al-Quds mosque Hamburg
The al-Quds Mosque Hamburg (Eng. "Jerusalem Mosque", from Arabic " al-Quds " for "The Holy (City)") or Masjid Taiba was a mosque opened in 1993 at Steindamm number 103 in the Hamburg district of St. Georg near the main train station . After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, it became known internationally as a meeting place for several of the attackers. The mosque was closed by the Hamburg security authorities in August 2010 after jihadist activities became known again.
history
The mosque, which was originally influenced by the Arab world, was distinguished for years by its colorful mix of peoples. The sponsor of the mosque, which was opened in 1993, was the Arabian Cultural Association eV until the beginning of 2009. Later the sponsoring association was renamed Arabisch Deutscher Kulturverein eV and the mosque was renamed Masjid Taiba . The mosque itself and its regular visitors remained the same, however, and the mosque was still referred to by many as the Quds Mosque.
Spiritual direction
The first imam was Salah Anouar . After the last imam , Sheikh Adam, resigned from office , the mosque no longer had a spiritual director. Most recently, Mamoun Darkazanli led the Friday prayer - a German-Syrian who was supposed to be extradited to Spain because of the Madrid train attacks , but who was able to avert extradition through a constitutional complaint. The Friday sermon was given in Arabic and translated into German after the Friday prayer.
Premises
The ground floor of the mosque contained an entrance area with stairs. The prayer rooms for men and women as well as the office were on the first floor. Washrooms and toilets for men were located in the basement, while the 2nd floor housed a restaurant, a small grocery store with an adjoining library, an internet café and a hairdresser, although these were only available to members.
Closure and ban
On August 9, 2010, at the instigation of Hamburg's Senator for the Interior, Christoph Ahlhaus, the police raided the mosque and the house of prayer was finally closed because it was a “main attraction for the jihadist scene”, according to Ahlhaus. The sponsoring association was banned and the association's assets were confiscated. The board members' private homes were also searched.
The mosque had been struggling with financial problems for some time and was close to closing due to significant rent arrears.
Controversy
The guest imam of the al-Quds mosque was Mohammed Fazazi for a period of two weeks at the end of the 1990s . The Hamburg mosque became known after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 because three of the four suicide pilots had visited it regularly. These assassins also had close contact with Fazazi. Two hate sermons secretly recorded in the Hamburg mosque in 2000 were processed by Romuald Karmakar into the film “ Hamburger Lektiven ”.
Web links
- Visiting the terrorists' mosque. , Die Welt on January 28, 2008
Individual evidence
- ↑ Die Welt : Authorities close Hamburg terror meeting point , August 9, 2010, accessed on August 25, 2011
- ↑ A visit to the terrorists' mosque.
- ^ 'Al-Qaeda man' wins German appeal ( English ) British Broadcasting Corporation. July 18, 2005. Retrieved September 17, 2009.
- ^ WORLD of August 9, 2010
Coordinates: 53 ° 33 ′ 25 ″ N , 10 ° 1 ′ 10 ″ E