Mosque In Paris

The largest mosque in France and the third largest in Europe, the Great Mosque of Paris (Grande Mosquee De Paris) is located in the Fifth Arrondissement, right in the heart of Paris. In fact, it is just a little more than a mile from Notre Dame. The Great Mosque of Paris was the very first mosque to be built in France, and it was initially constructed in honor of the French Arab community that fought in the World War I - especially those who perished at the Battle of Verdun in 1916. With its pure white walls and the green-blue roofs and tiles on portions of the building like the minaret, the Great Mosque of Paris is a lovely sight to behold.

Getting There



The Great Mosque of Paris is located at Place du Puits de l'Ermite, 5e, (5th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 administrative districts) in the Latin Quarter near Jardin des Plantes and the Institut de Monde Arabe. If you need a hotel room near the Mosque, visit Paris Hotels



Guided tours are offered throughout the day without a prior reservation; however, the tours are in French. So, while they are quite informative, unless you speak French, you won't get the full benefit of the guided tour. Saturdays tend to be the busiest so you might wish to avoid that day. If you go throughout the week, try and arrive exactly when the doors open, which is usually 9:30 a.m.

Historical Significance

President Gaston Doumergue inaugurated the Mosque on July 15, 1926. Ahmad al-Alawi (1869-1934), an Algerian and founder of the modern Sufi order Darqawiyya Alawiyya, led the first communal prayer as part of the inauguration ceremonies. During World War II, the Mosque became a secret hiding place for those persecuted by the Axis powers. Historic accounts show that the Mosque provided shelter, safe passage and even fake Muslim birth certificates for Jewish children.

Today, this Mosque plays an important social role for Muslims in Europe. According to the Institute of the Arab World's registry of Mosques, there are only about 121 mosques throughout France, which is a very small number when you consider there are more than 4 million Muslims living in France. Many so-called mosques in France are no more than parking lots and empty buildings being used for prayer, so this grand Mosque in Paris with its rich history means quite a lot to Muslims in France and throughout Europe.

Originally constructed in the 1920s, the Mosque underwent an extensive renovation in 1992. It is made of reinforced concrete and enhanced with marvelous mosaics, wonderful wood carvings and ravishing wrought iron from Morocco. While all of those intricacies are aesthetically pleasing, the main attraction during the winter months is the marble Turkish baths. Men can take advantage of the baths on Tuesdays and Sundays, while the rest of the week is reserved for women. No matter which day you choose to visit the Mosque, you're sure to enjoy the unique architecture and learn more about Islam and its rich history in France.

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Mosque In Rome

The Islamic Cultural Center and Mosque of Rome is one of the largest mosques in Europe and can accommodate 12,000 people which is important since many Muslims have relocated to Rome over the past few decades. It's the only mosque in the very Catholic Rome, and it is quite exquisite. In addition to being a place of worship, it is also a location that offers cultural and social activities such as wedding ceremonies, funeral services, conventions and other events. Plus, this mosque and Islamic Cultural Center has become a place that connects Shia and Sunni Muslims. It is a very important and prominent structure for Muslims throughout Europe.

Getting There

The mosque and cultural center is situated in a park-like setting at the base of the well-to-do Parioli district, very close to a multitude of sports complexes along Acqua Acetosa, which, when translated, means "very good water."



To get to the Mosque of Rome from the center of the city, take the train just outside Piazza del Popolo (Metro A from Termini to Flaminio/Popolo) to the Campo Sportivi stop and head back towards the city, towards the minaret, which you can see from that spot. Via Rome Hotels you can find hotel rooms near the Mosque of Rome



Historical Significance

The Mosque was established by the then exiled Prince Muhammad Hasan of Afghanistan and his wife, Princess Razia Begum,. It was financed by Faisal of Saudi Arabia and designed by Paolo Portoghesi, Vittorio Gigliotti and Sami Mousawi. The construction of the Mosque took more than a decade to complete and more than 20 years, from the time the land was acquired. In fact, the land was donated by the Roman City Council in 1974 but no construction began until 1984. It was first opened on June 21, 1995.



Since its opening, the Mosque has been at the center of much news coverage, appearing in a great number of international publications. In one particular article about the Mosque, James Steele wrote that Italian architect Portoghesi felt there was no better symbol than the tree with which to express the diversity inherent in the unity of Islam, which is why he implemented the palm tree-like columns into the Mosque's design. "The roots, trunk, branches and leaves of the tree, like the various countries in which Islam prevails, are all different, and yet work together as a complete organism." The Mosque is a wonderful combination of Roman and traditional Islamic elements, conveying the heart of Islam in a beautiful way.

