Who we are
Islamische Gemeinde Wilhelmsburg e.V. (Islamic Community Wilhelmsburg) runs the Ayasofya Mosque (in Turkish Ayasofya Camii) at Rotenhäuser Straße 104A in Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg. The mosque is on the ground floor, with its own prayer room for women. The education and youth centre is upstairs.
Today the community is a familiar place for many families in Wilhelmsburg and the surrounding area. Up to 1,000 people come to Friday prayer, and many children and young people learn with us, mostly at the weekend. The people in our mosque speak German, Turkish, Arabic, Bosnian, Albanian, English and many other languages.
Our history
- 1987The community is founded
- 1993Move to Vogelhüttendeich 74
- 1999Regular talks with the neighbouring church congregations begin
- 2019Move into the new building on Rotenhäuser Straße
What we do
Prayer is at the centre. The mosque is open for all five daily prayers, and on Fridays there is Friday prayer with a sermon. In the education and youth centre we offer Islamic classes for children, young people and adults. There is also youth work, a women’s section of its own and pastoral care from our imams. We accompany families at weddings, at a Mevlid and after a death. And we are happy to show school classes and groups around our building.
You will find an overview under What we offer.
For the neighbourhood
We see ourselves as part of Wilhelmsburg. We are in close contact with other mosque communities, the church congregations, local associations and the district. We meet at discussion evenings, panel discussions and joint activities. Every year on 3 October we open our doors for the Open Mosque Day. In Ramadan we invite everyone to break the fast together (iftar) every evening. Everyone is welcome, and you don’t need to register. We also run fundraising appeals for people in need. During the coronavirus pandemic we helped neighbours with shopping and deliveries. To this day, volunteers and our imams visit sick people in hospital. Trainee police officers from the Hamburg Police Academy (Akademie der Polizei Hamburg) regularly spend a whole day with us as part of their community placement, for example in 2024 and 2025.
Our associations
In Hamburg our community belongs to the SCHURA – Rat der Islamischen Gemeinschaften in Hamburg e.V. (Council of Islamic Communities in Hamburg). The SCHURA is one of the partners in the agreements that the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg signed with the Islamic religious communities in 2012.
We are also a member of the Bündnis der Islamischen Gemeinden in Norddeutschland e.V. (BIG), based in Hamburg. BIG is an alliance of mosque communities in northern Germany.
Bündnis der Islamischen Gemeinden in Norddeutschland e.V. (BIG)
Böckmannstraße 40, 20099 Hamburg
info@big-nord.de · big-nord.de
