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George sarris
If you don’t know the exact address where Islamic mosque of athens, you will hardly find it. As much as you go up and down the Camino Santo, you will not see anything that looks like a mosque, nor is there a minaret in the background that protrudes behind the industrial zone of the area, nor any sign that indicates it. And yet it is there, at number 114, near the Botanical Garden, buried in the gap between two old buildings. Perhaps the only element that can make you suspect something is the Police patrol that cuts off walks in the area for security reasons.
Amid news of the pandemic and the dramatic increase in cases, the first mosque in the Greek capital began operating almost silently since the beginning of the week. after successive postponements and delays, intentional and unintentional. Suffice it to consider that the first law passed by the Greek Parliament on the construction of a mosque in Attica dates from … 1880!
The playground in the Marina area
We pass the nebulous main gate and about 50 meters further on, we are in the courtyard of the mosque that has a total area of 17 acres belonging to the Navy. There is silence. The faithful who have come are few since the protection measures against Covid 19 are observed: the maximum number of participants is 9 people at a time. In front of the main temple building, which is not something impressive, nor does it resemble the image of the mosques that we have in mind, there is a fountain and to the left a small playground. Four swings, a seesaw, two slides, and various other toys. It appears to be new and few bombers have visited it.
It has a special rug that came from Iran.
We leave the shoes outside, especially in a tightly closed plastic bag due to coronavirus, we disinfect our hands with antiseptic liquid and enter the main temple (Muslims usually wash their feet, hands and face before entering, while at this time they bring an individual prayer mat with them or if they do not have it, they receive the special sheet of laminated paper that they place in the place of prayer). It is a fairly large room of 1,000 square meters, paved with a specially designed carpet (made in Iran) whose design indicates the place where every believer should sit to worship in front of Mecca; all mosques are oriented towards the Kaaba in Mecca. There are 500 seats for men and to the right entering a lateral space, another 50 seats for women.
No seats
Of course, the interior walls are simply painted white and do not have any representation or statue as the Islamic religion is not iconic. There are not even sayings from the Qur’an in beautiful contexts or arabesques (these intricate decorative designs from Arabic art that everyone admires). There are also no seats.
The minbar that Mohamed Zaki will preach
Right in front of the faithful is the mihrab, a kind of sanctuary with a semicircular recess, to the right of which we see the so-called minbar, a kind of high or despotic pulpit. “There the magnet goes up for the religious sermon”, as they inform us. The Imam’s Debts to Islam mosque Athens is played by Sunni Mohamed Zaki, 49. He came to Greece about 25 years ago from Morocco as an economic immigrant and has lived in our country ever since. He is fluent in Greek, English, Arabic and French, has a BA in Physics and Mathematics with special studies in Muslim theology, and enjoys the acceptance of the majority of Arabs who live here.
Who chose the Sunni imam?
The imam was selected by the board of seven members of the “Steering Committee of the Islamic Mosque of Athens” (supervised by the Minister of National Education and Religions, Mr. Niki Kerameos) and the qualification of multilingualism was necessary, as the sermon alone it will be allowed in Greek or by concession in English while the sentence always in Arabic.
Because the state voluntarily paid 887,000 euros
It should be noted that the mosque was built entirely with money from the Greek State (the budget amounted to 887,000 euros) and it was a conscious decision since from the beginning the Greek governments that spent all these years building the temple did not want any other involvement. or individuals offered to pay the required amount. Athens becomes the first capital of Europe where a public mosque operates. In the other countries of the old continent, mosques are private and therefore controlled by those who put the money to build them. And in our country, p. Eg Turkey and several Arab countries to finance the construction of the mosque, but the Greek government refused for the same reason. So that she has full control.
Does it serve all the Muslims in Attica?
With its opening (it will be officially inaugurated when possible, once the pandemic is over) the State estimates that it will put an end to the anarchic situation that prevailed for so many years with the Muslims from Athens to pray in the basements of apartment buildings, closed parking lots and other areas, without control and security rules. The question, of course, is how many can be served numerically by a 550-person mosque, especially every Friday, which is the main day of prayer (the corresponding Sunday of Christians) and if Muslims will start, p. from Galatsi, Voula, Mandra or Piraeus to go to the Botanical Garden to perform their worship duties.
It was “built” from … 1880
The history of the mosque is very old. Since June of the very distant … 1880, Parliament passed the law “on the granting of a free national land for the construction of a Turkish mosque in Piraeus”, but without doing anything important on a practical level. A century later, in 1979, Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis promised King Fahd of Saudi Arabia that it would be built. mosque but it has not yet been implemented in practice.
In 2000, with Law 2833, Khourmouza was defined as the site of the mosque under construction in Paiania, but due to the reactions of the Church and the inhabitants of the area, it did not advance.
In 2006 the effort continued with Law 3512, which contained important modifications: the construction of the mosque to be financed exclusively by the Greek state, the mosque to be state-owned, and the imam to be designated by the state. The project was repeatedly delayed due to legal actions by various groups, which appealed to the Council of State. In 2016, the current Minister of Development and Investment, Adonis Georgiadis, as a candidate for governor of Attica (in the regional elections of November 7, 2010) had set himself the pre-election goal of stopping the construction of the mosque.
In 2016, bulldozers entered
Finally, after four unsuccessful bids for the designation of the companies that will be in charge of the construction of the mosque, the fifth bid becomes a success. The construction of the mosque was carried out by a consortium of large Greek construction companies, and the contract for its construction was signed on October 10, 2016.
Before construction, the police removed from the space that the protesters had taken. Construction began on November 4 of the same year and was completed last year, shortly before the national elections. The then Minister of Education and Religions, Costas Gavroglou, affirmed that “democracy spoke and its wish came true. “Athens finally has a place of prayer for visiting citizens, immigrants, refugees and Muslims.”
See the photo report
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