Danish media is reporting on plans to open a new mosque in Copenhagen tied to the European Muslim Brotherhood and which will be the largest in Scandinavia. According to a report in the Copenhagen Post, the new mosque is being financed by the former ruling emir of Qatar:
August 6, 2013 – 13:47 The first mosque with a minaret and dome will open later this year but critics are concerned about its connections to conservative Islamic groups
When the minaret is added, the Rovsingsgade mosque will be the largest ‘real’ mosque in Scandinavia. A mosque in Copenhagen’s Nordvest district is approaching completion and, with its minaret and dome, will be Denmark’s first ‘real’ mosque.
So says Mohamed al Mainouni, the media spokesperson for Dansk Islamisk Råd, the organisation responsible for building the mosque.
‘The minaret and done are two important aspects of the mosque,’ al Mainouni told Jyllands-Posten newspaper. ‘They have an important symbolic meaning and demonstrate that we have a proper place to be and that we are recognised.’
Under Danish law, minarets cannot be used to broadcast a call to prayer.
The 6,800 square metre Sunni mosque on Rovsingsgade will house class rooms, a restaurant, a cinema, childcare facilities and more in what al Mainouni says is the largest mosque in Scandinavia.
The mosque was only possible because of a 150 million kroner donation by the former ruling emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, which has led critics to voice concern that the mosque will be used as mouthpiece for the Islamic state’s conservative views.
Al Mainouni dismissed the criticism, however, and said that without the investment the construction of the mosque would not have been possible. He added that the mosque plans on raising its own money by renting out rooms and facilities.
‘The emir donated the money personally from his private bank account but he won’t dictate anything political or ideological. Denmark is the only country in Europe that does not have a [large]mosque and he wanted to give the opportunity to Muslims in [Denmark],’ al Mainouni told Jyllands-Posten.
Read the rest here.
According to another Danish media report, the new mosque may be in danger of violating EU anti-terror rules by rebroadcasting Hamas-controlled Al-Aqsa TV.
As the first report observes, the 25,000 member Dansk Islamisk Råd, (Danish Islamic Council) the sponsor of the mosque, is a member of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE) which claims to be an independent organization representing the interests of Muslims in Europe. In reality, the FIOE is an umbrella group that comprises the global Muslim Brotherhood in Europe. Strong links connect FIOE’s leadership central institutions and member organizations to the Brotherhood, as well as to Saudi Arabia. Funding for the FIOE is derived largely from Gulf sources, including some of the ruling families of the United Arab Emirates. The FIOE has strong ties to Hamas and Hamas fund-raising organizations, and some FIOE member organizations show evidence of links with Al-Qaida. The FIOE recently opened a headquarters office in Brussels and has had some success in positioning itself as a “dialog partner” for the EU and other important institutions. Until recently, the FIOE Secretary-General, Ayman Aly,was a close adviser to the deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and is known to be senior member of the Guidance Bureau of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.
According to a NEFA Foundation report (authored by the GMBDW editor), the Dansk Islamisk Råd played a role in the 2006 cartoon crisis that follow the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed:
In March 2006, the head of the Dansk Islamisk Rad (Danish Muslim Council), the FIOE Danish member organization, was part of a six-man Danish delegation to a conference in Bahrain organized by Youssef Qaradawi to discuss the cartoon issue. Abu Laban, one of the other members of the delegation, had been instrumental in organizing delegations of Danish Muslims to Muslims countries where they were reported to have shown additional inflammatory cartoons never published in Danish media along with a booklet making false claims about oppression of Muslims in Denmark.