Austria Crackdown – Government to Shut Down Mosques | Al Jazeera English

The Austrian government is shutting down seven mosques and expelling imams. It's part of measures by the chancellor Sebastian Kurz to target what he calls "political Islam" in the country. Al Jazeera’s Dominic Kane reports from neighbouring Germany.

Greek Patriots Occupy Site of Proposed Mosque Construction

Nikolaos Michaloliakos Speech at Votanikos Against the Mosque

Geert Wilders: Close All Mosques In The Netherlands

BREITBART.COM: Leader of Netherlands’ most popular party Geert Wilders has proposed a closure of all Mosques in the country and a total ban on the Koran ahead of the 2017 general election.

Leader of the populist Party for Freedom (PVV) Geert Wilders has proposed the most radical anti-Islamisation platform for any party in European politics. Wilders, whose PVV are currently top of all major polls in the Netherlands, has declared that the new platform for the party ahead of the general elections in 2017 will include the plan to close all Mosques in the country and place a ban on the Islamic holy book, the Koran. Wilders claims that the move is to counter the Islamisation he sees ongoing in the country reports Belgian paper Demorgen. » | Chris Tomlinson | Saturday, August 27, 2016

Angola Bans Islam, Dismantles Mosques

Erdoğan Says Muslims Discovered America, Wants Mosque in Cuba

TODAY’S ZAMAN: President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said Muslims, not Christopher Columbus, were the first foreigners to set foot in America, suggesting the construction of a mosque on a hill in Cuba where he said there used to be a mosque.

“Latin America's contact with Islam dates back to the 12th century. Muslims discovered America in 1178, not Christopher Columbus. Muslim sailors arrived in America in 1178. Christopher Columbus mentions the existence of a mosque on a hill along the Cuban coast. I will talk to my brothers in Cuba and a mosque would suit the top of that hill today as well. We would build it if they [the Cuban government] say so. Islam had expanded in the American continent before Columbus arrived,” Erdoğan said on Saturday while speaking in İstanbul at the 1st Latin American Muslim Religious Leaders Summit, hosted by Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate. » | Today’s Zaman | Saturday, November 15, 2014

Iceland to Get its First Mosque

GATESTONE INSTITUTE: The Muslim Association of Iceland now admits that foreign donors will be paying for the mosque's construction costs. The former mayor of Reykjavik says he believes it is outrageous for the city to give Muslims a site at no cost at a great location in the center of the city, and asks why political and feminist groups are so tolerant of a religion that he says degrades women.

The Reykjavík City Council has approved a building permit for the construction of the first mosque in Iceland.

The mosque will be built in Sogamýri, an upscale district near downtown Reykjavík on a highly desirable plot of land that was granted to Muslims free of charge, courtesy of Icelandic taxpayers.

Members of the city council -- which is led by Reykjavík Mayor Jón Gnarr, who identifies himself as an anarchist -- say they hope the prime location will make the mosque a prominent landmark in the city.

Critics of the mosque, however, say the project is being financed by donors in the Middle East who are seeking to exert control over -- and radicalize -- the growing Muslim community in Iceland.

Although reliable statistics do not exist, the Muslim population of Iceland is estimated to be approximately 1,200, or 0.4% of the total Icelandic population of 320,000. Most Muslims in Iceland live in the capital Reykjavík, where they make up about 1% of the total population of 120,000.

The Muslim community in Iceland may be small in comparison to other European countries, but its rate of growth has been exponential: Since 1990, when there were fewer than a dozen Muslims in the country, their number has increased by nearly 10,000%. Much of this growth has been due to immigration, but in recent years native Icelanders have also been converting to Islam in increasing numbers. » | Soeren Kern | Friday, September 27, 2013

Copenhagen is Diversifying

ELAN: Since 2007 various entities within the extended Copenhagen community were striving to build a “Grand Mosque of Copenhagen.” As with most large-scale cultural/institutional projects a competition was held for design proposals and from the submission pool various winners were selected. Copenhagen is an interesting place within the context of the Muslim community in Europe, so much so that even The New York Times ran an article on their website titled, “Push to Build Mosques is met with Resistance,” in 2009.

There’s no denying that various forces within the Danish political and social sphere have a tense relationship with the Muslim Danish community (we all remember the Danish Cartoon fiasco back in 2005). Therefore history simply isn’t on the side of the growing congregations within the city of Copenhagen. Regardless, Copenhagen is sure to receive not one but two Grand Mosques within the next several years (a large Shiite congregation has already approved plans to build a center in a relatively industrial quarter of town on the site of a former factory) and a Sunni congregation has started the process by acquiring a site with the help of Abu Dhabi-based Muslim consultancy group, the Tabah Foundation.

