negotiations with help and encouragement from other Lower Mainland Branches of BC Muslim Association. Long story short, we were able to establish our permanent home of Abbotsford Islamic Center at 1980 Salton Road in the spring of 2010.
Having seen even more rapid growth in recent years, Alhumdolillah we were also able to acquire the adjacent lot in 2018, effectively doubling the land with the view of parking extension and future rebuilding of the entire facility when need be.
With efforts from selfless and dedicated community members, today Abbotsford Islamic Center is proudly serving the needs of over 400 Muslim families with prayer facility, Islamic education, youth activities, Dawa, invited guest speakers, charitable fundraisers and collaborating with interfaith groups etc. Our annual Open Mosque Day attracts over 500 visitors from the larger Abbotsford Community who get a chance to visit the Islamic Centre, learn about our faith and meet with Muslims in frank, friendly, non judgemental and safe-space environment.