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Obama Calls on UN To Support Middle East Peace Talks

Barack Obama has challenged the countries of the United Nations to unite around peace efforts to create an independent Palestine and a secure Israel – within a year. In a speech to the UN general assembly, the US president urged fellow world leaders to press forward with renewed determination in the quest for peace in the Middle East. Without an agreement, Obama said, "more blood will be shed", and "this Holy Land will remain a symbol of our differences, instead of our common humanity".

Israel did not have a representative in the hall, owing to the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, but the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, listened to the speech through a translator. Obama's call for a Palestinian state drew a burst of applause from throughout the hall.
Abbas has threatened to walk out of the latest round of talks if Israel does not extend a moratorium on the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, a moratorium that is set to expire next week. The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has said he will not extend the freeze.

Obama repeated the White House position that the settlement moratorium should be extended. "It has made a difference on the ground and improved the atmosphere for talks," he said. Faced with the possibility of the collapse of negotiations, Obama implored the international community to get behind the idea of peace, and forget favouritism.

"Those of us who are friends of Israel must understand that true security for the Jewish state requires an independent Palestine," he said. "And those of us who are friends of the Palestinians must understand that the rights of the Palestinian people will be won only through peaceful means – including genuine reconciliation with a secure Israel."Obama also called for the promotion of human rights, open government and democracy.He defended his administration's approach to engaging Iran in negotiations over its nuclear programme. "The door remains open to diplomacy should Iran choose to walk through it," he said. "But the Iranian government must demonstrate a clear and credible commitment and confirm to the world the peaceful intent of its nuclear programme."

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Hamas arrests Israel ‘spies’ in Gaza

Hamas has said it had arrested ‘many’ Palestinians in Gaza on suspicion of collaborating with Israel to kill senior members of the enclave’s Islamist rulers and bomb training sites and government offices.The announcement came as a Hamas military court sentenced a Palestinian man accused of assisting Israel’s secret service to death by firing squard, security sources said. Ehab Al Ghsain, spokesman for Gaza’s interior ministry, said some of the suspected collaborators were accused of aiding Israel in a late 2008 war in which 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.

‘The phenomena (collaboration) is small but we have arrested many,’ Abu Abdallah Lafi, a senior official in Hamas internal security service, told a news conference. He would not say how many people were detained but said they included some women.

Ghsain asserted the suspects posed ‘a real danger to the unity of the pople and their resistance’ against Israel, which has sealed off the narrow coastal enclave by land, sea and air.

Hamas security organs had obtained ‘serious confessions and uncovered many collaborators who stood behind assassinations of some leaders of resistance and implemented policies of the enemy’s intelligence service against our people’, Ghsain said.

Some of the suspects had planted bombs at training camps and government offices that caused Palestinian casualties, while others had helped to facilitate Israeli raids into Gaza and assassinations of militants, he said.

Investigations were continuing.

Among those Israel had killed with Palestinian assistance, Ghsain said, was the ex-commander of the Islamic Jihad group, Majed Al Harazeen, whose car was hit in a 2007 air strike aided by an informer who provided his license plate number.

Lafi showed reporters a display of what he described as Israeli-made communication equipment he said had been used by the alleged collaborators.

Ghsain said some suspects who surrendered to the authorities would be ‘rehabilitated’ rather than prosecuted, and their identities would not be published.

In April, Hamas authorities executed two Palestinians convicted of collaborating with Israel.

Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 after a brief civil war with the forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose authority the Islamists no longer recognise.

Abbas’s mainstream Fatah movement controls the West Bank, except for areas taken up by Israeli settlements.

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Thoughts on the Eid Day

It's Eid Day at the end of the month-long fasting and my heart is sore. I think of the Muslims all over the world and I find little comfort.

I think of the Shia-Sunni divide profusely bleeding the ummah every moment. I shudder at the thought that some groups on both sides in Pakistan or elsewhere might not hesitate to shed each others' blood even on this day of joy and festivity. I think of those rulers in the heartland of Islam, Arabia, who would rather cooperate with Israel than endure the thought of Iran surviving and thriving. I cannot forget how this Shia-Sunni divide has been exploited by Islam's common enemies for centuries and has facilitated their conquest and domination of the Muslims, and continues to do so today. On this Eid Day I sit down alone and lament the blindness and the perversion of our hearts that this Shia-Sunni divide has caused.

