Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3796631.stm

On June 12, 2004 the BBC News reported, "A Muslim community centre - one of the largest of its kind in western Europe - has opened in London. The London Muslim Centre in Whitechapel aims to teach women and young people job skills and how to balance work with their role at home. The six storey building can hold 10,000 worshippers but 15,000 have been attending the centre's inauguration. It hopes to improve dialogue between Islam and other faiths, and has a gym, a library, crèche and classrooms. The centre is an extension to the East London Mosque which has been serving the local Muslim community for a century. Members of the public raised some £4m for the centre, many sponsoring bricks with their names on. But in a spirit of modesty the names are on the inside of the bricks - invisible to the eye. Funding also came from bodies including the European Development Fund, the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Surestart and the London Development Agency. Mosque leaders said: 'This uniquely British Muslim centre will bolster London's reputation as a vibrant and diverse international city.'"