{{Short description|Former mosque in Liverpool}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}} thumb|upright=0.75|8, Brougham Terrace in 2019 The '''Liverpool Muslim Institute''' is a mosque located on 8 Brougham Terrace in Liverpool, England. Originally founded in Liverpool by Abdullah Quilliam, an English convert to Islam in 1887, making it probably the first recorded mosque in England. It closed in 1908.
The site was leased in 2005/6 by the '''Abdullah Quilliam Society''', which restored the buildings and reopened the mosque in 2014, acquiring the freehold of the buildings in 2018.
==History== === Building === Brougham Terrace was constructed around 1830, and named after the whig politician Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux.<ref name=nhle /> It is built in brick, partly stuccoed, with stone dressings, and a slate roof. The terrace has three storeys, and is in six bays. The windows are sashes. At the top is a shallow parapet.<ref name=sardais>{{Citation | last = Sardais| first = Louise| year = 2003| title = The 'little mosque'| series = Architectural Heritage| publisher = BBC | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/heritage/england/liverpool/article_1.shtml| access-date =4 June 2013}}</ref>
===Establishment of the institute=== thumb|upright|Abdullah Quilliam William Henry Quilliam was born in Liverpool in 1856. He developed an interest in Islam when travelling in Morocco. In 1887 he converted to the religion, taking the name Abdullah Quilliam<ref>{{Cite ODNB|id=73031|title=Quilliam, William Henry [known as Sheikh Abdullah Quilliam; Haroon Mustapha Leon]|last=John|first=Guildford|date=4 October 2012}}</ref> and founding the Liverpool Muslim Institute with his first convert, Mrs Elizabeth Cates, initially at the Temperance Hall on Mount Vernon Street, Liverpool.<ref name=nhle /><ref name=sardais /><ref name=discover>{{cite web|url=https://www.discover-liverpool.com/local-history-stories-to-read/abdullah-quilliam-and-britain-s-first-mosque/|title=Abdullah Quilliam and Britain's First Mosque|first=Ken|last=Pye|website=Discover Liverpool}}</ref>
In 1889 Quilliam bought 8, Brougham Terrace, on West Derby Road, where he constructed an extension on the rear to serve as a mosque.<ref name=sardais /> The ''Liverpool Mosque and Muslim Institute'' was officially established in 1891.<ref>{{cite web|title=Liverpool Mosque and Muslim Institute|url=http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/liverpool-mosque-and-muslim-institute|publisher=Open University|accessdate=19 May 2014}}</ref> This was probably the first recorded mosque in the United Kingdom<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/caring/listing/showcase/heritage-highlights/britains-first-recorded-mosque|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150119183520/http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/caring/listing/showcase/heritage-highlights/britains-first-recorded-mosque|archive-date=19 January 2015|website=English Heritage|title=Where was Britain’s first recorded mosque?}}</ref> (a claim that an earlier mosque opened in Cardiff in 1860 has been shown to result from a transcription error).<ref name=Gilliat-Ray>{{cite journal|last=Gilliat-Ray|first=Sophie|title='The first registered mosque in the UK, Cardiff, 1860': the evolution of a myth|journal=Contemporary Islam|date=July 2010|volume=4|issue=2|pages=179–193|issn=1872-0218|doi=10.1007/s11562-010-0116-9|s2cid=145759796|url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11562-010-0116-9|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
By 1893 they started publishing ''The Crescent'' on a weekly basis, to be supplemented by ''The Islamic World'', which appeared on a monthly basis. They developed their own print shop in the basement of the building and soon attracted an international readership from across 20 countries.
Maulavi Barkatullah worked at the institute from 1895 to 1899.<ref name=barkatullah>{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44145919|journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress|volume=66|title=Barkatullah - a half-forgotten revolutionary|first=Iqbal|last=Husain|publisher=Indian History Congress|year=2005}}</ref> Barrister Abdul Kadir Khan, son of Haji Munir Khan, was a trusted companion of Abdullah Quilliam; he taught Arabic, Urdu and Persian with professors Nasrullah Warren and Haschem Wilde at Liverpool Muslim Institute. Robert Stanley served as the vice president of mosque.
By the turn of the century they numbered 150, mostly English people. They were able to purchase the rest of Brougham Terrace, and soon organised a school. They also developed a library, a reading room, museum and science laboratory, providing evening classes for Muslim and non-Muslim alike.<ref name=discover />
===Closure=== thumb|Brougham Terrace in 2007 Quilliam left Liverpool in 1908 in advance of being struck off as a solicitor and his son sold the property to Liverpool Corporation.<ref name=nhle />
8-10 Brougham Terrace became home to the Liverpool Register Office.<ref name=nhle /> The mosque extension was converted for use of a strong room, with most of its original features being lost.<ref name=nhle /> The room was referred to by register office workers as "the little mosque", though the reason for this name had been forgotten.<ref name=sardais /> Numbers 11 and 12 Brougham Terrace were demolished between 1908 and 1927 to build a cinema, leaving 8-10 as the only survivors of the terrace.<ref name=nhle />
The registry office closed in 2000, after which the buildings were disused and suffered from vandalism.<ref name=nhle />
===Restoration and reopening=== thumb|9 and 10 Brougham Terrace in 2019
The Abdullah Quilliam Society was formed in 1999, aiming to raise funds to restore 8–10, Brougham Terrace, re-open the historic mosque and establish an educational centre.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.salaam.co.uk/charities/26-07-05.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051223174557/http://www.salaam.co.uk/charities/26-07-05.php|archive-date=23 December 2005|title=Appeal for Heritage Centre in Liverpool|website=Salaam}}</ref><ref name=nhle /> It signed a two-year lease on the premises in 2005/6<ref>{{cite episode|station=BBC Radio 4|series=Sunday|date=12 August 2007}}</ref> and started restoration work.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/britains-first-mosque-to-be-reborn-ndash-after-more-than-a-century-1221107.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090923172756/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/britains-first-mosque-to-be-reborn-ndash-after-more-than-a-century-1221107.html|archive-date=23 September 2009|work=The Independent|date=2 January 2009|title=Britain's first mosque to be reborn – after more than a century}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-17827016|title=The legacy of Victorian England's first Islamic convert|website=BBC News|date=25 April 2012}}</ref><ref name=nhle /> The mosque re-opened in 2014, and the charity gained the freehold of the property from Liverpool City Council in 2018.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/liverpool-to-sign-over-historic-mosque-for-heritage-centre/|title=Liverpool to sign over historic mosque for heritage centre|date=17 September 2018|work=Place North West}}</ref>
8, Brougham Terrace, West Derby Road was upgraded to a Grade II* listed building in 2018.<ref name=nhle>{{NHLE |num= 1062583|access-date= 12 July 2018|desc=8 Brougham Terrace, (Formerly listed as Brougham Terrace)|grade=II*}}</ref> Numbers 9 and 10 are also listed, at Grade II.<ref name=nhle2>{{NHLE |num= 1454793|grade=II|desc=9 and 10 Brougham Terrace (Formerly listed as Brougham Terrace)|access-date=24 October 2025}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}} {{coord|53.414|-2.960|region:GB_type:landmark|display=title}}
==External links== {{Commonscategory|8 - 10 Brougham Terrace, Liverpool}} *[http://abdullahquilliam.com/ Abdullah Quilliam Society - Official Website]
Category:History of Liverpool Category:1887 establishments in England Category:Religion in Merseyside Category:Mosques completed in the 1890s Category:Religious buildings and structures completed in 1891 Category:Religion in Liverpool Category:Mosques in England