Mosques and multiculturalism

Layout of proposed mega-mosque

Ramesh Ramachandran

In an uncompromising speech on December 8, 2006, British Prime Minister Tony Blair told immigrants what was expected of them. They would need to meet requirements such as allegiance to the rule of law and a command of English. Anybody who was not prepared to conform to British “values” should stay away, he said.

“Our tolerance is part of what makes Britain, Britain. So conform to it; or don’t come here. We don’t want the hate-mongers, whatever their race, religion or creed. If you come here lawfully, we welcome you. If you are permitted to stay here permanently, you become an equal member of our community and become one of us.”

Blair maintained that no distinctive culture or religion superseded a duty to be part of an integrated Britain and suggested that ethnic minorities “can worship God in (their) own way” if they met the requirements, he said in the speech that was televised across the United Kingdom on a Friday, when Muslims offer jumma prayers.

His words are indicative of the rethinking of multiculturalism that has been taking place in Britain since the July 7, 2005 bombings in London. One focus of that debate is a mosque that the ultra-orthodox Tableeghi Jamaat plans to build in east London immediately next door to what will be the main stadium of the 2012 London Olympics.

Policy Exchange, a centre-right think tank, recently hosted a seminar on the proposed mosque, which it described as “one of the most controversial topics in British politics today”.

The opposition to the Tableeghi Jamaat and its proposed mosque in east London also flows from the fact that other mosques have been in the news for the wrong reasons. One of the most notorious was the Finsbury Park mosque in north London.

On January 20, 2003 it was raided by the Metropolitan Police and a number of men who were living there were arrested. Two weeks later Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri was removed from his position as an agent of the mosque. Al Qaeda terrorists, including “shoebomber” Richard Reid, had heard Abu Hamza’s radical sermons there. (The mosque has since been reclaimed by mainstream Muslims, who installed a new board of trustees and imam. It now offers courses that are open to the general public, and weekly attendance has tripled.)

More mosque controversies

Another controversial mosque is Tableeghi Jamaat’s European headquarters in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, a former textile mill town where a third of the 50,000 population is Muslim. The 7 July 2005 London bombers and some of the suspects arrested over the 2006 “liquid bomb” plot to blow up transatlantic airliners attended this mosque, which overlooks the Muslim enclave of Savile Town.

Tableeghi Jamaat’s “mega mosque”, or markaz, in West Ham will be very close to the London 2012 Olympic and regeneration sites and include a school, offices, dedicated youth facilities, and large dining and residential accommodation. Everything about the project is on a grand scale: it will spread over a 50,000 square metre site and cost an estimated £100 million to build. The mosque itself will be the largest in Europe, holding more than 50,000 worshippers.

The groundswell of public opinion against the building of the mosque cuts across racial and religious divides. British Muslims have joined hands with their white Christian compatriots to oppose the plan. Some 2,500 Muslims, who say the mosque will affect their lives for the worse, have signed a petition against it.

Dr Irfan al-Alawi, Europe director of the Centre for Islamic Pluralism, believes that if this mosque were to go ahead it will be strictly run by the Tableeghis and there will be no room for moderates. Asif Shakoor, chairman of Sunni Friends of Newham, cannot agree more. He says that the petition is a response to a feeling that the voices of moderate Muslims in the neighbourhood are not being heard.

Alan Craig, is one of three Christian Peoples’ Alliance councillors for Canning Town South in Newham, wants a full public inquiry into the mosque. “Tableeghi Jamaat built their Dewsbury mosque 25 years ago, and since then that neighbourhood has become a Tableeghi enclave,” he says. “We don’t want to create a similar enclosed ‘parallel society’ here in east London where today all races, cultures and religions mix in together fairly well.

 “Tableeghi Jamaat must come out of the shadows. They must be open about who they are and their intentions. Then they should publish their mosque masterplan so we can subject it – and them – to democratic scrutiny and public discussion.”

The history

Some things are known about Tableeghi Jamaat, however. Founded in British-ruled India in the 1920s, today it organises three conferences every year, in India (Bhopal), Pakistan (Lahore) and Bangladesh (Dhaka). The ijtema (congregation) in India has not drawn adverse reactions. In contrast, the Pakistan branch is believed to give clandestine support to jihadi elements and to promote their agenda. Tableeghi Jamaat has come under scrutiny from Western security agencies since the 9/11 attacks and the Britons responsible for the 7 July, 2005 bombings in London were also said to have had links with it.

“There is a global agonising on the subject” of integration versus multiculturalism, said Tony Blair said in his 8 December speech. London is certainly not the only city where plans to build a mosque have triggered a dispute.

Members of the community in Katy, a suburb of Houston, Texas in America, are opposing the local Islamic association which wants to press ahead with a mosque on a 44,515 square-metre site. They fear that the place will become a terrorist hotbed, and one man has even threatened to hold pig races on Fridays just to offend the Muslims. (Muslims consider pigs unclean and do not eat pork.)

Marseilles, one of France’s most diverse cities, has also had to battle demands by the Muslim community to build a grande mosquée and Islamic cultural centre. In July this year, Jean-Claude Gaudin, the city’s mayor, finally broke a decades-long deadlock. In a ceremony attended by Muslim, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Buddhist leaders, he allocated a plot of land for the mosque, paving the way for the project to begin.

“We wanted to perform this act of justice towards our Muslim compatriots in Marseilles, to allow them to build a place of worship like all the other major religions in Marseille,” Mr Gaudin said.

Marseilles managed to avoid the riots that afflicted other French cities in the autumn of 2005. Perhaps fittingly, Mr Jean Claude Gaudin was invited to a session of the “Race Convention 2006” on November 27-28, 2006 in London to share his experiences of managing a plural city.

The Tableeghi Jamaat and its planned mosque by the Olympic stadium may draw an extreme reaction from many Britons. However, it has owned the proposed site for 10 years.

Emma Joy, media and public relations manager for the Newham unit for the 2012 Games, explains that the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has taken over the planning powers for the area after the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006 received royal assent on 30 March. A part of the land on which the mega mosque would be built now falls within the jurisdiction of the ODA. It was immaterial which came first, she says, because “the Olympics is not preventing the building of the mosque”. She adds that the organisation has not yet approached the authorities with a plan for constructing the mosque.

The day after London won the Olympic bid in July 2005 the suicide bombers carried out their atrocity on the London Underground. The Olympics unites people but at present this planned mosque is dividing them. Will the Olympic spirit prevail over Londoners’ fears?