Three years ago Finsbury Park Mosque won an award for their efforts against extremism

In the early hours of Monday morning a terrorist attack took place near to Finsbury Park Mosque at the Muslim Welfare House (also a Mosque), which took the life of an elderly Muslim pensioner and injured 10 others.

The Mosque was previously given a national award for tackling extremism.

The Finsbury Park Mosque received the prestigious Visible Quality Mark by national body Community Matters in 2014, making it only the third religious faith organisation to receive the award.

The award marked the hard work of the new mosque owners who had a zero tolerance stance against extremism and completely changed the image of the place of worship.

Two years prior the Mosque's reputation had been one of a hotbed of Islamic extremism where the radical Cleric Abu Hamza had preached for more than a decade.

At the time the award was given Mohammed Kozbar, chair of FPM told the Islington Gazette:

We are proud to be the first mosque and the third faith organisation in the UK to achieve this award, it gave us the confidence to improve the standard of operation and accountability of our organisation.

In an article written by the Independent in 2014, he said:

We feel a strong sense of responsibility.

We think we should be role models to other mosques and other faith places, to deal with extremism and any other problems… But we [as Muslims] want to feel we are part of the wider community.

We want to be British citizens, not second-class citizens, and we want to feel we have duties, responsibilities and rights as well.

Jeremy Corbyn was the local MP when the Mosque received the award.

He said at the time:

Your hard work and good results that are so valuable within our community deserve this wider recognition.

It can be tough for charities in this climate, yet despite that you have been able to demonstrate high standards in all areas across your organisation.

This endorsed standards award can give the public confidence that this charity is well run and give any funders assurance about how their money is being spent. 

The Mosque has been part of a number of community outreach programmes including activities for local youths, an interfaith project to feed the homeless and most recently helped survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire.

More: These incredible signs were spotted in Finsbury Park after the attack on Muslims