Although a brewing institutionalized Islamophobia is simmering all across Europe (with France recently banning public prayer and the wearing face coverings), Denmark is quite the extreme case study. Immigrant hate among the people is one of the main factors in the propulsion of the Danish People’s Party, which more or less ran on a nationalistic platform of re-establishing Denmark as entirely “Danish.” They’ve successfully passed new legislation in their tenure that makes it much harder to obtain citizenship or even enter the country in the first place. It wouldn’t be far-fetched to assume that this social disconnect with Islam is what propelled various groups to work together to make the Grand Mosque become a reality. » | Ehsaan Mesghali | Thursday, November 17, 201

Islam in Denmark: Of Mosques and Meat

THE ECONOMIST: Denmark’s largest religious minority gets its first proper prayer house

ISLAM and immigration have slipped out of Denmark’s political discourse since the centre-left government led by Helle Thorning-Schmidt came to power two years ago and dismantled the ministry for refugees and immigrants. Now they are back in the news, because the country’s first big purpose-built mosque is soon to open its doors.

The mosque, jammed between a railway line and a back street in Copenhagen’s gritty north-west, comes complete with a dome and a minaret, even though local by-laws prohibit any noisy call to prayer. The news of its opening took many Danes by surprise. Denmark’s Muslims have tried for years to have a proper place to worship, but previous attempts failed or were foiled. » | Saturday, August 17, 2013 | Copenhagen | From the print edition

Mosque to Be Built on Cameron's Doorstep Despite Residents' Concern over 'Noise and Parking
MAIL ON SUNDAY: Muslims have been given permission to build a mosque in David Cameron’s home town.

Worshippers faced opposition from residents in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, who expressed concern about noise and parking.

However, councillors voted in favour of transforming a shop into a mosque a few miles from the Prime Minister’s home, although the market town has fewer than 40 practising Islamic residents, according to Census records. » | Mail On Sunday Reporter | Saturday, February 09, 2013

Mosque Buster Gavin Boby’s Mission Statement

MAIL ON SUNDAY: 'Mosque buster' claims he can stop 'tide of Islam' by giving free advice on how to block building plans for new places of worship » | Larisa Brown | Sunday, January 13, 2013

Catholic Church in France May Become Mosque
RT.COM: A church in the central French town of Vierzon may be converted to a mosque, as Muslims across Europe are converting empty churches to fit their faith – but some locals are worried about the threat of radicalism[.]

Vierzon has six churches, and in order to balance the books, the diocese is selling one of them off. A Moroccan organization is in talks to convert the church of St. Eloi into a mosque, although a final decision has yet to be reached. » | Friday, October 12, 2012

Judge Rules Nearly Finished Tennessee Mosque Doesn't Have Permit
REUTERS.COM: A judge ruled on Tuesday that a local Tennessee government failed to follow proper procedures in granting a permit for the construction of a mosque, casting doubt on the future of the Islamic place of worship which is nearly complete.

Judge Robert Corlew ruled that the Rutherford County planning commission had not given enough public notice prior to a 2010 meeting when the mosque plans were approved, effectively nullifying the building permit.

A civil rights group on Tuesday called on the U.S. Justice Department to step in if the planning commission does not act "immediately" to reissue permits for construction of the 52,000-plus-square-foot (4,830-plus-square-meter) mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, about 34 miles south of Nashville.

"If you read the judge's ruling, it is clear he sought a heightened standard of public notice for an issue that involves Muslims," Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for The Council on American-Islamic Relations. » | Tim Ghianni | NASHVILLE, Tennessee | Tuesday, May 29, 2012

REUTERS – BLOGS: Thousands of Muslims pray for Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia to be a mosque again: Thousands of devout Muslimshave prayed outside Turkey’s historic Hagia Sophia museum to protest a 1934 law that bars religious services at the former church and mosque. » | Ayla Jean Yackley | Tuesday, May 29, 2012

REUTERS – BLOGS: Netanyahu says ceding control of Jerusalem’s sacred sites would be fatal mistake: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday it would be a “fatal mistake” ever to give up control over Jerusalem’s holy sites. His remarks, in a parliamentary speech, went a little further than Israel’s longtime policy of viewing Jerusalem, a city at the heart of Middle East conflict, as its “indivisible capital”. » | Allyn Fisher-Ilan | Monday, May 21, 2012

Number of Mosques Nearly Doubles in Decade

THE WASHINGTON POST: NEW YORK — The number of American mosques has increased dramatically in the last decade despite post 9/11 protests aimed at Muslim houses of worship, according to a new study. The new Islamic centers serve Muslims who moved into the suburbs and newer immigrants from Africa, Iraq and elsewhere.

