Blue Mosque (Amsterdam)

Last updated
Blue Mosque
Blauwe Moskee
Walls of Babylon Slotervaart.JPG
Location
Location Amsterdam Nieuw-West, Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands
Architecture
Groundbreaking2008
Interior area790 m2

The Blue Mosque (Dutch : Blauwe Moskee) is a mosque and cultural center in Amsterdam Nieuw-West, the Netherlands. [1] Construction of the mosque was financed by the government of Kuwait through the offices of Europe Trust Netherlands and began in 2008. [2] The mosque is architecturally significant for both its blue color and the fact that the structure lacks traditional minarets and other symbols associated with Muslim places of worship. [3]

Contents

Architecture

The Blue Mosque mixes traditional and modern architecture and is two storeys in height. The mosque cover 790 square metres (8,500 sq ft) and is built of blue bricks. Unlike many traditional mosques, the Blue Mosque lacks a loudspeaker used to broadcast the call to prayer. The mosque consists of a room for prayer, five Islamic education class rooms, a room for lectures, and two meeting rooms. [3]

Vision

The Blue Mosque prides itself on being both “progressive and modern,” aiming to counter fundamentalism and provide youth with a modern and moderate version of Islam. [2] The Blue Mosque is a place of spiritual peace and reconciliation where the focus is on similarities rather than differences. The mosque aims to be a place where everyone is welcome regardless of their age, gender, or religion. The mosque works to build bridges with their community in Amsterdam and society at large. They aim to be a guide for youth and to stimulate debate. The official language of the mosque is Dutch. [1]

Management

General management of the mosque is voluntary. The board members meet once a month to arrange details in and outside the mosque. The board has the right to refuse entry to anyone who behaves in an undesirable manner. The mosque is non-smoking and cell phones are not allowed during prayer services. [1]

Controversy

Concern has been expressed over the fact that The Blue Mosque was founded by members of the Muslim Brotherhood. The director of the Europe Trust in the UK, Muslim Brotherhood member Ahmed al-Rawi, is said to have founded the mosque and continues to influence the mosque in both financial and ideological matters. [2] [4]

Further concern has been expressed over the fact that public speakers at the mosque have included Mahmoud al-Masri, an anti-Semite Egyptian Imam banned in France, and radical and salafi preachers like Remy Soekirman and Sheik Khalid Yasin. [2]

Dutch citizens in Amsterdam filed a petition against the fact that the mosque functions under the authority of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Religious Affairs in general and specifically under Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood member Dr. Mutlaq Rashid Alkarawi. [2] According to the newspaper Het Parool, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Islamic Affairs is not only financing operations but also paying the salaries of preachers and leaders of the Blue Mosque. [4]

Related Research Articles

Mosque Place of worship for followers of Islam

A mosque is a place of worship for Muslims. Any act of worship that follows the Islamic rules of prayer can be said to create a mosque, whether or not it takes place in a special building. Informal and open-air places of worship are called musalla, while mosques used for communal prayer on Fridays are known as jāmiʿ. Mosque buildings typically contain an ornamental niche (mihrab) set into the wall that indicates the direction of Mecca (qiblah), ablution facilities and minarets from which calls to prayer are issued. The pulpit (minbar), from which the Friday (jumu'ah) sermon (khutba) is delivered, was in earlier times characteristic of the central city mosque, but has since become common in smaller mosques. Mosques typically have segregated spaces for men and women. This basic pattern of organization has assumed different forms depending on the region, period and denomination.

The adhan, also written as adhaan, azan, azaan or athan, also called ezan in Turkish, is the Islamic call to prayer, recited by the muezzin at prescribed times of the day. The root of the word is ʾadhina أَذِنَ meaning "to listen, to hear, be informed about". Another derivative of this word is ʾudhun (أُذُن), meaning "ear".

Sultan Ahmed Mosque historic mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey

Sultan Ahmed Mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque, is a historic mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. It remains a functioning mosque, while also attracting large numbers of tourist visitors. It was constructed between 1609 and 1616 during the rule of Ahmed I. Its Külliye contains Ahmed's tomb, a madrasah and a hospice. Hand-painted blue tiles adorn the mosque’s interior walls, and at night the mosque is bathed in blue as lights frame the mosque’s five main domes, six minarets and eight secondary domes. It sits next to the Hagia Sophia, another popular tourist site.

Islam in the Netherlands Religion

Islam is the second largest religion in the Netherlands, practiced by 4% of the population according to 2010–11 estimates. The majority of Muslims in the Netherlands belong to the Sunni denomination. Most reside in the nation's four major cities, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht.

Amadou Bamba Senegalese Sufi leader

Ahmadou Bamba Mbacke also known as Khādimu 'al-Rasūl or "The Servant of the Messenger" and Serigne Touba or "Sheikh of Tuubaa", was a Sufi saint (Wali) and religious leader in Senegal and the founder of the large Mouride Brotherhood.

