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| Britain |
| Old church becomes mosque in Britain |
| 2007-04-03 |
| On a chilly night this winter, a pristine town in some of Britain’s most untouched countryside voted to allow a former Christian church to become a mosque. The narrow vote by the municipal authorities marked the end of a bitter struggle by the tiny Muslim population to establish a place of worship, one that will put a mosque in an imposing stone Methodist church that had been used as a factory since its congregation dwindled away 40 years ago. In Clitheroe, the tussle involved a passionate young professional of Pakistani descent coming up against the raw nerves of tradition-bound local residents, says a report by Spiegel Online and the New York Times on Monday. “We’ve been trying to get a place of worship for 30 years,” said Sheraz Arshad, 31, the Muslim leader here. With a population of 14,500, a Norman castle and an Anglican church established in 1122, Clitheroe is tucked away in Lancashire County in the north. Arshad, a project manager at British Aerospace, is the British-born son of Mohammad Arshad, who came to Clitheroe from Rawalpindi in 1965 to work at the cement works on the town’s outskirts. When his father died in 2000, leaving his efforts to establish a mosque for the approximately 300 Muslims unfulfilled, Arshad took up the challenge. “I thought, why should I be treated any less well?” Arshad said. “One quarter of my salary goes in tax, too. I was driven to do the mosque.” In all, Arshad and his father made eight applications for a mosque, and even proposed buying a modest terrace house on the edge of town to be used for worship. He tried to buy land from the council but was rebuffed. Often there was booing at council meetings, and, he said, cries of “Go home, Paki!” The authorities’ official reasoning for the rejections was generally that a mosque would attract outsiders – a veiled reference to Muslims – to Clitheroe. Arshad decided to get organised and demonstrate that he was a moderate Muslim who could take part in all the town’s affairs. He formed an interfaith scout group – Beaver Scouts – that honoured many religious occasions, including the Taoist and Jewish new years. He established the Medina Islamic Education Centre as an interfaith group for adults, and persuaded the local council to allow the group to lead a key committee. He organised a series of lectures on global conflict that attracted important academics. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 “I thought, why should I be treated any less well?” No need for a "veiled reference" here. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-04-03 11:04 |
| #2 put a mosque in an imposing stone Methodist church that had been used as a factory since its congregation dwindled away 40 years ago so, actually, a former factory is becoming a mosque.... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-04-03 10:17 |
| #1 Once upon a time in the West, large churches stood on the high ground over small towns. Now large mosque structures have either been built or are in the plans everywhere. Meanwhile, building of churches is generally prohibited in the Muslim junk states. |
| Posted by: Sneaze 2007-04-03 07:52 |