The architect’s vision is of a 21st-century Alhambra, a
place for prayer, education, debate and the celebration
of Islamic culture.
But the plan to build Europe’s biggest mosque
beside the London 2012 Olympic Park is
attracting opposition from the Muslim community.
The concern is not the building, but the
activities of Tablighi Jamaat, the
ultra-orthodox sect that is behind the
huge mosque.
A petition against the scheme,
organised by Muslims in the East
London borough of Newham,
attracted 2,500 signatures in
only ten days and is continuing
to draw support. It says that
allowing Tablighi Jamaat to
build the mosque would aggravate
community tensions.
Ruth Kelly, the
Communities and Local
Government Secretary,
who is currently
redrawing the
Government’s approach to
engagement with the
Muslim community, is
aware of the East London
petition. She has the
power to subject the
plans to a public
inquiry.
The scheme for
the mosque,
drawn up by the
award- winning
architects,
MYAA, envisages
a complex
containing an
Islamic garden,
school and
prayer space for
as many as
70,000
worshippers — 23
times greater
than the
capacity of
Liverpool
cathedral,
Britain’s
largest
Christian place
of worship.
Newham
Council
signed a
memorandum
of
agreement
in 2001
with the
charity
behind
the
scheme,
the
Anjuman-E-
Islahul
Muslimeen,
which
states
it has
“no
objection
in
principle
to . . .
a major
new,
high-quality
mosque”.
But there are mounting concerns about Tablighi Jamaat and its strict interpretation of Islam.
A leaked FBI memo, obtained by US news media in 2005, raised fears that al- Qaeda was using membership of Tablighi Jamaat “as cover . . . to network with other extremists in the US”.
A number of British terrorists have had associations with the organisation, including Richard Reid, the shoe bomber now in prison in the US. Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, two of the July 7 bombers, had links with the large Tablighi Jamaat mosque in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
The sect’s leading scholars encourage its followers to be aloof from politics and the secular world, but security agencies fear that its brand of orthodoxy provides a fertile recruiting ground for terrorists.
Dr Irfan al-Alawi, Europe director of the Centre for Islamic Pluralism, is “extremely concerned” about the spread of Tablighi Jamaat and recently addressed a seminar at the Policy Exchange think-tank about the mosque plans. “Tablighi are not moderate Muslims, they are a separatist movement,” he said.
“If this mosque were to go ahead it will be strictly run by the Tablighis; there will be no room for moderates.”
Asif Shakoor, chairman of Sunni Friends of Newham, said the petition was a response to a feeling that the voices of most Muslims in the area were not being heard. The petition text states: “We propose that when and if planning permission is granted . . . that all Muslim groups be equally represented at the proposed place of worship that is to celebrate the 2012 Olympic Games in London.”
Temporary planning permission for a makeshift mosque on the site has expired and a formal application for the new complex has not yet been lodged.
A spokesman for Newham council said: “We are keen to enter into fresh discussions about the future of the project.”
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!["Salaat ul-janaza [Funeral service] of Sayyid Muhammad ibn Alawi Al Maliki, The Grand Mosque in Mecca, October 2004](../images/janazahmalki.JPG)
