The first ever imam was Moulana Yusuf Ismail Patel, an Indian-born Islamic scholar who had relocated to Mauritius before later settling in the UK.

The association was able to complete the work thanks to donations, including a gift of more than £100,000 from Shah Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, after a plea from then Croydon North East MP Bernard Weatherill.

[5] In April 2012, phase three plans were unveiled for a "green" four-storey extension, to be used as a women and children's centre and an 18-metre minaret.

The new building will also increase the mosque's capacity to 4,000, reflecting the growth of Croydon's Muslim community since the centre was built in the 1980s.

In recent years, this has included an increasing number of those of Somalian, Turkish, Afghan, Middle Eastern and Bosnian origin amongst others.