A Polish blog is reporting that the new Saudi-financed mosque being built in Central Warsaw is officially a cultural center. According to the translated report:
Officially it is claimed to be Muslim Cultural Center, but unofficially by opponents and supporters it is referred to as mosque because the plan includes a praying hall and even a minaret. But it is not the building itself that worries the citizens of Warsaw, but preaching that could be spread inside. The investor of the mosque is Liga Muzulmañska w RP (Muslim League in Republic of Poland), a member of Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE), which is known as umbrella organization for Muslim Brotherhood organizations across the Europe. LM does not hide its affiliation and on its pages often quotes not only FIOE official statements but also fatwas and teachings of Jusuf Al Qaradawi, widely known Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader. Although LM tries to keep PR of moderate Muslim faction some of its leaders already exposed their views. Ali Abi Issa, head of imam council, translated and disseminated hadiths where the killing of apostates and adulterers is justified in Muslim state. Samir Ismail the head of LM wrote article about FGM where he presents Muslim jurists’ opinions justifying or allowing FGM to be in decision of parents. The model of LM activity is also similar as model of other Muslim Brotherhood organizations from Europe. Through getting control over majority of mosques they start to claim that they represent majority of Muslims in the country, although only 5-10% regularly visits the mosque (UOIF in France, UCOII in Italy). In Poland LM has 180 active members, but yet claims that it is building the mosque for the population of over 10 000 Warsaw Muslims. The construction has not been accepted unanimously by all members of local municipality. Some, like Tymoteusz Pruchnik and Edward Markowski (PiS) claim that municipality was misguided and the original proposal of LM was only cultural center, recently LM applied for permission for religious activity there. Additionally local politicians must be under pressure as mosque is widely support by Muslim embassies in Poland. f construction works will go undisturbed, LM is going to open the mosque this autumn.
The connections between the Muslim League in Poland and the European Muslim Brotherhood were first reported by the GMBDW in an earlier post.