A large new mosque has opened in a the small NSW town of Young, where one in 10 residents are now Muslim and the Islamic population is growing “exponentially”.
The Young Mosque, which is the largest in regional NSW and is owed by Sydney-based non-profit the Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA), hosted a Grand Opening event on Friday attended by hundreds of people, including Hilltops Council Mayor Brian Ingram.
The new building is five times larger than the previous structure and can host about 1,000 worshippers, and was needed due to the rapid growth of Young’s Islamic population, according to LMA Secretary Gamel Kheir.
At the time of the 2021 Census, 4.4% of the town’s population of about 1,000 was Muslim, but it has likely hit 10% since then and has been growing because of the mosque, Mr Ingram told ABC News.
“[The Young Mosque has] played a big part in drawing more of the community here because they knew they would have somewhere to follow their beliefs and their cultures,” he said.
Young has previously been home to an ISIS bride, and the principal of the local Islamic school stood down earlier this year over social media comments about Zionism, but Mr Ingram said the town was “trying to focus on the positives”.
“It brings with it some doubt in the community and sets those tongues wagging. But day to day, we haven’t got a problem,” the Mayor said.
Mr Kheir said most of the Muslim residents in the Riverina region town were of Lebanese descent, but there were also large Egyptian and South-East Asian communities.
“[The Muslim community is] growing at [such] an exponential rate that the old mosque just doesn’t fit the community anymore,” Mr Kheir said.
“It proves that for the Muslim community, as we enter into our fourth and fifth generation here, is not living in enclaves anymore.
“We are actually expanding into Australia and we are part of the fabric of multicultural Australia and Young is testimony to the fact that multiculturalism is alive and succeeding.”
The LMA also owns Australia’s largest mosque, located in Lakemba in southwest Sydney, where it is attempting to install loudspeakers to blast a call to prayer across the suburb.
The group has also purchased churches in Melbourne and Adelaide to turn into mosques.
Header image: The new Young Mosque (LMA).
