Muslims in Brno want new mosque

Muslims want to build a new mosque in Brno because the existing house shrine no longer meets their needs, Muneeb Hasan, chairman of the Brno-based Islamic foundation, told CTK Thursday, but the town is not much happy about the idea.

Hasan said the existing mosque does not have study and lecture rooms.

“It is our vision for the future,” Hasan said about the considered project.

He said the Brno mosque was opened in Brno 11 years ago as the first Muslim place of prayer in the Czech Republic.

Some 120 Islam followers meet in it and their number is growing.

Hasan said he believes that a new mosque can be built in Brno without provoking the public’s resistance. He said Muslims have coexisted with the other Brno inhabitants without any problem to date.

To mark the 10th anniversary of the mosque opening last year, the Muslims handed out 3653 roses as a sign of friendship. One rose was for one day in the ten years.

Brno deputy mayor Daniel Rychnovsky (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL, spoke with CTK about the project with reservation, but he stressed the town hall has not made any official decision on it.

“I think Brno has already once shown its tolerance when it agreed with the building of the mosque in Videnska street, and that this is enough,” he told CTK.

Rychnovsky said the Muslim world is by far not so open to Christianity as the West to Islam.

“We know that Christians are persecuted in Muslim countries, that the construction of new churches is completely impossible,” he said.

Rychnovsky said it also matters how the new mosque would look like. The Islamic foundation will probably want it to have a small spire symbolising a minaret that is an inseparable part of mosques.

The current mosque does not have the spire. It is a white building in a densely built up area. The only external sign of a mosque is a green mosaic from Syria with an excerpt from the Quran.

The other sole mosque in the Czech Republic is in Prague.

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