I think of the plight of the Muslim lands - Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya, Mindanao, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen, ravaged by internal strife and humiliated by foreign occupation and domination, the killing fields that these places have become. Killing in the Muslim lands has become an easy sport. I think of the fear, insecurity, misery, humiliation and helplessness of so many of my brothers and sisters, too many to count. I think of the long dark night in their lives with no sign of an approaching morning.

I think of the beleaguered Muslim masses around the world. The Muslim societies in Muslim lands are no longer a unified whole; they are torn up into conflicting segments in which the masses always lose. The ruling elite in these lands have a tenuous connection with Islam and stand as a class apart only to serve themselves. Their insensitivity and heartlessness to those they rule over is mind-numbing. Likewise, Muslims living outside the Muslim world have a precarious existence and are under constant threat. At every step they need to prove themselves as sufficiently human, sufficiently American or European or whatever; they are regarded with suspicion, ridicule and even outright hostility.

I think of my brothers and sisters in so many places of the world in staggering poverty and suffering one natural calamity after another. I see my millions of flood-affected brothers and sisters in Pakistan, mostly poor, pitifully neglected by successive governments and by the rich and powerful in their communities who exploit them but refuse to stand by them in their distress. Where are Muslims who are humble in power and generous in wealth, as Islam teaches? I think of the waste and ostentation that go on all year round, culminating in Ramadan and on the Eid Day, even when neighbours are suffering unspeakably.

I think of the breed of politicians in the Muslim lands who ferociously compete with each other to lead the Muslims. Barring a few exceptions here and there, they range from insane to clownish. They display their talent best in groveling at the feet of their foreign masters while creating division and strife at home. They beg without shame from their foreign masters only to fatten themselves and their cronies. They utterly lack any sense of self-respect and are incapable of behaving in a dignified manner. In their own base interest they mortgage the fate of the millions of their fellow Muslims. They lead only to destroy. I think of the way Muslim rulers in the oil rich states squander their wealth in useless and wasteful projects. I grieve at the inhuman treatment millions of desperate expatriate Muslim workers receive at the hands of many Muslim governments.


I think of the government offices that will open soon after the Eid vacation. I will not speak of the incompetence and corruption in these places. I only shudder to think of the indignity and humiliation an ordinary Muslim is meted out by the people sitting in chairs in these places. An encounter with them is enough to take away one's joy of living.

I miss the loss of community, its integrity and cohesion that Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) and His noble Messenger (Sallallahu alayhi wassallam) repeatedly enjoin on Muslims. Muslims oppress other Muslims without hesitation, inflict pain on each other, make each other's burdens heavier with no feeling of shame or remorse. Muslims go hungry in the midst of plenty and waste, get sick without succor, cry bitterly and in vain for redress and justice. I find Muslims today living side by side without even being aware of each others' existence. We pray together in the masjid, but have no real communion with one another.

I think of the Muslim people split up and caged into national entities, even so much so that at Hajj they are deprived of any opportunity to come close to each other because they are consigned to enclaves by nationality. I smell the air in which the concept of the ummah has been given a foul odor and has become dangerous to breathe in. It has become a crime to think of oneself as an integral part of a unified body of Muslims, universal and timeless.

I miss the ulema who are supposed to be the heirs of our noble Prophet Muhammad (saws) in all the aspects of his life and life's work. I long to see a body of the ulema who understand Islam, live by it, understand their own people and their tradition and know the contemporary world for what it is. I long to see them breaking out of their isolation in their own regional confines and forming a close bond with the ulema in all parts of the Muslim world, sit together and discuss issues and concerns that need to be addressed unitedly and firmly. I long to see them, and them alone, lead the Muslims. Muslim masses are hungry for leadership that does not come. There are many individuals and groups active in Islamic work, but there are not many who present Islam in its entirety, faithfully and truly. It is as if we are engaged in creating an Islam of our own inclinations, as if we are not comfortable with Islam as it is.

I remember what Allah (swt) has called the Muslims, the best ummah raised for mankind (Quran 3:110). Can we make any claim to being the best of anything? This Eid Day will pass and another day will begin, and thus another week, month and year. On this auspicious day we need to examine ourselves and ask what groundwork we have done for that noble role during the month of Ramadan that we have just bidden farewell to.

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A Mosque Maligned

Just to show you how naive I am: When I first heard about the plan to build a mosque and community center two blocks from the site of the 9/11 attacks, I didn't envision any real opposition to it.

Sure, I can understand how some people traumatized by 9/11 - firefighters who survived it, or people whose loved ones didn't - might not like the idea. But I'd have thought that opinion leaders of all ideological stripes could reach consensus by applying a basic rule of thumb: Just ask, "What would Osama bin Laden want?" and then do the opposite.