Researchers conducting the national count found a total of 2,106 Islamic centers, compared to 1,209 in 2000 and 962 in 1994. About one-quarter of the centers were built between 2000-2011, as the community faced intense scrutiny by government officials and a suspicious public. In 2010, protest against an Islamic center near ground zero erupted into a national debate over Islam, extremism and religious freedom. Anti-mosque demonstrations spread to Tennessee, California and other states.

Ihsan Bagby, a professor at the University of Kentucky and lead author of the study, said the findings show Muslims are carving out a place for themselves despite the backlash. » | Associated Press | Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Netanyahu Backs Law to Ban Loudspeakers at Mosques across Israel

THE INDEPENDENT: Cabinet split over Bill that would prevent Muslims from being called to prayer

A highly contentious Bill which threatens to inflame Arab religious and ethnic sensitivities in Israel by clamping down on mosques using loudspeakers for the call to prayer has split the Cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mr Netanyahu expressed sympathy this week for the principle behind the Bill, promoted by Anastasia Michaeli, a Knesset member in the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party led by the Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman.

Ms Michaeli's so-called muezzin Bill would actually ban the use of such loudspeakers in any place of worship, but is clearly directed at mosques used by Israel's mainly Muslim million-plus Arab minority. She has said the Bill comes from "a world view whereby freedom of religion should not be a factor in undermining quality of life".

The Bill is believed to be the first attempt to impose change on calls to worship from mosques since the formation of the state of Israel in 1948. This week, Mr Netanyahu postponed discussion of the measure in the key ministerial committee on legislation after it ran into stiff opposition from three prominent ministers in his own Likud Party: Dan Meridor, a Deputy Prime Minister, Michael Eitan, and Limor Livnat. All three argued that it would unnecessarily escalate tensions.

But Mr Netanyahu made it clear that he wanted the issue addressed, saying in reference to curbs in Belgium and France, where officials have imposed bans on street prayer, that "there is no need to be more liberal than Europe".

The Bill, or a version of it, may be put before the ministerial committee next week. » | Donald MacIntyre, Jerusalem | Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Florida Mosque Bombing Suspect Fatally Shot in Oklahoma
CBS NEWS: ORIENTA, Okla. — A man wanted in the bombing of a Florida mosque was shot and killed Wednesday when he brandished a weapon as agents tried to serve an arrest warrant in northwest Oklahoma, FBI officials said.

Sandlin Matthews Smith, 46, of St. Johns County, Fla., pulled out a firearm as federal and state law enforcement officers approached him in a field at Glass Mountain State Park near Orienta and asked him to surrender, said FBI Special Agent Jeff Westcott of Jacksonville, Fla.

Westcott said agents learned late Tuesday that Smith was staying in a tent in the park, located in the rugged foothills of the Glass Mountains in northwest Oklahoma. An Oklahoma City FBI SWAT team and other law enforcement officers blocked off the area overnight, Westcott said.

Agent Clayton Simmonds at the FBI's Oklahoma City office said Smith was taken to a hospital in Fairview, where he was pronounced dead. » | AP | Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Moscow Muslims Want More Mosques, Residents Stage Protests

RT: Muslims in Moscow say there are not enough mosques in the capital to serve the needs of their community. City Hall refutes the claims.

In recent years, the Muslim community of the capital has repeatedly complained that they need more mosques – the four existing ones are too little for the nearly 2 million believers living in Moscow.

The capital’s officials, however, say that more than enough land has been given over for the purpose of building places of worship.

The lack of mosques has even resulted in Muslims worshipping in Orthodox churches. Islamic leaders are strictly opposed to the initiative, saying that this only triggers hostility between the communities.

At the same time, building new mosques does not help establish better relations between the churches either.

Recently, around 2,000 signatures were collected by residents in the city’s south who did not want a mosque in their area. Instead, they say, the place could be turned into the park.

