Giant mosque planned for London stokes controversy

Giant mosque planned for London stokes controversy

By Jane Perlez
Published: November 4, 2007

LONDON: Disputes over mosques have broken out across Europe. Residents from Belgium to France to Germany have expressed unease at minarets competing in the urban landscape with the spires and stones of centuries-old cathedrals.

But the fight raging over an abandoned lot in London's East End is of an altogether grander scale. A large and secretive Islamic sect proposed building what would have been the largest mosque in Europe, smack at the gateway to the 2012 Olympic Games, and within sight of London's financial district.

That plan was sent back to the drawing board to be scaled down, but not before raising a furor of equal size, and discomforting questions about the right of Britain's Muslims to take up a public space commensurate with their growing numbers.

This summer, on the Web site of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, more than 250,000 critics of the proposed mosque supported a petition initiated by a backer of the rightist British National Party. Some of them said a large mosque had no right to exist in such a prominent place in a Christian country.

When, around the same time, the historian of religion Karen Armstrong wrote an article in the liberal Guardian newspaper commenting favorably about the mosque, the paper's Web site was deluged with complaints.

In Newham, the borough where the mosque would stand, Alan Craig, the leader of the Christian Peoples Alliance party in the East End, started a one-man campaign against the mosque a year ago that has mushroomed and gained national prominence.
He began by emphasizing the size of the mosque. But now he focuses on its sponsor, Tablighi Jamaat, a worldwide evangelical Islamic group based in Pakistan with millions of followers that professes to encourage Muslims to be more loyal to their faith.

American and European law enforcement officials say Tablighi Jamaat's simple message masks a fertile recruiting ground for terrorists. Two of the suicide bombers who attacked the London transit system in July 2005 had attended Tablighi Jamaat gatherings, British security officials said.

Tablighi Jamaat "is a separatist organization," Craig said in an interview in his living room, where a picture of the crucifixion of Christ hung on a wall, a cross rested on a bookshelf and a Bible lay on the coffee table.

"They refer to us as kafir," a term of contempt, he added. "That's not what we need. We don't want this mosque in East London. It will be disastrous."

That Craig's immediate neighbors include a Pakistani family on one side of his row house and immigrants up and down the block speaks to the changes in the East End, where South Asian Muslims are among the latest wave of immigrants.

The area has welcomed newcomers to London over the ages, starting with the French Huguenots and including Jews in the 19th century. Now nearly 30 mosques, most of them small, are crowded during Friday Prayer.

The 2001 census shows 34.2 percent of the Newham borough population is white. South Asians and blacks predominate. Christianity remains dominant at 46.8 percent, and Muslims make up 24.3 percent.

The driving force behind the plan to build a grander mosque has been Abdul Khaliq Mian, 55, a British businessman born in Pakistan and a longtime follower of Tablighi Jamaat. In an interview, Mian explained how in 1996 he helped raise £1.6 million, or $3.3 million, from the Tablighi community to buy an abandoned lot that was once the site of a sulfuric acid plant.

Mian, who came to Britain at 11, said in the late 1990s officials on the Newham Borough Council, which includes Muslims, encouraged Tablighi Jamaat to build an especially grand mosque befitting the scale of the land.

"I was told it was a very, very strategic site," Mian said. "They said get a planner and the best architect you can and build the biggest mosque you can."

An up-and-coming architect, Ali Mangara, 40, a Muslim born in South Africa, produced a design that envisioned wind turbines instead of minarets, and generous use of gardens, courtyards and restaurants. In all, with the use of awnings as cover, about 70,000 worshipers would be accommodated, Mangara said.

"It was intended to reach out and bring new people into the complex," he said, showing off a model of his futuristic design.

The size of the congregation and avant-garde nature of Mangara's plans fueled Craig's opposition. He accused Tablighi Jamaat of seeking financing from Saudi Arabia, though there is scholarly debate about this.

Because Tablighi Jamaat operates in secrecy, Mangara said the leaders never made their case against Craig publicly. After raising money for the land, the group never provided additional funds for permits to build his design, he said.

Several months ago, Mangara's plan, which had created all the furor, was dropped, and Tablighi Jamaat pushed Mian aside, though he remains a fervent follower.

In Mangara's place, an establishment London architectural firm, Allies & Morrison, known for projects like refurbishing Royal Festival Hall, has been hired to build a smaller version, which would hold about 12,000 worshipers.

A developer, Sohail Sarbuland, a Muslim but not a member of Tablighi Jamaat, has pledged the money for the building permits.

Mangara and others say any breaking of ground will be delayed until after the 2012 Olympics. The issue will be finessed by a slow design process, and delays in the planning process, he said.

On the No. 10 Downing Street Web site, the prime minister's office notes that no planning application has been made and makes clear that the government has taken no position.

A London public relations firm, Indigo, which has put up a Web site on the mosque, abbeymillsmosque.com, has been hired by Tablighi Jamaat to deflect pressure and speak for the organization, which is described on the site as a "Muslim missionary and revival movement."

An Indigo spokesman, Nick Kilby, said Tablighi Jamaat trustees would not talk to the news media. Phone calls to Tablighi Jamaat drew no response.

Kilby, whose job is to stem the controversy, said the final design by Allies & Morrison would not be done soon. "The Olympics are not the deadline," he said.