Denmark: Danish mosque planned

A group of Danish Muslims wants to open an Islamic Center and mosque where everything except Koran reading will be run in Danish.

A record number of Danes converted to Islam this year and therefore there is now a need for a place where Danish-speaking Muslims can meet, say the initiators of the idea.

One of the initiators is the Danish imam Abdul Wahid Pedersen, who is himself a convert.

The group does not yet have funding but intend to open the center by this summer.

Researchers guess that there are about 3000 ethnic Danish Muslims. However, today they usually have no access to Muslim services since services, Muslim education and even regular discussion at the mosque are usually in Arabic or other foreign language.

This is also a problem for young people that are left out of the existing mosques and associations. Pedersen explains that at the same time the idea is to de-mystify the mosques for the common Dane.

Source: Jyllands Posten (Danish)

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