BERLIN, 4 October 2003 — Germany’s Muslim communities are answering growing calls for transparency by throwing open their mosques to the public, yet fear of clandestine Islamist activities still lingers in their host nation.
After Germany was exposed as a haven for the Al-Qaeda plotters who led attacks on US landmarks on Sept. 11, 2001 from Hamburg, suspicions have mounted around the country’s three-million strong Muslim population and its institutions.
“We understand people have prejudices but we are trying to open up to them,” said Basel Allozy, one of the supporters standing next to an architect’s model of a planned six-storey center with a mosque in a closed courtyard.
“People are afraid of giant, foreign-looking mosques popping up in the middle of their German, Christian community,” he added.
“It took us a while to get planning permission although the mosque is only a small part of the center.”
The Muslim Central Council expects some 200,000 Germans to take advantage of their annual “Mosque Open House” event this weekend to learn more about Islam and perhaps shrug off misconceptions about the country’s 2,200 Muslim prayer houses.
Comments by one German, at an event presenting four mosques planned for Berlin, reflected a widespread apprehension.
“How will we know the mosques will not become centers for radical groups who then convert moderate Muslims? How can such small associations afford such big buildings?” he asked.
Allozy insists donations are accepted only if they come with no conditions. Some Muslims, however, agree fears about fundamentalist groups are understandable.
Birol Ucan, spokesman for the Islamic Society for Charity Projects, planning a mosque in eastern Berlin, said the Muslim community must expose radical groups and face them head on.
“We must name them because they are dirtying our reputation. They misuse the Qu’ran as grounds for their goals and they are a danger to everyone, including other Muslims,” he said.
