VIENNA,
January 9, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – Austrian Muslims will celebrate
this `Eid Al-Adha with the opening of a new grand mosque in Vienna
accommodating up to 700 worshipers.
"Despite
the lack of finances, which hampered the mosque’s construction at some
point, we managed to get the job done," Abdel Al-Al Ayyad, one of
the mosque's supervisors and financers, told IslamOnline.net on Monday,
January 9.
The
mosque’s construction cost some 70,000 euros ($85,000).
"We
rented the land for 1,300 euros a month (some $1580), which is nothing
compared to other mosque lands rentals in other areas, which reach 3,000
euros," Ayyad said.
Al-Fath
Mosque, which has a sixty-meter prayer room for women, is supervised by
the Islamic Religious Authority, the official representative Muslim body
in Austria.
It
will serve a growing Muslim minority as other places of worship in
Vienna are bursting at the seams with worshipers.
Donations
Ayyad
said if it had not been for generous Muslim donations, the mosque would
not have seen the light.
"A
Muslim engineer paid 3,000 euros for the electricity works, another
contributed 6,000 euros for the glassware and a third will foot the
monthly rental bill," he added.
"We
also got interest-free loans from other mosques."
The
mosque will also serve as a culture center for Muslims, organizing
Arabic and German languages classes, religious contests as well as
weekend trips.
There
are 200 mosques and prayer rooms across the European country, including
60 in Vienna alone.
A
law issued in 1867, which guaranteed respect for all religions, gave
Muslims the right to build mosques and practice their religion in
Austria.
Austrian
Welcome
Ayyad
said despite the racist attacks on mosques in Austria, the new mosque
was welcomed by Austrian neighbors.
"We,
in return, will invite them to the inauguration ceremony and organize an
open day to get them acquainted with the true essence of Islam and clear
stereotypes about the Muslim faith," he said.
The
latest attack on a mosque in Austria occurred in September when unknown
people hurled stones at Muslim worshipers while performing Fajr (dawn)
prayers in the city of Linz.
Anti-Muslim
slurs have also been splashed across the walls of several mosques in the
wake of the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
Muslims,
estimated at nearly half a million, make up some 6 percent of the
country’s eight-million population.
Islam,
which was officially acknowledged in Austria in 1908, is considered the
second religion in the country after Catholic Christianity.
