Built between 1915 and 1916 with donations from Bombay merchant Haji Mohamed Essack Elias to replace the old mosque on the same site on Shelley Street, Jamia Mosque is now the oldest mosque in Hong Kong. The old mosque on the same site was built in 1849 to provide a place of worship for Muslims who mainly came from the Indian subcontinent and were primarily merchants, sailors, soldiers, policemen and prison guards. With the rapid growth of the Muslim community in Hong Kong, the old mosque was subsequently demolished and replaced by Jamia Mosque which could accommodate a congregation of around 400 people.
Jamia Mosque is constructed in concrete and bricks with an elongated rectangular plan built along an east-west axis, with its entrance at the east and the Qibla wall at the west facing Holy Kaaba in Makkah, Saudi Arabia which is the birth place of Holy Prophet Muhammad. Rich Islamic mosque architectural features can be seen at Jamia Mosque, such as the minaret crowned by a dome decorated with finial, the pointed multifoil archways at the entrance portico and doorways, the pointed arches above the coloured glazed windows, the octagonal dome at the centre of the prayer hall, the mihrab on the Qibla wall and the Kufic calligraphic motifs on the walls. Jamia Mosque is significant in witnessing the growth of the Muslim community in Hong Kong and it remains as an important place of worship and gathering for the Muslims in Hong Kong.
Jamia Mosque was declared a monument in 2022.