The Expansion of Al-Maktaba as-Salafiyyah

In 1998 Al-Maktaba as-Salafiyyah, a registered charity bookstore and Islamic centre was established and a pre-school for children up to the age of seven started in the converted classrooms upstairs. Not only was the bookstore a space from which to sell Islamic literature and clothing that aligned with the Salafi methodology, it also took over from the PO Box 6294—Abu Khadeejah’s living room in his home in Alum Rock, Birmingham—and served as the new organisational base where all the administration associated with publishing would take place. Moreover, the bookstore created much-needed jobs for members of the local Salafi community, for men (in the bookstore and offices), and women (in the school). The newly acquired building also served as the new venue for the continuation of weekly classes that had previously been held at GLM. This included Abu Khadeejah’s weekly circle for ‘sisters’ which had begun at a house in Woodwells Road, Ward End, but which quickly reached full capacity due to the growing numbers of women that were converting to the Salafi da’wah and eager to learn their newly found creed.

Before long, the bookstore became a focal point for the growing needs of a flourishing Salafi community in Birmingham, SalafiPubs continued to thrive and in the year 2000, they had to rent five more offices on Coventry Road in Small Heath. Crucially, in 2001, SalafiPubs found themselves at the forefront in clarifying the Salafi stance towards terrorism in a post-9/11 context and produced approximately 30-40 leaflets on numerous subjects which were distributed in their millions (literally) across the English-speaking world from New Zealand, Australia, India to Canada, the Caribbean, and the US.

The ever-expanding scope of SalafiPubs’s da‘wah activities meant that by 2001 they needed yet more space so both Abu Khadeejah ‘Abdul-Wāhid and Abu Talhah Dawūd Burbank signed a twenty-year lease for a building on Coventry Road in Small Heath. Soon afterwards, this large complex, which backs onto Wright Street, would comprise the Salafi Bookstore—possibly the biggest bookstore offering authentic Islamic material in the English language in the West; the Maktabah (offices) and the Salafi Independent School (now Greenfields Primary School) which are all still in operation today (2023); each operates independently through their own committees and volunteers.