The Bishop of Yola's Catholic Diocese, Stephen Mamza, says since 2014 the Diocese has helped care for the displaced victims of Boko Haram insurgency who ran to Yola for refuge.

Mamza says Church authorities didn't ask what religion or denomination the people were when they sought refuge at St Teresa's Cathedral.

Up to 3,000 people have lived on the Church premises since then, although most have now returned to their original homes.

There are others who are still at the camp, however, because of continuing threats from Boko Haram.

The mosque, along with a new church and school, has been incorporated into a housing estate for the 86 families still at the camp.

Mamza says there are about 10 to 12 Muslim families in the camp.

He says it seems to him that if houses are provided for everyone, along with a church for the Christians, that they also provide a space of worship for the internally displaced Muslims.

The means to build the mosque came through the support of Missio in Germany, Mamza says.

At the new Sangere-Marghi Housing Estate's official opening on Tuesday this week, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Kukah, challenged Nigeria's Northern Governors to address religious uprising in the region.

Kukah told Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State that when he and his colleagues meet, he should remind them to guide and lead the religious leaders on how to dispense with religious intolerance in the region.

"They should not only be talking about dialogue with Bishops, Imams and Emirs sitting together and taking photographs and drinking tea as there are needs for concrete manifestation of ideas between one another.

"If the spirit of Islam and Christianity exist in Nigeria actually between members of the two Faiths, we will not be fighting, shedding as much blood as we are seeing today."

Kukah also called on the internally displaced people not to regard themselves as refugees, but to abide by the teachings and practices of their religions while in the estate.

Source

• Sahara Reporters
• Legit
• Vanguard
• Image:VMT News
  

The Main St church was bought by the Ashburton Muslim Association at auction in May.

The imam (leader) of the Mataura Masjid (mosque), Zamberi Bin Matyunus, a New Zealand citizen originally from Malaysia, lives in Mataura with his family. Read more

The new name was ordered by Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Abu Dhabi crown prince and deputy supreme commander of the United Arab Emirate armed forces.

He ordered the mosque be renamed to "consolidate bonds of humanity between followers of different religions." Read more

Muslims have been allowed to pray inside the Santa Maria della Misericordia church, which was converted to a mosque by artist Christoph Buchel.

The installation is Iceland's official entry into the Venice Biennale and will be deconstructed in November.

But Catholic authorities say that they should have been consulted over the initiative, even though the church was deconsecrated 45 years ago and has been privately owned since 1973.

"For any use other than Christian worship, authorisation must be sought from the ecclesiastical authorities, regardless of who is the owner of the church," the Patriarchate of Venice said in a statement.

"Such authorisation, for this site, was neither requested nor granted," the patriarchate stated.

Continue reading

Une marche de protestation contre la mosquée de Tahiti est prévue le 12 juillet à Papeete. Continue en Français

Tahiti: Ouverture de la première mosquée Le Figaro

About 1,000 people in French Polynesia have staged a demonstration marching through Papeete in protest at plans to build Tahiti's first mosque.

The rally was directed mainly at the 23-year-old imam, Hicham El Barkani, from Seine-Saint-Denis, who last year set up a prayer room in town, and is now asking for donations from Muslims in France for a Tahiti mosque.

Some attending the demonstration say El Barkain's form of Islam is dangerous while some women at the rally have been quoted as saying they fear losing their rights.

Hicham El Berkani did part of his theological training in Egypt and at the mosque of Medina in Saudi Arabia.

The mosque of Medina is associated with Salafism, a radical branch of the Sunni Moslem religion.

It is said to advocate a return to the original Islam and the implementation of Sharia.

On his return to France, El Barkani also attended the Bilal mosque in Saint-Denis, another place of worship affiliated with Salafism.

Authorities in French Polynesia have shown interest in Hicham El Barkani as a result of his connection with these radical circles.

French Polynesian authorities are also concerned that the United States has refused the presence of Hicham El Berkani on American soil.

This demonstration is the most recent of a number of protests, and attacks that have been made on Muslim property, in Papa'ete. Read more

Last year a prayer room at a Muslim Centre in was desecrated. A pig's head was deposited there and pig's blood was splashed on the walls.

According to a report in the Journal des Mosquees de France another act of desecration was said to have occurred on 27 June.

El Berkani told the Journal that a pig's head was thrown in front of the centre located 11 Rue Paul Gauguin in Pape'ete.

Read report in original French and view photographs

Source

• TNGobalTravel
• islametinfo.fr
• Image: www.tahiti-infos.com

Anti-mosque demonstration in French Polynesia]]> 60481 https://cathnews.co.nz/2014/02/25/millions-will-view-opening-nzs-largest-purpose-built-mosque/ Mon, 24 Feb 2014 18:06:36 +0000 http://cathnews.co.nz/?p=54810 Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at NZ are hosting an Open Mosque Day on 1 March 2014. The Baitul Muqeet Mosque in Wiri, Auckland was opened in November 2013 and is New Zealand's largest purpose-built mosque. The day will include guided tours, an exhibition and literature, as well as refreshments and hospitality from the Ahmadiyya Muslim community. Continue reading

"We want Santa Sofia to remain a museum. It was a Christian church for over 1000 years," Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople has said. "If it is to be reconsecrated, then it should go back to being a Christian church, since it was not built to be a mosque."

