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The Cologne Mosque project also called Zentralmoschee Köln began after German Muslims, announced plans to construct a mosque in Cologne, Germany. The proposal for the mosque was approved by the City Hall, but has not yet gotten a final building permit.
Proposed Mosque
The mosque would be built within two miles from the Cologne cathedral, and will cost £15 million to build. The planned mosque would be in the Ottoman architecture style. It would have a concrete and glass dome, and two minarets that would rise 55 meters (six storeys) above the structure. The proposed mosque will be funded by Diyanet İşleri Türk İslam Birliği (DITIB), a branch of the Turkish government's religious affairs authority. The architect of the mosque is Paul Böhm.
The mosque will have the bazaar and entrance on the ground floor, lecture halls in the basement, and the prayer area on the upper floor. A well is intended to be placed in the center to connect the two levels and to create a pleasant atmosphere. The mosque consists of flat-like wall screens which form a dome in the center.
The proposed 48,000-square-foot mosque aims to house 2,000 worshippers, and include a Muslim library. DITIB said it took many steps to "avoid touching nerves". The organization agreed to various stipulations, including a ban on broadcasting the call to prayer over loudspeakers outside the building. The mosque is not taller than any of its neighbours; it is flanked by office buildings, and dwarfed by a nearby television tower. The height of the minarets is about a one-third the height of the cathedral’s spires.
DITIB tried to lower the height of the minarets as a compromise. However, the plans were dropped after the architects said the plan would leave the minarets out of proportion with the rest of the building and surrounding structures.
Reasons for construction
The new mosque will replace the current mosque, which can house up to 600 worshippers, and which is located on the site of a former pharmaceutical factory.
The current mosque is deemed inadequate for Cologne's 120,000 Muslims. who comprise 12% of the city's population. Its small size has created hardships for Cologne's Muslims, especially during festivals, when the mosque attendees must worship in the parking lot. Cologne also has nearly 30 other mosques, but most are not visible as they are situated in hidden courtyards and converted factories.
Controversy
The plan has been criticized by Christian leaders, Pro Cologne, a right-wing group, neo-Nazis and Ralph Giordano, a prominent Jewish author. According to Bekir Alboga, leader of interreligious dialogue of DITIB, the line between frank debate and racist demagoguery is not so clear. "This is like thinking from the Middle Ages,” he said, “and it is sending the racists to the barricades.
Pro Cologne, which holds 5 of the 90 seats in the city council, collected 23,000 signatures on a petition demanding the halting of the project. The city, however, says only 15,000 of them were genuine. On June 16, 2007, 200 people gathered in a protest organized by Pro Cologne against the mosque with representatives from the Austrian Freedom Party and the Belgian Vlaams Belang In response, Turkish leaders and Cologne's deputy mayor held a counter demonstration.
Prominent Germans have also voiced opposition to the project. Cardinal Joachim Meisner said the project gives him "a bad feeling" and that Turkey should allow its Christian minorities equivalent rights. He said the mosque would change the skyline of Cologne.
Many residents reject the mosque, because they beleive that Cologne is a "Christian city". Tom Hundley, however, draws attention to the fact that "Pasha", Europe's largest brothel, is also located in Cologne, but with little criticism or controversy.
Ralph Giordano had said that the mosque would be “an expression of the creeping Islamization of our land," and that he wouldn't want to see women wearing burqas on German streets. He further called Muslim women "human penguins". Henry M. Broder, a Jewish journalist, disagrees Giordano's characterization of Muslim women as "human penguins" but said that "A mosque is more than a church or a synagogue. It is a political statement."
His remarks have turned the local dispute into a national debate about the place of Islam in Germany. Joerg Uckermann, the district's deputy mayor has also criticized the project saying that "We don't want to build a Turkish ghetto in Ehrenfeld. I know about Londonistan and I don't want that here." He said about Giordano's comments that he "broke down the wall. Before if you criticised this monstrous mosque you were a Nazi. But we have a problem with the integration of Muslims. It's a question of language and culture."
The city's mayor, Fritz Schramma, who supports the project said that "For me, it is self-evident that the Muslims need to have a prestigious place of worship, but it bothers me when people have lived here for 35 years and they don’t speak a single word of German." A Poll among 500 Cologne residents showed that the project is supported by 63%, of whom 27% want its size to be reduced.
References
- ^ Böhm, Plul. "ZENTRALMOSCHEE KÖLN". Retrieved 2007-09-16. (English translation)
- ^ Tempers flare in German mosque dispute. One Local News
- ^ Huge mosque stirs protests in Cologne Telegraph.co.uk
- ^ Turks’ plans to build mosque in Germany divides religions. Today's Zaman. Retrieved July 8th, 2007
- "Mosque project stirs concerns about the integration of Islam in Germany". Detroit Free Press. August 22, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-16.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Germans Split Over a Mosque and the Role of Islam. New York Times
- Plans to lower height of Cologne mosque dropped
- Cologne mosque divides religions in Germany. Reuters
- Hundley, Tom. Mosque project stirs concerns about the integration of Islam in Germany. Chicago Tribune. August 22, 2007.
- Omniquest: Neubau einer Zentralmoschee in Ehrenfeld (PDF), published Kölner Stadtanzeiger, Juni 19, 2007