Crwys Road Methodist Chapel was built in 1884 by architect John Williams of Cardiff. This chapel was rebuilt in 1899-1900 by architect John Henry Philips of Cardiff. The present chapel, dated 1900 is built in the Lombardic/Italian style with two storeys and a basement, a gable entry plan and flanking towers. In 1988 this building was converted for use as Shah Jalal Islamic Culture Centre. The chapel is now Grade 2 Listed for its striking and original chapel design retaining considerable historic character.

RCAHMW, May 2012

The Shah Jalal Mosque was open in 1988, named after the travelling Sufi who brought Islam to Bengal. The chapel exterior has been little altered apart from some subtle additions, including green paint to the window details and tower tops. Internally the chapel has been adapted for a ground-floor prayer room, an upper floor 'overflow', and the basement school-room continues for education. Management: Bangladeshi; capacity: 525 (online Mosque Directory). Signage in Arabic, Bengali, and English to the right of entrance: 'Shahjalal Mosque / Islamic Cultural Centre/ [below] Est. 1988'. Formerly (see photographs) over the entrance arch in English: 'NONE BUT ALLAH IS WORTHY OF WORSHIP. MUHAMMED IS HIS MESSENGER. Now (2024) MUHAMMAD / PBUH and ALLAH are incorporated into the screen at the entrance with ALLAH AKBAR over the doorway into the mosque. Stars and crescents have apparently been added to the Arts and Crafts towers, but these are difficult to see. A loudspeaker (not used) is attached to the central shaped gable. The transformation of the chapel has been noted by Gilliat-Ray (2010) and Shahed Saleem (2018).

This record was created by RCAHMW’s Welsh Asian Heritage Project (2023–24), funded by the Welsh Government’s Anti-racist Wales Action Plan.

Sources: 

(1) Sophie Gilliat-Ray, Muslims in Britain: an Introduction (Cambridge, 2010), p. 186. (2) Abdul-Azim Ahmed, 'Visual Dhikr: a visual analysis of mosques in Cardiff', Dissertation 2010-11, Cardiff University, Centre for the Study of Islam in the UK. (3) Shahed Saleem, The British Mosque: an Architectural and Social History (Historic England, 2018), pp. 253-4. (4) Perminder Dhillon & Radha Patel (ed.), O Fudo i Wydnwch: Profiadau Asiaid Cymry / From Migration to Resilience: Welsh Asian Experiences (RCAHMW, 2004), p. 24-5. (5) https://glamarchives.wordpress.com/2019/05/22/capel-heol-y-crwys-now-shah-jalal-mosque-islamic-cultural-centre-crwys-road-cardiff/