On the 29th November, the Swiss will vote in a referendum which proposes to outlaw the constructions of Minarets at Mosques in the country, and it’s a heated battle that really symbolises the rampant Islamophobia present in Western Europe today.
Supporters of this proposed ban claim that the minaret is not required for worship, and is not mentioned in the Qur’an or any other Islamic Holy texts and rather is a symbol of religious-political power claim. Now by that logic, surly the construction of church spires and bell towers should be banned as I don’t recall those being mentioned in the Bible.
Ok so the minaret is not a religious requirement, but it’s a cultural tradition, again, just the same as a church spire or bell tower, and why should be deny the Muslims of Europe the right to erect one.
Now its not like Muslims are running rampant across Europe erecting a 100m high minaret on every spare patch of land and having a call to prayer blaring out at all hours, apparently there are only 4 minarets throughout Switzerland and none of them sound the call to prayer.
One thing that really stands out for me is how the few proposals that there actually have been to construct minarets that have been submitted in Switzerland, is that they are modest in size and appearance. I have read of one fella, Mutalip Karaademi, a man originally from Albania, whom has lived in Switzerland for 28 years. He put forward a proposal to improve their local mosque, located in a former paint factory, now this proposal included a tea-room and a 5m tall, yes that right just 5m, minaret in Langenthal, just outside Berne.
But following an outcry from local far-right politicians, the local government delayed the project, despite a written undertaking to not make the call to prayer. Mr. Karaademi said something that really sums it all up.
“They seem to think we are all criminals or terrorists – that’s like saying all Italians are in the mafia.”
And this seems top be the attitude throughout Europe; in the UK we have a controversy over the plans for the construction of the Abbey Mills Mosque, which is proposed to be erected in Stratford, East London, near the 2012 Olympic park. Now this has been described as the Mega-Mosque, due to one the plans submitted in the design completion being potentially big enough for up to 70,000 people, making it Europe’s largest place of worship. However the trustees decided on a structure that would accommodate 12,000 people.
There has been an awful stink kicked up about this project here in the UK, on online petition against it managed to garner 250,000 signatures, despite the trustees having yet to submit a planning application. Many of the fears are about it being used as a recruiting ground for terrorism due to the financial support of Tablighi Jamaat, an organisation alleged to be the main recruitment are of Al-Qaeda in the UK. Now I don’t know much about Tablighi Jamaat, and I am not going to pretend otherwise, but their website says something very relevant, that they are not responsible for the actions of every individual who has ever attended their mosques or services.
And that’s a very good, point, I am not going to say that there is no such thing as Islamic fundamentalism or Islamic Terrorism, because there is, but lets not hold every Muslim responsible, nor assume that because the terrorists and fundamentalists say that they are Muslims that they represent the entire Islamic faith. That’s like saying that all Germans are Nazis! The fringe elements of a society, culture or organisation do not represent it as a whole, that’s like saying that the BNP or the National Front are representative of white British Society when that’s clearly not the case (thankfully).
In Elswick in the west end of Newcastle upon Tyne, there is the Malvern Street Mosque, a mosque that has been there since the 1970s, and was even visited by Muhammad Ali in the 1980s. Now a few years ago they decided to build a new mosque next to the old one, which is when its eventually finished will be the biggest in the North of England, it has a large dome and a single minaret. I have family that live just down the road from the mosque and at the time, I remember the locals were furious that the new mosque was going to be built, there were rumors of call to prayers blasting out day and night, of women being forced to wear burqas just to walk past it!
Now that it’s built, all those fears have been proven to be false, it fits in very nicely with the city and is very unobtrusive, and the only real issue is parking which the mosques trustees have worked very hard to address.
I wish that these were isolated incidents but there is a general atmosphere of Islamaphobia throughout Europe which is very upsetting, after all considering that without the cultural and scientific influence of Islam in southern Italy, then the renaissance would never have happened. But the papers print stories and columns that stoke up fear and suspicion of Islam, focusing on the extremes of the Islamic community. British-Iranian comedian (and Baha’i), Omid Djalili tells a very good joke about the Medias fixation of the fringes of Islam. He quotes an imaginary new presenter saying:-
“To get a balanced view of the Middle East, we now go over to Muslim nutter with a hook.”
He likens this to Al-Jazeera interviewing as the sole representative of the Christian west, the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, whom he quotes as saying:-
“Well, we believe in death to all darkies, Jews and A-rabs everywhere. We believe in creating a white supremacist state in the middle of Egypt.”
How would that feel, we would be outraged and rightly so, so why is it perfectly acceptable for us to do it the Muslims.
So lets put our differences aside and just get on with our lives, and treat our Muslim neighbors fairly and without prejudice, after all we all want the same thing, to lead our lives, work sleep, eat and generally live a good life.
If, however the continuing trend of demonising Europe’s Muslims continues, then the fringes of Islam may well grow, and young Muslims may become radicalised, and we will have only ourselves to blame. The media kick off when we see images of Muslims burning flags in the streets of Istanbul, but sometimes, mayby we give them good reason to feel angry and marginalised.
So I will leave you with some wise words of Bahá’u'lláh for you to reflect on, and next time you see, hear, read or even feel anything that is distrust, suspision or even hate of Muslims, think of these words.
“The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens”
God Bless
Michael