Bin Laden would love to be able to say that in America you can build a church or synagogue anywhere you want, but not a mosque. That fits perfectly with his recruiting pitch - that America has declared war on Islam. And bin Laden would thrill to the claim that a mosque near ground zero dishonors the victims of 9/11, because the unspoken premise is that the attacks really were, as he claims, a valid expression of Islam.

Apparently I was wrong. Two New York politicians - Representative Peter King and Rick Lazio, a candidate for governor - are ginning up opposition to the project, as is the Weekly Standard.

Their strategy is to ask dark questions about the motivations behind the project (known as Park51 because of its address on Park Place). Those motivations reside in an imam named Feisal Abdul Rauf, founder of the Cordoba Initiative and the American Society for Muslim Advancement, the project's co-sponsors. So far as I can tell, Rauf is a good person who genuinely wants to build a more peaceful world. (I met him briefly last year at a venue where we had both been asked to give talks about compassion - his from an Islamic perspective, mine from a secular perspective. Here's the talk he gave.)

But if you think Rauf's good intentions are going to keep him safe from the Weekly Standard, you underestimate that magazine's creative powers. Its latest issue features an article about Park51 chock full of angles that never would have occurred to me if some magazine had asked me to write an assessment of the project's ideological underpinnings. For example: Rauf's wife, who often speaks in support of the project and during one talk reflected proudly on her Islamic heritage, "failed to mention another feature of her background: She is the niece of Dr. Farooq Khan, formerly a leader of the Westbury Mosque on Long Island, which is a center for Islamic radicals and links on its Web site to the paramilitary Islamic Circle of North America (I.C.N.A.), the front on American soil for the Pakistani jihadist Jamaat e-Islami."


Got that? Rauf's wife has an uncle who used to be "a leader" of a mosque that now has a Web site that links to the Web site of an allegedly radical organization. (I'll get back to the claim that the Westbury Mosque is itself a "center for Islamic radicals.")

The odd thing is that the author of this piece, Stephen Schwartz, is a self-described neoconservative whose parents were, by his own account, communists. You'd think he might harbor doubts about how confidently we can infer people's ideologies from the ideologies of their older relatives. You'd also think he might disdain McCarthyite guilt-by-association tactics.

You'd be wrong. Schwartz's piece goes on and on, weaving webs of association so engrossing that you have to keep reminding yourself that they have nothing to do with Rauf. At one point Schwartz spends several paragraphs damning someone whose connection to Park51 seems to consist of having spoken favorably about it.

As for the views of Rauf himself: In Schwartz's universe, Rauf's expressions of opposition to terrorism are themselves grounds for suspicion. Rauf, says Schwartz, has "cloaked the Cordoba effort in the rhetoric of reconciliation, describing himself and his colleagues as 'the anti-terrorists.'"

Rauf has been the imam at a Manhattan mosque for a quarter of a century, so you'd think that, if he actually had radical views, there would be some evidence of that by now. Just to give you some idea of what solid evidence of radicalism looks like: Representative King, who shares the Weekly Standard's grave suspicions about Rauf, supported the Irish Republican Army back when it was killing lots of innocent civilians. He raised money for the I.R.A. and said it was "the legitimate voice of occupied Ireland" and praised the "brave men and women who this very moment are carrying forth the struggle against British imperialism in the streets of Belfast and Derry" and in various other ways backed this terrorist group. If Rauf's past looked like King's past, there would indeed be cause for concern.

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Facebook and Muslim Outrage: Gleaning the Wrong Lesson, Again

There is no denial – and no shame – in the fact that most Muslims hold their Prophet in the highest regard. Despite the continued decrease in the number of faithful in increasingly secularized Western societies, Muslims are clinching even tighter to their faith.

"Any depictions of the prophet are considered blasphemous by Muslims," wrote Agencies, as reported readily by Aljazeera.net English. The above statement is meant to fully summarize the reason behind the outrage that arises in Pakistan and other parts of the Muslim world whenever some provocative 'artist' decides to express his freedom of expression and 'expose' Muslims as anti-democratic.

Such a simplistic interpretation of such an intricate issue.

There is no denial - and no shame - in the fact that most Muslims hold their Prophet in the highest regard. Despite the continued decrease in the number of faithful in increasingly secularized Western societies, Muslims are clinching even tighter to their faith. However, while the outrage over the latest transgression by some Facebook user and his "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!" may appear as a straightforward news story - that of Western values vs Muslim narrow-mindedness - the true underpinnings of the outrage is suspiciously missing.

