(Photo: Facebook/Green Lane Masjid)

Nadine Osman

A Birmingham mosque opened its doors to homeless people suffering in freezing temperatures and distributed hot meals to those sleeping rough.

Green Lane Mosque and Community Centre (GLMCC) launched its winter freeze project during the cold snap last month. The project is the brainchild of GLMCC’s, head of welfare services, Humayun Saleem who explained how in the first night of the project volunteers distributed 50 food packs in minutes.

“We have had local takeaways and restaurants taking part by providing free food. We had such a good response from our request for food from local restaurants that the volunteers have been able to go back out every evening and distribute food to the rough sleepers,” said Saleem.

A spokesman for the centre told The Muslim News that by the third night of opening its doors “there were 12 homeless people who had made their way to the warmth of the mosque as rain set in and word spread.”

“One regular is a disabled man in a wheelchair. On his first night, he had made his way to the mosque by bus, accompanied by another homeless friend.

The friend said that they had become aware of the mosque being open after volunteers handed out leaflets to the homeless in the city centre on previous nights. They decided to give it a try after the temperature became so cold that he couldn’t feel his feet,” added the Spokesman.

The mosque’s General Manager, Kamran Hussain, said: “Walking around the city centre at night you see all the homeless huddled in doorways. They sleep on concrete floors in freezing temperatures. In Birmingham, there have been cases of homeless people freezing to death and we want to help avoid this.”

GLMCC are providing overnight stays in their large community hall, where they also serve food and drink to those staying over. This disabled man is among those coming off the streets to sleep at the mosque during the freezing weather. GLMCC already runs a food bank, which has been established for years.