"Mega-Mosque" In London To Be Built Next To Olympic Arena

I remember reading about this about a year ago, but I'd forgotten all about it until I saw this article today.

How big is "mega", you ask? Well, about this big:

It will be the largest place of worship in Europe, a gigantic three-storey Islamic centre, with schools and other facilities, able to hold at least 40,000 worshippers and up to 70,000 if necessary. It will be called the London Markaz and it is intended to be a significant Islamic landmark whose prominence and stature will be enhanced by its proximity to the Olympic site.

You don't say.

We're not talking about your average house of worship here. To put it into perspective, that's twice as many people as Fenway Park holds.

The 70,000 figure would make it considerably larger than the current record-holder, whose seating capacity is paltry in comparison:

The biggest in western Europe is just a couple of miles from where I live in south London, on a five-acre site. It can hold up to 5,000 worshippers and, while hardly a Timurid masterpiece, its dome and minarets do not detract from what is a rather gloomy bit of suburban Surrey. Funded entirely by voluntary donations from its congregation, it was erected by the Ahmadi Muslims, who also contructed the first London mosque in Putney in 1924. The Ahmadis, who have lived harmoniously in this country for many years, condemn any form of extremism.

And what have the Ahmadis gotten from their co-religionists in return? Stop for a minute before you answer.

Ready? You guessed it:

Tellingly, perhaps, the Ahmadis are considered heretics by the rest of the Islamic world.

You're probably wondering where the money for all this is going to come from. You know what? Let's not even talk about that.

Anyway, one of the Telegraph's readers makes an excellent point:

One aspect, only indirectly hinted at but a serious one, is the use of the population of mosque-goers as a political and physical force which could involve civil unrest. We have seen how imams in other countries (European as well as Middle Eastern) whip their congregations into frenzies and the end of their Friday mosque sessions often produce demonstrations and/or attacks on churches, synagogues, hindu temples or on people. Considering that the British police are either unwilling or incapable of dealing with large unruly groups (think music raves in the countryside) or hostile individuals (demos outside Danish Embassy calling for violence), and that the Army is only about 100,000 strong and deployed world-wide, what is to prevent 70,000 mosque-goers from actually engaging in totally antisocial behaviour without fear of censure, prevention or control?

Imagine the crowd at the Super Bowl. Now, imagine the crowd at the Super Bowl pissed at your girlfriend because she has the nerve to wear a tanktop.

Welcome to modern Britain, infidel.

posted by AndrewR at 05:40 PM

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