The core of the Muslim community of Norwich, which uses the Ihsan Mosque in Chaplefield East, is made up of approximately 150 men, women and children from a wide variety of backgrounds. The majority are British-born converts to Islam. It is thus the only continuous, indigenous Muslim community in Britain and the mosque is the first in the UK, since that of Abdullah Quilliam in 1889, to be established by British converts to Islam. This is without doubt an important fact of British social history, but more significantly, it points to the only observable model of the natural form and expression of an Islamic way of life whose roots have originated in this country.

In addition to that core community, the mosque has a very wide attendance of Muslims from all corners of the earth, Africa, Arabia, Pakistan, and Malaysia etc.

From the outside the Mosque perhaps doesn’t look as you’d expect, however take a step inside and prepare to be greeted by a friendly, welcoming and refreshingly serene atmosphere.

The building itself was built in 1876 and was originally a school called the St Peter Mancroft School for Boys. It was next to the St Peter Mancroft Chapel-in-the-Field Congregational Church. Since the mid-twentieth Century it has been used for various things including a scout building and a discotheque.

In the mid-70′s the early members of the community began renting the building and using it as a Mosque. In 1977 an Egyptian businessman came to Norwich and was so touched by the community that he decided to purchase the building on behalf of the community with some money left to him by his mother. His only request was that the Mosque be named after his mother Ihsan.

The community is growing rapidly; there has always been a healthy relationship with the wider community of Norwich, which has resulted in a steady flow of people embracing Islam in the Mosque. The community is constantly engaged in a busy programme of activities, including the five daily prayers, Sunday gatherings, Open Days, markets and seminars to name a few.