Anwar-ul-Islam Islamic Movement

Anwar ul Islam Islamic Movement in Mushin, a densely populated mainland district of Lagos known for its working class character and vibrant street life, is not merely a mosque but a broader Islamic organisation with roots stretching back to the early twentieth century Nigerian Muslim revival movements. The Anwar ul Islam society, whose name means the Lights of Islam, was founded in 1923 by Alhaji Abdullah Bashorun Ahmad Tijani and other Yoruba Muslim reformers as part of a wider effort to promote modern Islamic education, religious reform, and community organisation among Nigerian Muslims. The society has spread across Nigeria and beyond over the past century, establishing mosques, schools, and welfare institutions that blend classical Islamic scholarship with modern pedagogical methods. The Mushin branch serves this densely populated Lagos neighbourhood with a full range of religious and educational programmes including the five daily prayers, Friday Jumuah gathering, Qur'an and tajwid classes, Arabic language instruction, Islamic studies encompassing Maliki jurisprudence, tafsir, hadith, and seerah, marriage solemnisation, funeral rites, zakat collection and distribution, and welfare services for needy members of the community. The building includes a main prayer hall carpeted and oriented toward the qibla with mihrab, mimbar, and separate women's section, alongside classrooms for educational programmes and administrative offices for the branch's organisational work. The adhan calls worshippers five times daily from within the busy Mushin streetscape, and the Friday khutbah delivered in Yoruba, Arabic, or English depending on the khatib draws large congregations. Ramadan sees the mosque at its most active with nightly tarawih prayers, community iftars featuring Nigerian Muslim cuisine, Qur'an khatm sessions, and itikaf in the blessed final ten nights, while the annual Anwar ul Islam conferences and rallies bring members together from across Nigeria for shared learning and fellowship rooted in the reformist vision of the society's founders. Anwar ul Islam's reformist heritage includes a strong emphasis on the education of girls, with the Mushin branch running programmes for women's religious education, professional development, and leadership training, reflecting the society's founding conviction that the flourishing of the Muslim community requires the full participation of women as informed and capable contributors to both family and public life.