Wales: Kind mosque families raise £500 to help twins’ parents

MEMBERS of a Swansea mosque have raised £500 in just 48 hours to help a couple who say they are struggling to visit their premature twins in hospital. Families at the Swansea University site said they were inspired to help after reading about the story in the Evening Post. (source)

Wales: Kind mosque families raise £500 to help twins’ parents

MEMBERS of a Swansea mosque have raised £500 in just 48 hours to help a couple who say they are struggling to visit their premature twins in hospital. Families at the Swansea University site said they were inspired to help after reading about the story in the Evening Post. (source)

Switzerland: Radical Muslims turn to Gulf states to finance mosque

Via the Local:

The Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (ICCS) is trying to raise enough funds in the Gulf states to enable the construction of a 20-million franc ($21 million) prayer centre in the capital Bern.

With three storeys, the planned mosque would be the biggest in the country. In addition to a prayer room for 270 men and 174 women, plans show that the building would have conference and training rooms, shops, underground parking and a garden.

The president of the Council, Nicolas Blancho, confirmed his fundraising activities in Kuwait and Qatar to newspapers SonntagsZeitung and Le Matin Dimanche on Sunday, although he said the organisation has not received any donations yet.

(source)

Netherlands: Dutch language gaining ground in mosques

Via RNW:

Dutch mosques are beginning to phase out Arabic-only sermons. Research at Utrecht University has shown that Surinamese Muslims are leading in this respect.

Researcher Nico Landman told the ANP agency that such a development is logical, seeing that Dutch is the language that the Surinamese commonly speak in the Netherlands. There are approximately 20 Surinamese mosques in the Netherlands.

In the Moroccan-Dutch community preaching in Dutch is growing, according to Amsterdam imam Yassin Elforkani. He pointed to the Ulu mosque in Utrecht and the Blue mosque in Amsterdam as two prominent examples. The rise of Dutch can be explained by the desire to reach young Dutch Muslims, most of whom do not speak Arabic, Elforkani said. Dutch-Moroccan youths also prefer Dutch when communicating on Facebook and other social media.

(source)

Cyprus: Pop hits halt call to prayer

Via Famagusta Gazette (h/t Turkish Digest):

THE religious affairs directorate in the Turkish controlled sector of Cyprus has claimed that deliberate interference caused popular Greek-Cypriot radio programmes to broadcast from mosque rooftops instead of the Islamic call to prayer.

Due to interference in radio frequencies which link the mosques PA systems, Greek pop hits could be heard yesterday blasting through the air.

(source)

Birmingham: Man held over mosque bomb threat

Via the Independent:

A man has been arrested after a message was posted on Facebook threatening to bomb a mosque.

Officers from West Midlands Police detained the 25-year-old after a warrant was executed at an address in Rugeley, Staffordshire, at 5.15am today.

Police said the threat was made against Birmingham Central Mosque, in the Highgate area of the city, which was later searched for explosives.

(source)

Thessaloniki: Mayor Launches Initiative to Build a Mosque

Thessaloniki mayor Yiannis Boutaris said that his city launched initiatives to build a mosque. Nearly 5,000 Muslims are living in Thessaloniki. (photo).

France: Prayer demonstration for mosque

About 350 Muslims prayed outside the Nanterre city hall on Friday, to demonstrate for a mosque building permit.

UK: Stoke-on-Trent mosque arsonists jailed

Via the BBC:

Two men have each been sentenced to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of deliberately setting fire to a Stoke-on-Trent mosque.

Ex-soldier Simon Beech, 23, and Garreth Foster, 29, both from Stoke, were found guilty of setting fire to Hanley’s Regent Road mosque on 3 December.

The pair had denied committing arson with intent to endanger life.

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard it was in revenge for Muslim extremists burning poppies on Armistice Day.

(source)

Belgium: Truck company set up mini-mosque for customers

Via nieuwsblad (Dutch):

Degroote Trucks en Trailers, a Belgian company selling trucks, set up a little mosque on their premises for their customers. According to the owners they’re catering to a large part of their clientele that otherwise had to pray in the cafeteria.

The company has been selling second-hand trucks for over 40 years. Manager Hans Termote says that at first most customers were Belgian, but that has changed. Today more than 90% of the trucks are for export. Half their clients come from Africa and the Middle East.

Most shoppers come to check their trucks personally. The owners set up a small cafe to offer their customers a restful place. Often they found Muslim customers there praying in a corner, and those customers would go to the toilet to ritually wash their feet and ears. They wanted to meet their customer’s needs by offering them their own prayer space.

The prayer area includes a wash basin, koran, two prayer rugs, and arrowpointing towards Mecca. Termote says he had to do some research since those things aren’t available in every shop. They’re very happy with the mini-mosque because it’s used often. If people would ask every day for fries, he says, they’ll set up a fries stand. That’s also the reason why they set up a motel, because their customers often asked where they could sleep.

The mini-mosque offers unexpected commercial benefit. Termote says that when a Muslim customer lands in Belgium and has a choice of a Dutch truck or one of their, he often chooses them. With the prayer area he doesn’t have to worry about keeping watch of prayer times.

‘This is an huge gift for Muslims’, says Abdel Ben Brahim of the El Nour mosque in Roeselare. “It shows that the boss understand his employees and customers. Because it happens all too often that Muslims come to us complaining that it’s difficult for them to work because they don’t have a place and time for prayers. I’m very happy with this initiative. I pray to Allah to thank him for this good news.”