[Jpost] The city has not had a formal mosque since 200 years ago.
After years of delays caused by red tape, cutbacks and opposition from religious and political factions, the first government-funded mosque in Athens since 1833 opened its doors to worshippers on Friday.
Hundreds of thousands of Moslems from countries including Pakistain, Syria, Afghanistan and Bangladesh live in Athens but the city has not had a formal mosque since it forced occupying Ottomans to leave nearly 200 years ago.
Plans to build a mosque in Athens began in 1890 but it took decades for them to materialize due to opposition from a predominantly Christian Orthodox population and nationalists, sluggish bureaucracy but most recently a decade-long financial crisis.
Amid a coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
 ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
outbreak, only a limited number of worshippers, wearing masks and sitting at a distance from each other due to COVID-19 restrictions, attended prayers.
"It is a historic moment for the Moslem community living in Athens, we have been waiting for this mosque for so long," said Heider Ashir, a member of the mosque's governing council. "Thanks to God, finally, we have a mosque which is open and we can pray here freely."
But other Moslems were unhappy with the mosque's appearance. A grey, rectangular structure with no dome or minaret, has no resemblance to other graceful, ornate mosques in Europe.
"It does not at all look like a place of worship, it is a small, square, miserable building," said Naim El Ghandour, head of the Moslem Association of Greece. "We thank them very much for the offer, but we will fight to reach it to the level that we deserve."
Under a lockdown to curb a surge in COVID infections, gatherings for formal worshipping will be banned from Saturday until Nov. 30.
"We will pray at home, and as soon as the lockdown is over the mosque will again be open for the worshippers," Ashir said.
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