Theo van Gogh (film director) Dutch film director, writer and satirist (1957-2004)

Theodoor "Theo" van Gogh was a Dutch director and film and television producer, actor and author. He directed "Submission: Part 1", a short film written by Somali writer and politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali, which criticized the treatment of women in Islam in strong terms. On 2 November 2004, van Gogh was assassinated by Mohammed Bouyeri, a Dutch-Moroccan Muslim who objected to the film's controversial message. The last film van Gogh had completed before his death, 06/05, was, ironically, a fictional exploration of the assassination of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn (1948–2002). It was released posthumously in December 2004, a month after van Gogh's assassination.

Muslim World League NGO based in Makkah Saudi Arabia that propagates Islamic teachings

The Muslim World League is a Pan-Islamic NGO based in Mecca, Saudi Arabia that aims to clarify the true message of Islam by advancing moderate values that promote peace, tolerance and love.

Religion in the Netherlands was predominantly Christianity between the 10th and until the late 20th century; in the late 19th century roughly 60% of the population was still Protestant and 35% was Catholic. Since then there has been a significant decline of Christianity—both Catholic but especially Protestant—so that nowadays Catholics outnumber Protestants and there is a secular majority, while also including a relatively common Muslim minority.

Turks in the Netherlands are the ethnic Turks living in the Netherlands. They make up 2.5% of the population.

Mobarak Mosque, The Hague

The Mobarak Mosque in The Hague is the first purpose-built mosque in the Netherlands.

Great Mosque of Brussels mosque in Brussels, Belgium

The Great Mosque of Brussels is located in the Cinquantenaire Park. It is also the seat of the Islamic and Cultural Centre of Belgium.

Hassan al-Banna Egyptian politician

Sheikh Hassan Ahmed Abdel Rahman Muhammed al-Banna, known as Hassan al-Banna, was an Egyptian schoolteacher and imam, best known for founding the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the largest and most influential Islamic revivalist organizations.

Loudspeakers in mosques

Loudspeakers were invented in the early 20th century, and they were introduced in mosques in the 1930s, where they are used by a muezzin for the adhan, and sometimes for khutbah (sermons).

Blauwe Theehuis

The Blauwe Theehuis is a 1930s Modernist pavilion in the Vondelpark in Amsterdam, the capital city of the Netherlands. It is a ring-shaped building, somewhat reminiscent of a flying saucer. Originally a tea house, it is in use as a café and restaurant, surrounded by outside seating. The Blauwe Theehuis is also used for theatre performances, festivals, weddings, and other events. The building has rijksmonument status.

The Al-Fourqaan mosque is a salafi Islamic mosque in which is part of Al-fourqaan Islamic Center in Eindhoven, Netherlands.

Sharia4Holland is an Islamist movement, openly seeking to institute Sharia law in the Netherlands. The group is an offshoot of the Belgian extremist network Sharia4Belgium.

The Europe Trust Netherlands (ETN) is a Dutch foundation linked to The Europe Trust in Markfield, United Kingdom which owns Islamic related real estate. Since it was founded in 2006 the trust has taken ownership of multi million euros worth of real estate in Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam. The ETN was founded as a foundation in October 2006 in the Netherlands by founding members were Yahia Bouyafa, Nour Din Acherrat and Moussa Marcouch. All three were also founding members of the Federation Islamitische Organisaties Nederland which was named by the AIVD as the representative of the Muslim Brotherhood ideology in the Netherlands. Also Nour Din Acherrat and Moussa Marcouch are trustees of the foundation Islamic Relief Nederland in Amsterdam.


Dr Nooh Edrees al-Kaddo is a British citizen who resides in Dublin, Ireland and was born in Mosul, Iraq. Al-Kaddo is the CEO of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland and a director of the al-Maktoum Foundation in Ireland and moved to Dublin in 1997.

The Mosque al-Nour is a mosque in Mulhouse, France. It was launched in 2009 for the construction of a religious and cultural center for the Muslim community in Mulhouse, the second largest city in the Alsace region.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Redmon, Rachid. "Over Ons". blauwemoskee.nl. Archived from the original on 2015-08-10. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Topman Europese Moslimbroederschap stond aan wieg van Blauwe Moskee in Slotervaart « CarelBrendel.nl" . Retrieved 2016-04-04.
  3. 1 2 "The Blue Mosque - Sightseeing - Amsterdam". www.inyourpocket.com. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
  4. 1 2 "Kuwait Controls Amsterdam's Blue Mosque". Netherlands News. 28 May 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2016.

Coordinates: 52°20′55″N4°49′53″E / 52.3486°N 4.8314°E / 52.3486; 4.8314

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.