The Lebanese Muslim Association doesn’t do things by halves – and the past three months have proven that conclusively.
Within that period, Australia’s oldest non-profit Islamic organisation has achieved three milestones that would have seemed highly unlikely even three years ago.
A magnificent, new mosque has opened in regional New South Wales, replacing the much smaller masjid that had served the community on the same site for decades.
Friday prayers are now being held at a newly acquired location in Adelaide’s CBD.
And in Melbourne’s north, a VCAT ruling has cleared the way for a new mosque to serve the areas Muslim community.
Taken together, these three events mark a highly significant chapter in the LMA’s 64-year lifespan.
This is an organisation which is no stranger to history.
As the custodian of the Ali Bin Abi Taleb Mosque in Lakemba – the nation’s most iconic masjid and the spiritual home of Australian Muslims for almost 50 years – and the Othman Bin Affan Mosque in Cabramatta, established in the 1990s, the LMA has long been the backbone of Muslim community life in New South Wales.
What is new and exciting is what is happening beyond its traditional borders.
On Friday 14 August, the LMA officially opened the magnificent new Omar Ibn Khattab Mosque in Young, New South Wales – replacing the considerably smaller original masjid that’s been on the same site for 30 years. (The feature image shows the Grand Opening).
With a capacity for over 1,000 worshippers and four times the size of its predecessor, it is now the largest Islamic centre in regional Australia.
The Muslim community in Young has grown enormously since the mid-1990s and now makes up close to 10 percent of the town’s population.
Young is an excellent example of what can happen when communities embrace newcomers and choose harmony over division – and this stunning new mosque is the physical expression of that spirit.
When the LMA acquired the Salahuddin Al-Ayyubi Mosque at 238-240 Franklin Street in Adelaide’s CBD in September 2025, it was a bold statement of intent.
That intent became reality on Friday, 11 September, when the first Jumu’ah prayer was held at the mosque, led by the LMA’s Sheikh Mohammad Trad and the turnout far exceeded expectations.
Development approval for renovations has since been granted, and the goal is to establish the Salahuddin Al-Ayyubi Mosque as a permanent home for daily prayers, community connection and Islamic gatherings.
On Friday 18 September, a delegation from the LMA in Sydney attended Jumu’ah at the Abu Bakr As-Siddiq Mosque in Strathmore in Melbourne’s north.
This followed a landmark VCAT ruling in the Association’s favour.
The existing buildings will be utilised in their current form while a respectful redevelopment is planned.
As word spreads among Muslims living and working in leafy Strathmore and surrounds, congregation numbers are expected to grow week by week. A local mosque committee has already been formed.
What makes all of this particularly significant is that it is being delivered by a single, unified organisation – not a federation, not a council of affiliated bodies, but one organisation operating under one banner with one vision: to serve Muslim communities wherever they are in Australia.
The LMA has been doing exactly that since 1962.
And if the past two months are any indication, the best is very much yet to come.
