Some time ago I was asked why we have so many mosques.

I would think we are around the 54 mark at the moment in the town of Blackburn and just over 200 in the North west as a whole.

In the city of Bradford at the last count there were over 100.

Why not have just one mosque where everyone could pray in some towns? And what is the need for grand structures such as the one unveiled recently at a cost of £8.6m?

There are of course a number of points that seem to get lost whenever we have a debate about mosque building. One which sees folk simply not looking at the facts.

Fact number one is that mosques are not built with public money. They are built through donations from members of the community. And when you have money to purchase and build – purchase and build is something people will do.

Fact number two is that it would be impossible to have one structure where all Muslims could pray. It would have to be the size of a large football stadium and this would not be feasible.

Fact number three – the pace of mosque building on the whole has decreased in recent years.

Fact number four is that the majority of the time mosques cater for those living in the vicinity of the building. They host funeral prayers as well as wedding ceremonies.

And fact number five is that quite a number of mosques have been built on land or buildings that required a huge level of redevelopment. So you have private money, collected through charities that are essentially rejuvenating some neighbourhoods.

In a hundred years we may well see that there actually was no need for some mosques and they may find themselves doubling up as community centres as some already do.

Now, to the bit where I am able to point out some problems. There clearly is a need to outdo one another when it comes to building mosques.

We have become accustomed to wanting to build structures when there is no need because we are of a different sect. This inherent need to compete leads to building places of worship that aren’t really necessary. Sorry, but we all know this to be true in some neighbourhoods.

We also have issues relating to how mosques are used. Most if not all are used as places of worship and for hosting Islamic classes. But there needs to be major focus for them to be more open to cohesion focussed events rather than simply religious education.

I agree some already do this. But when you don’t back up the religious education with actual work in the neighbourhood the first part becomes almost obsolete wouldn’t you say?