The na•ve depiction by Western media makes it easy for 'freedom of expression' enthusiasts to condemn Muslims for yet again failing the democracy test.

The latest Facebook episode is a remake of the same old story. Some ill-intended 'artist', under the guise of freedom of speech, takes on a confrontational mission, knowing fully the response such an act would generate, and perhaps the lives that would be lost. Muslim masses, predictably, respond through angry protests, burning flags, denouncing America, Israel, Zionism, Facebook, Youtube and so on. Strangely, the very governments that are considered US allies tend to be on the forefront of condemning the 'blasphemous' provocations. Muslim masses are thus exploited on all fronts - by the media, by anti-Muslims, by rightwing forces in the West, and their own governments.

This, in turn, gives more ammunition to the Islamaphobes who constantly try to fan the flames in order to validate their racist perception of Muslims. The likes of Daniel Pipes, Alan Dershowitz, and other 'experts' invade our TV screens and take on the responsibility of lecturing the world on Islam. They use the same reductionist and racist language that they have utilized for years in the guise of academic jargon.

Why, though, are these 'academics' and 'intellectuals' eager to discredit Islam? And why are Muslims playing right into their hands?

It behooves us all to remember that some of those who champion freedom of expression are selective in their advocacy. Freedom of expression becomes important when the holiest symbols of Islam and its Prophet are paraded, ridiculed and stereotyped. However, these very advocates are enraged when the opinions being expressed are inconsistent with their own agenda, which is overtly militant and hegemonic, and refuses to take into consideration any honest opinion on Israel and its war crimes against Palestinians. One needs to repeat the way that the respected South African Judge Richard Goldstone, himself Jewish, was depicted for pointing out the horrendous crimes committed in Gaza during Israel's most recent war. More, these individuals seem completely oblivious when Muslims are denied the right to express their own values. When, for example, was the last time a rightwing fanatic stood up for a Muslim woman's right to cover her hair or face?

It must be stated, however, that discrediting Muslims and Islam is not a random strategy. It is very much in tandem with an overriding agenda that has occupied the thinking of many rightwing and Zionist ideologues for years, especially following the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the rising of anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim fervor in various Western countries. The aim is to dehumanize Muslims, to make them seem less civilized, and thus less worthy of equal human rights. In other words, Muslims cannot be treated using the same standards that apply to Westerners, because they have failed to subscribe to Western values. The angry protests in Pakistan are supposedly proof of this. This makes war easy and sanctions morally justifiable.

Why are Muslims playing right into this scenario? Actually, they are not, although it would seem otherwise. The fact is, many Muslims nations are caught between two layers of oppressions: that of outsiders - wars and occupation, interference in their countries' affairs, all forms of humiliation and exploitation - and internal pressures - corruption, oppression and denial of rights, including, yes, freedom of expression, speech, assembly and democracy itself. These rights are also denied by the very countries that are seen as 'pro-American.'

Under these external and internal pressures, Muslim societies embrace even tighter their everlasting Islamic symbols. Islam, for many Muslims, represents more than just a way of life and an answer to unworldly questions. It also provides a sense of hope, and it helps to maintain a level of solidarity and societal cohesion. The harder people's lives become, the more impoverished, oppressed and abused, the stronger their faith grows.

Considering all of this, insulting Islam, depicting the Prophet in degrading (or any other) ways, bashing Islamic symbols and values is equivalent to denying Muslim masses with their last and only chance at dignity and hope.

Those who are under the impression that Muslims are opposed to freedom of expression are only seeing a small part of the picture. Those versed in history understand that it was Muslim advancements in science, art and literature, and their most impressive translations of the great works of ancient civilizations that allowed Europe to bask in the sun of its renaissance.

Moreover, those who are sensible enough to see the big picture will understand that when a Pakistani woman chants "Death to Facebook" - as pitiful and confusing such phrase may sound - she is not actually referring to a social networking website. Far from it, especially since numerous Muslims have utilized Facebook to share their own ideas with the rest of the world. What the woman is chanting against is the manipulation of freedom of expression to further humiliate her people. She is standing in solidarity with European Muslim communities who are under a most intense attack on their civil rights and liberties. She is angry at the war in Afghanistan, the constant bombing of innocents in Pakistan, the occupation of Iraq, the rape of women and the parading of naked prisoners, the siege in Gaza. She is angry about the Western double standards regarding democracy, about her own oppression and her people's misfortunes. And so much more.

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