Germany: Ahmadiyya Muslim Mosque to be approved in Hanau

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The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Hanau wants to reconstruct a supermarket into a mosque. The city wants to grant a planning and building permission. However, nearby industries fear constraints due to its being a place of worship (mosque).

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | UK Desk
Source/Credit: Frankfurter Rundschau
By Wiebke Rannenberg | April 9, 2014
Translated from Deutsch by Maleeha Zafar

HANAU/ GERMANY - If everything goes well, members of the Ahmadiyya community will be able to say their first prayers in their own mosque in Hanau. The city is willing to grant the planning and building permission in the forthcoming days, informed Lord Mayor, Claus Kaminsky (Social Democrat). Prior to this, mainly two people objected against a Mosque in the industrial area south to the harbor and collected signatures. An owner of a neighboring industrial site wants to appeal, because he fears constraints for the industries.

The mosque is not being newly built. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Hanau, which has approximately 2000 members, wants to reconstruct an old Aldi supermarket. Inside there are to be prayer rooms for women and men, as well as offices. On the outside two twelve-meter high towers, the minarets, are to indicate the religious venue. There are not meant to be any speakers. The car park will remain unchanged, since the community has to provide evidence for 104 parking spaces says Zafar Awan, spokesman of the community in Hanau to the Frankfurter Rundschau.

Awan says that a store within the building as often found in Turkish mosques is not intended. The Ahmadiyya Community wants to use their mosque only for prayers and occasional meetings with no cultural programs planned. According to the city the mosque will be used mainly between 5 to 10 pm when it is time for evening prayers, with up to 90 people expected on Fridays. The community also applied for an apartment for the management of the mosque, which was not approved informed the city.  The approval process stretched over ten months as the community applied for the construction permit in June 2013 and before a preliminary planning permission was dealt with.

Lord Mayor sees no problems 

The community has already purchased the ground. This was done by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Germany, which is the umbrella organization, says Awan. That is the usual process in the case of a new mosque, as individual communities would not be able to afford one. The purchase and reconstruction are therefore financed by donations from members from all over Germany. A year ago, national chairman Abdullah Wagishauser spoke about a one million Euro investment.

Kaminsky does not see a problem for neighboring chemistry and transport companies. The wishes of the community and the interests of the companies “can be united”, he conveys.

Willi Marewski disagrees. He owns a large part of the area along the backside of the future mosque. He is against any kind of non-industrial usage of the ground, he says. His disaffirmation has nothing to do with the belief of Muslims, he would also be against a church, school or daycare facility for children. He fears problems for his tenants, the transport company Hellman and soon a chemistry company: the community might complain about noise or smells and claim restraints for the companies, he states. Hence, he wants to appeal against the building permission.

He is demanding an entry in the land charge register according to which the community has to live with noise and smells. Awan counters these fears and says there is no danger of the community complaining: “We will not complain”. This is settled with the city. Jörg Ruffing, branch director of the chemistry company Stockmeier does not share this fear. “We are happy about our new neighbours”, he says.

Emelie Rensch cannot agree with this. She lives in the waterfront area and has collected signatures against the mosque. “People are scared”, she says without being able to further describe the fears. Her fellow campaigner Günter Jung is also convinced: “Hanau does not need a mosque.” Kaminsky who invited both protesters twice to meetings with Ahmadiyya representatives could not dissuade them against their rooted objections. Jung states he could accept a prayer room, but he is most disturbed by the planed minarets.

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