Danish media is reporting that Copenhagen’s deputy mayor for culture will not be attending the opening of Denmark’s largest mosque in May. According to a Copenhagen Post report:
January 14, 2014 Copenhagen’s deputy mayor for culture, Carl Christian Ebbesen (DF), will not attend the opening of Denmark’s largest mosque in May.
The mosque is being built on Rovsingsgade in Østerbro using a 150 million kroner grant from the former ruling emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.
While Mohamed Al Maimouni – a spokesperson for Dansk Islamisk Råd (Danish Islamic Council), which is responsible for building the mosque – has previously told The Copenhagen Post that the donation will not impact the mosque’s religious line, city politicians are not convinced.
Religious concern ‘It is very disappointing that Copenhagen has allowed the construction of a monument that represents deeply conservative Islamic beliefs,’ Ebbesen told Politiken newspaper.
‘It will be used by deeply religious people who live and breathe for the Koran’s message, and if you look at who has paid for the mosque, there are many reasons to make sure that the activities [in the mosque]conform to Danish law,’ Ebbesen added.
Queen Margrethe II and PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt (S) have been invited to the opening ceremony in May, but City Council member Lars Aslan Rasmussen (S) says he doesn’t plan on attending.
Read the rest here.
In August 2013, the GMBDW reported that the new mosque was being financed by the former ruling emir of Qatar. Another Danish media report reported that the new mosque might be in danger of violating EU anti-terror rules by rebroadcasting Hamas-controlled Al-Aqsa TV.
As the August 2013 report observed, 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 now deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and is known to be a 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.