Mosque construction in Zwickau: Application rejected – what now for the believers?

Mosque construction in Zwickau: Application rejected – what now for the believers?

In Zwickau, a planned building application for a Muslim prayer house is causing discussions after the AfD drew attention to it at a city council meeting. According to reporting by Radio Zwickau However, the mayor made it clear that so far neither an application for the construction of a mosque has been received nor approval has been granted. Once again it becomes clear that the city of Zwickau is dealing with planned Mohammedan building projects that ultimately were not implemented into reality.

The Al Ansar association, which has been active near the main train station for years, recently submitted a building application, which, however, does not include a dome, minaret or extension. Instead, the aim is to use existing rooms as club and prayer rooms and to roof over a terrace. In the last two years, two preliminary building applications have been submitted for a mosque with a minaret on Reichenbacher Strasse, both of which were rejected. The first request was withdrawn, while the second was rejected by the relevant authorities, leading to an appeal that was also rejected.

Surveillance and planned mosques in Saxony

However, there are larger projects in the pipeline throughout Saxony. How Sächsische.de reports, a total of five new Islamic prayer rooms and mosques are planned in the four largest cities - Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Zwickau. In response to a parliamentary question from the AfD, Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU) informed that the project of the “Islamic Community in Saxony Al-Rahman Mosque” in Leipzig is the most advanced. This is planned from the new building of a former cultural center and will offer space for around 1,000 believers. The opening is planned in the coming months, with the community already using the Al-Rahman Mosque on Roscherstrasse.

However, the Muslim community is not without controversy. The Saxon Office for the Protection of the Constitution is monitoring the community and its long-standing imam Hassan Dabbagh, who is considered a central figure in political Salafism. Interestingly, only some visitors are inclined towards Salafism, like Journalist Watch reported. There are an estimated 270 followers of this movement across Saxony, which further fuels the discussion about the construction and presence of Muslim communities in Saxony.