Orthodox Christian groups added fuel to the fire, saying that they also wanted to use the site for a church but could not get zoning permission, and questioning how their Muslim colleagues were able to get one. >>> | Published: Tuesday, October 12, 2010; Edited: Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Danish Muslims Strive to Build First Mosque in the Country

Cultural Divide: In American Mosques, How Much English Is Too Much?
CHICAGO TRIBUNE: Sana Rahim was born in the cowboy country of southeastern Wyoming, to Pakistani parents who had emigrated so her father could earn a doctorate.

She speaks Urdu with her family, but can't read or write the language. She recites prayers in Arabic, but doesn't know exactly what each word means.

Now a 20-year-old junior at Northwestern University, she, like many other American-born Muslims, is most comfortable with sermons and lectures in English, although they can't always find U.S. mosques that offer them.

"I don't really get the time to study Arabic," Rahim said. "With all the different groups in America, English is a unifying thing that ties us together."

Like Jewish immigrants who fought over English-language prayer and Roman Catholics who resisted the new Mass in English, U.S. Muslims are waging their own debate about how much English they can use inside mosques without violating Islamic law and abandoning their culture.

The issue is part of a broader discussion within the Muslim community about young U.S. Muslims and their alienation from American mosques. Houses of worship founded by older immigrant Muslims often held fast to the culture and language of their native countries. For them, English in the mosque threatened Muslim identity. Their American-born children, however, can't relate.

"This is a constant problem talked about — young people in mosques," said Shahed Amanullah, co-founder of salatomatic.com, which lists thousands of mosques and reviews from users. "It's not just about the Friday prayers. It's the response that mosques have to the cultural reality of growing up Muslim in America. If young people don't find what they need in the mosque, they'll find it on the Internet."

The language of obligatory Friday prayers, called juma, is not part of the debate; those prayers must be in Arabic, the language of the Quran. The disagreement focuses on whether that requirement should extend to the sermon, or khutba, on Fridays, the Muslim day of congregational prayer, and other assemblies in the mosque.

Imams and scholars who insist on using Arabic say it's mandatory because the Prophet Muhammad gave his sermons in the language. Others say that Muhammad used Arabic only because it was what he and his community spoke, and that Islam is a universal faith. >>> Rachel Zoll, AP Religion Writer | Saturday, February 20, 2010

Malaysian Fury Over Pig Head Insult at Mosques
THE TELEGRAPH: Severed pig head[s] have been left at two Malaysian mosques in a development that threatens to inflame communal tensions amidst a row over the use of the word "Allah" by Christians.

It was the most serious incident to hit Islamic places of worship following vandalism and other assaults at 11 churches, a Sikh temple, a mosque and two Muslim prayer halls across the Muslim-majority country in the past three weeks. Pigs are considered unclean by Muslims.

The attacks followed outrage among Muslims over a court verdict that allowed non-Muslims to use "Allah" as a translation for "God" in the Malay language. Many Malaysian Muslims believe the word should be exclusive to their religion, and that its use by others could confuse some Muslims and even lure them to convert.

Several men who went to a suburban mosque to perform morning prayers Wednesday were shocked to discover two bloodied wild boar heads wrapped in plastic bags in the mosque compound, said Zulkifli Mohamad, the top official at the Sri Sentosa Mosque on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's largest city.

Two similarly severed heads were also found at the Taman Dato Harun Mosque in a nearby district. Wild boar are common in Malaysia's forests.

Government leaders denounced the incidents and pledged to track down the culprits.

"We are dead serious about this," Hishammuddin told a news conference. "We will bring them to justice." >>> The Telegraph’s Foreign Staff | Wednesday, January 27, 2010

The former St Nicholas Cathedral in Famagusta, Cyprus, was converted into a mosque. It is now the Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque. Photograph: Google Images
Vatican Condemns 'Immoral' Church Conversions
THE TELEGRAPH: The Vatican has expressed alarm over the "immoral" trend for churches to be converted into bars and nightclubs.

The head of the culture department, Archbishop Gianfranco Ravisi, cited a church in Hungary which was deconsecrated and sold off to become a strip club.

"It has now become a nightclub and a stripper performs her finale on the altar each evening," he said.

The archbishop, who is president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said dwindling numbers of worshippers meant some churches had to be sold or even demolished.

"Faced with falling number of worshippers, a phenomenon which we are also unfortunately witnessing in the centre of Rome, churches without any artistic value and which need significant work can be sold or destroyed," he said.

But he said dioceses should exercise "great caution" in ensuring that the buildings were not used for immoral purposes.

The Roman Catholic Church was offering no specific guidelines and each case should be carefully assessed on its own merits, he said. >>> Nick Squires in Rome | Friday, November 27, 2009