PARIS,
March 3, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – In the first move of its kind, a
Muslim engineer established an architecture office with the main goal
of making designs for mosques and Islamic institutions in France.
The
step comes as a bid to overcome obstacles facing the Muslim minority
and Islamic institutions in France in constructing their worship
places.
“The
office was established with an objective of making architecture
designs for mosques and other Islamic institutions such as schools,
societies and hospitals in France,” engineer Mohamed Al-Muneeri told
IslamOnline.net.
The
Acore Conspesion office for engineering and legal studies was
established by Muneeri early this year.
The
office’s first mission was putting together the design of a new
mosque in the Paris suburban of Pondi.
The
mosque is due to be officially inaugurated March 15, with a capacity
of 1,300 worshipers.
Garner
Support
“At
least 80% of the Islamic institutions in France are facing
difficulties in constructing mosques, which are mostly set up in
basements and garages,” said Muneeri, who is also the chair of the
“Islam For All” institution.
“As
a result of the problems facing the Islamic institutions in
constructing mosques, we found no other option but to establish the
office,” he added.
There
are at least 1,554 mosques in France, the majority of whom are either
underground rooms or private places of worship in public places and
squares.
Talks
were held with a cohort of Muslim engineers and legal experts to
garner support to the move, Muneeri said.
“In
light of the official indifference, we decided to take care of our own
affairs as French citizens.”
Mosques
have been facing major difficulties, ranging from official obstacles
blocking plans to build new worship places, racist attacks against
mosques, to the refusal of insurance companies to signing contracts to
provide services to mosques.
France
is home to around six million Muslims, half of them are of Arab
origin.
Mixture
of Architecture
 |
|
French Muslims perform prayers in the Pondi mosque.
|
The
architecture design of the Pondi mosque, which is usually seen full of
Muslim worshippers despite not yet officially opened, is a mixture of
Andalusian, Turkish and Moroccan architectures.
The
lightening designs and ornamentation are modeled on the Andalusian
style while the mosque pillars are designed on the Moroccan
architecture.
“We
wanted to satisfy the tastes of all French Muslims,” Muneeri said.
“My
goal was to make the architecture go in line with the French
architecture and at the same time to satisfy the tastes of French
Muslims. We only want to make Muslims feel at home, upon entering the
mosque.”
Several
mosques have been built in public places and squares in the European
country over the past few years, according to a French study published
in June 2004.
“It
is quite necessary to widen the mosques after it has become a normal
thing to see Muslims performing Friday prayers in the streets of
French suburbs,” the study said.
As
a case in point, French Muslims in the Eleese city, southern Paris,
had no other way but to perform the Eid Al-Fitr prayers on the
pavements next to the municipality building, protesting the refusal of
municipality officials to allocate a larger piece of land to the
Muslim minority to build a new mosque in the area.
