Essalam mosque

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Essalam Mosque under construction (September 2006)
The Essalam Mosque 2015

The Essalam Mosque ( Dutch Essalammoskee ) is a mosque built from 2003 to 2010 in Rotterdam in the Feijenoord district , near the De Kuip football stadium . The mosque is the largest Islamic place of worship in the Netherlands as well as in Western Europe.

Building history

The original Essalam Mosque was founded in 1987, but soon became too small for the 2500-soul community. The construction of the mosque from 2003 to 2010 was fraught with many problems and has been stopped regularly. The city of Rotterdam threatened repeatedly through the councilor Hamit Karakus to withdraw the license from the community in order to resolve the impasse in the conflict between the mosque board and its contractor and thus to advance the completion. Internally, too, the believers were very divided in their views during the construction. In July 2008, about 150 police officers had to hold back angry believers. The size of the mosque strongly determines the image of the district. The dome is 25 meters and the minarets are 50 meters high; the 2,000 m² prayer room on the first floor can accommodate 3,000 men. A room on the second floor is reserved for women; From there, they can follow the Imam's sermons through a hole in the ground, according to the client. The architect is Wilfried van Winden. Many young Muslims find the building too classic; they see the building as a typical "Heimwehmoschee". In her opinion, minarets are not absolutely necessary. The mosque was put into operation on December 17, 2010. Rotterdam's Muslim Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb was present at the opening ; According to the city administration, he cut a symbolic ribbon.

financing

The wish of the Moroccan community in Rotterdam-South for their own large church became a reality in 1999 when Muhammad bin Raschid Al Maktum , a conservative sheikh from the United Arab Emirates , agreed to finance the mosque by means of his Al-Maktum Foundation for 4,000. Contribute 000 euros . In 2009 the total cost of building the mosque appeared to be around 7 million euros. The exact amount of the construction costs is not known, an amount in the tens of millions is assumed.

The local party Leefbaar Rotterdam (" Livable Rotterdam ") has determined that the construction of the mosque may have been financed with money from dubious sources. A number of believers objected to foreign funding for the mosque, more precisely against funding from Dubai . In the end, five of these opponents were banned from mosques through foreign influence after an escalating conflict. This prohibition relates to the church's church today. The Dutch domestic secret service AIVD also investigated the financing of the construction of the mosque.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Rotterdam: rellen uitgebroken bij Essalammoskee - Rotterdam: unrest broke out at Essalam mosque
  2. ↑ a b c Netherlands: Largest mosque in Western Europe inaugurated kipa / apic , December 20, 2010
  3. ↑ a b Largest mosque in Western Europe opened Welt Online , December 17, 2010
  4. ↑ a b Unloved minarets behind the dykes swissinfo.ch , October 27, 2009
  5. ↑ Netherlands: Largest mosque in the nation opens its doors shortnews , December 17, 2010
  6. ↑ Rotterdam: Largest mosque in Europe opens diepresse.com , December 18, 2010
  7. ↑ Megamosque he comes " As Allah dat wil" - Megamosque comes "If Allah wants that"

Coordinates: 51 ° 53 ′ 55 "  N , 4 ° 30 ′ 49"  E