'Ali Ibn Al Khattab Mosque

'Ali Ibn Al Khattab Mosque sits at 83 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, in the 10th arrondissement, halfway between the Gare du Nord and Gare de l'Est. Nothing marks it from the street: a double wooden door, no plaque, no sign. It is run by the Association Interculturel des Pakistanais en France and mainly serves the Pakistani community of north-eastern Paris, which is highly present around Faubourg Saint-Denis and the Petite Inde area.

Getting there

Faubourg Saint-Denis is very well connected. Château d'Eau station (line 4) is a three-minute walk. Strasbourg-Saint-Denis, at the crossing of lines 4, 8 and 9, is five minutes away. Gare du Nord and Gare de l'Est, both ten minutes on foot, give access to every major RER line. Buses 32, 38, 39 and 43 run along the corridor. Several Vélib' stations sit along Boulevard de Strasbourg and Rue La Fayette.

The neighbourhood

The southern 10th, between Faubourg Saint-Denis, Faubourg Saint-Martin and Rue du Château d'Eau, is one of the most mixed districts in Paris. Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi and Tamil restaurants line up by the dozen. Rue Cail and Rue Louis-Blanc form the commercial heart of this South Asian Paris, with textile shops, jewellers, grocery stores and specialised hairdressers. The mosque fits into that landscape without drawing attention to itself, letting the district speak for it.

The Pakistani community of the 10th

Run by the Association Interculturel des Pakistanais en France, the mosque is one of the very few Paris places of worship rooted in the Pakistani community, which mostly arrived in Paris from the 1980s and 1990s onwards. Urdu, Punjabi, Arabic and French can all be heard in a single day. Friday sermons are delivered in Arabic and translated into Urdu. A women's prayer room is available, with limited capacity.

Practical advice for a visit

One important note: the mosque is not open continuously. It opens about fifteen minutes before each prayer and closes shortly after. Showing up outside those slots means a closed door. For a first visit, aim for one of the five daily prayers, ideally outside Friday noon which is the busiest.

As in any working mosque, shoes come off before entering the prayer hall, women cover their hair, and clothes should cover shoulders and legs. Quiet is expected. Sightseeing is not encouraged: this is an everyday place of worship, not a monument.

Around the mosque

Passage Brady, five minutes on foot, lines up Indo-Pakistani restaurants in a covered nineteenth-century arcade. Gare du Nord and Gare de l'Est are worth a look for their architecture beyond their railway role. The Canal Saint-Martin, reached at the end of Rue Bichat, starts about ten minutes away to the east. Boulevard Saint-Denis and its monumental gate, a memorial to Louis XIV's victories, mark the boundary between the 10th and the Grands Boulevards.

Other mosques in Paris

Paris has dozens of mosques, often run by the community associations that use them. The Grand Mosque of Paris, in the 5th, remains the most visible and the most institutional. Adda'Wa Mosque, in the 19th, serves a wide public across north-eastern Paris. Omar bn El Khattab Mosque, in the 11th, anchors the community in Belleville. Other entries will be added to this directory over time.