Farooq Siddique: A sign of 'Islamic power' or just a place of worship?
A couple of weeks ago, the Swiss voted to ban the building of any more minarets – there are only four in all of Switzerland.
The right-wing Swiss People's Party's (SVP) advertising campaign, which proposed the ban, included a poster featuring a menacing black burkha-clad figure standing in front of an arsenal of black minarets that looked like missiles rising up from a Swiss flag.
Prior to the campaign, no mosque had ever been attacked in Switzerland – now, many have.
The SVP says minarets are a sign of "Islamic power". It's part of a growing campaign across Europe and here in the UK, spreading fear that Muslims are "taking over".
Mosques are simple places of prayer that are paid for entirely by the communities they serve – many are poorly resourced. Most here in the UK are small converted terraced homes, shops, halls, pubs and the like. All of them are filled beyond capacity, every week, for Friday afternoon prayer. They are not symbols of anything, except practical places of worship.
The minaret is not a crucial element of the design of the mosque; neither is the dome. Both, traditionally, serve a practical purpose; one for the Muezzin to climb to the top to make a call to prayer, and the other for better acoustics inside the hall. A mosque is still a mosque without either. In principle, banning minarets is no big deal for Muslims. But there is still concern.
Would we equally restrict the design of, say, synagogues, temples or churches? Some see Muslims here being given special favours: "Why are there no churches in Saudi Arabia?" they ask.
It's true, there aren't any; but it's for the same reason there are no mosques in Vatican City. Both are holy sites for their respective faiths. A Hindu wouldn't ask to build a temple at Lourdes, for example.
Churches exist in every other Muslim nation on Earth; Pakistan alone has hundreds of churches and cathedrals. In Qatar, the Emir donated the land on which a $7 million church was built. Egypt is home to some of the oldest Christian communities on Earth – and so on and so forth.
For some though, even my column is a sign of "Muslims taking over". I assure you, there's no such agenda. True Islam conquers hearts, not walls. God asks in the Quran: "If it had been the Will of your Lord that all the people of the earth should believe; all the people of the earth would have believed! Would you then compel humankind against their will to believe?"
I ask for nothing more than to worship freely. I would support the same right for anyone, anywhere.
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by richard, bristol
Tuesday, December 22 2009, 8:55AM
“brendan. I love the way you dress up your cowardness as an intellectual argument. With people like you we will sleep walk into islam. But i hope behind your closed eyes, some where there is hidden some back bone.”
by Brendan, Bedminster
Tuesday, December 22 2009, 1:24AM
“Dear Farooq, the Swiss decision to ban new minarets was plain daft and has done harm to the reputation of Switzerland. Until there is an appreciation of the diversity that exists within the Muslim world Islam can never be understood.
For most Muslims the local mosque is as you suggest simply a place of worship and the minaret a practical feature related to the call to prayer and that¿s why every planning application for a new mosque should be taken on its individual merits. However for some Muslims the mosque and minaret is much more than that, it¿s also a statement of dominance and superiority. For example the shadowy group behind the proposed East London Mega Mosque, Tablighi Jamaat have much more in mind than a practical and functional place of worship. They have a wider political and spiritual agenda literally fuelled by Wahabist petro dollars committed by the authorities of Saudi Arabia to worldwide Da¿wa (Islamic Mission).
The current budget for this project is a staggering 300 million pounds with room for 12,000 worshippers. Its completely out of all proportion as a place of worship in the given context. Tablighi Jamaat would have us believe that this mosque and associated facilities would be for everyone to use but given the fact this group are without question highly separatist and isolationist in theology and practice its not surprising that the local population in Newham are not convinced of the benefits of having the Mega Mosque on their doorstep. In my view if this mosque were to be built it would not be statement of superiority but one of division and isolation giving even more problems to beleaguered British Muslims. It would be a golden goose laying eggs of hatred to embolden some very prejudiced people not unlike a few of the nutters who contribute to this message board.
I¿m a bit surprised you contrasted Saudi Arabia (a vast country) with Vatican City a tiny principality with a population of less than 1,000. Whilst I doubt there are any Muslims living and working in Vatican City I know there are a significant number of non Muslim ex ¿ pat workers resident in Saudi. Officially they are not allowed to practice their religion, or even possess things like bibles but in reality the Saudis will often turn a blind eye to such transgressions and let them get on with it. However I have often had to campaign on behalf of ex-pat workers who have been persecuted having been rumbled by the religious police usually for the crime of holding an act of worship in a private home and lost all their property and pension rights in the process.
Please keep writing the articles I think it¿s great you are engaging with Bristol in this way, well done”
by And another thing..., Bristol
Monday, December 21 2009, 2:48PM
“Farooq, shame on you. There are "only 4 minarets in the "whole of Switzerland" and now "many" have been attacked? Saudi Arabia (2,149,690 sq km, pop. 28.7 million) likened to the tiny, tiny Vatican City (0.44 sq km, pop. 826)? This kind of exaggerated schlock would be riduculed as borderline racist hype in a right wingers rant (and rightly so) and I see no reason why you should be excused. By all means offer an alternate view and any right minded, inteligent person would welcome the balance. Unfortunately this fails on every level. Bad examples, poor argument and some very wobbly "facts"”
by richard, bristol
Monday, December 21 2009, 2:17PM
“Can we make Europe and America a 'holy' land like Saudi then?
I am sure many of us would be interested in this option if we can use it as an excuse to delete the mosques.”
by richard, bristol
Monday, December 21 2009, 2:14PM
“To answer your headline question:
The minarets are a definate sign of Islamic power ,and the Islamic worlds determined effort to make the world islamic whether they like it not through demographics or through war and violence if necessary. That is the history of Islam, and the Swiss are brave and correct to try and stop it in it's tracks.
The stated aim of the Koran Farooq is to eradicate any other form of religion either through war or by burdening them with extra taxes and diminished rights until they submit and convert.
In Switzerland its the softly softly routine for the moment; i many parts of Africa and the middle east it is the continual threat and implementation of violence.
I see Switzerland as a shining example that things can be changed, and that one day the minarets across england and the west can be toppled.
Anyway Farooq, where have you been for the last week. I thought there was a chance that your column may have seen it's end - but i see you're back!”