The basilica, completed in 537, became a mosque in 1453 with the Ottoman conquest and was made a museum in 1935.

Continue reading

Located in the downtown section of the capital, directly across the street from the courthouse, the new mosque was blessed and then people enjoyed food as part of the celebration.

The opening included reading from the Holy Quran and translations into Marshallese language.

Falah Shams, the national president of the Ahmadiyya, spoke and also led the group in prayer, and recently arrived Imam Matiullah Joyia read from the Quran. The recitation of the Quran and Shams' speech were translated to Marshallese by Billa Typhoon and Sannia Nena.

Ahmadiyya Muslims are persecuted in several Islamic countries and this has led many Ahmadis to emigrate and settle elsewhere.

Falah Shams and Imam Matiullah Joyia emphasised the message that from its founding in 1889, Ahmadiyya has explicitly rejected "jihad by the sword."

Mr Shams says instead the community has promoted an "intellectual jihad of the pen to defend Islam" and rejects terrorism in any form.

Rongelap's mayor James Matayoshi welcomed the religious group as one that "rejects violence" and thanked both the Ahmadiyya and its sister organisation Humanity First for their work with local government to establish computer centres and training for local people.

Source

• PINA
• Radio Australia
• Radio New Zealand
• Image: Radio Australia

The assault on the main mosque of Okene showed the true nature of the terrorist attacks by the Islamist insurgency known as Boko Haram, according to Archbishop John Onaiyekan of Abuja.

"Boko Haram is a threat to everyone, not just for Christians," said Archbishop Onaiyekan. "It is not the first time that a mosque is attacked, but previous attacks against mosques have not had the same prominence of attacks against Christian churches, perhaps because when Islamic groups attack a mosque it is not news.

"We must bear in mind that we are dealing with a group of criminals that all Nigerians, Christians and Muslims, must face together.

"Okene is in particular a Muslim community, where a strong Christian minority lives, and is one of the examples where Christians and Muslims live together. So it is not possible to divide the community between Christians and Muslims."

The terrorist attack on the Deeper Life Evangelican Church on the outskirts of Okene was carried out by three men.

Two sprayed gunfire from Kalashnikov assault rifles into those taking part in a Bible study programme, while the third man switched off the generator so there were no lights for those trying to escape.

Though no group claimed responsibility, Boko Haram has attacked both churches and mosques in the past and has been blamed for nearly 700 killings this year alone.

The group's name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's mostly Muslim north. Its demands have included the strict implementation of Islamic Shariah law across the country.

In the terrorist attack on the mosque, gunmen killed four people, including two military guards, during a Muslim programme.

Sources:

Associated Press

Fides

Nigerian Tribune

Image: The Blaze

Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the Supreme Head of Worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, approved the project which is being funded totally by the Ahmadiyya Community of New Zealand.

Continue reading

Worshippers shouted, "Break the chains, let Hagia Sophia Mosque open," and "God is great" before kneeling in prayer as tourists looked on

Turkey's secular laws prevent Muslims and Christians from formal worship within the 6th-century monument, the world's greatest cathedral for almost a millennium before invading Ottomans converted it into a mosque in the 15th century.

"Keeping Hagia Sophia Mosque closed is an insult to our mostly Muslim population of 75 million. It symbolises our ill-treatment by the West," Salih Turhan, head of the Anatolian Youth Association, which organised the event, told the crowd, whose male and female worshippers prayed separately according to Islamic custom.

The government has rejected requests from both Christians and Muslims to hold formal prayers at the site, historically and spiritually significant to adherents of both religions. Continue reading

The NZ Muslim Association, which runs the Avondale Islamic Centre, has accused Sheikh Abu Abdullah and his supporters of trying to take over the mosque.

There will be no more imams as the public religious face of the project, and Sharif El-Gamal, the lead developer and Chairman of the 45-51 Park Place property says he has been trying to regroup and reach out to the community to get input into the final design.

According to El-Gamal, it will take years of hard work to determine what kind of facilities Muslim and non-Muslim visitors want and need.

Despite a NYTimes poll indicating residents want the project moved to a less controversial site, and the Anti-Defamation League opposing the project, the vision remains.

Park 51, the community centre portion of the project is designed to be open to all with an interfaith space.

PrayerSpace will be the mosque for Muslim prayer services.

Fund-raising for both projects are at their beginnings and being treated separately, however according to the NY Times the same people are managing both projects.

The proposed centre prompted furious protests in New York, and this despite the support from New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg and the White House's 'comment' that it supported the constitutional right to religious freedom.

Muslim leaders have said that not only did they have a constitutional right to build but they would would also help move the forward, even in the face of opposition.

It was a matter of principle, the leaders said.

The centre should not budge from its planned site.

Opponents of the Ground Zero Mosque are not seeking to restrict Muslim-Americans' right to build mosques.

The opponents are happy to respect others' religious freedoms but strongly believe religious pluralism is a two-way street and with rights come responsibilities.

Sources

• NY Times
• Front Page Magazine