A mosque to be built in Zugló by the Hungarian Islamic Community
According to atv.hu, the mosque, which is currently under renovation, will also function as a cultural centre. The municipality of Zugló only heard about the investment from ATV.
The Hungarian Islamic Community, currently centred in the 13th district, has bought an estate in Zugló on Róbert Károly Boulevard. Imam Miklós Ahmed Kovács shared the news at a sermon on the 20th of January. Since then, his speech has been shared on YouTube.
Miklós Ahmed Kovács states in the video that a mosque means something different in western countries than it does in eastern countries, where it is mainly for praying.
“Here, in the western world, a mosque is also a centre. This is why we call these places cultural centres” said the imam.
He went on by saying that the community had bought an estate in the 14th district (Zugló) of Budapest, which they will turn into a mosque and a cultural centre.
“We need Muslims’ support for the establishment of this mosque” added Kovács referring to the work and financial resource required for the construction. Atv.hu found out that the place will be called “Germanus Gyula Islamic Cultural Centre, Durics Hilmi Husszein Mosque”.
The website also looked up Zoltán Bolek, the president of the Hungarian Islamic Community, in connection with the topic. He confirmed the fact that they have bought an estate but didn’t want to tell the exact location for the time being. However, he promised to invite the writer of the article to the inauguration, but, according to him, there’s still a lot to do, like performing the ritual lavatories and the purchasing of rugs.
He also said that the majority of the work is done under social work conditions, for instance, he is responsible for the electricity in several rooms.
It was almost exactly one year ago that the leader of the Hungarian Islamic Community complained that, in contrast with other religious communities, they don’t get estates for free, so they have to “solve the problem differently: buy and renovate”. It seems like their plan worked out.
Bolek emphasized that politicising and the spreading of extreme ideas will be prohibited in their new centre. As their regulations says
“the propagation of any extreme trend and encouragement to aggression are prohibited! Anyone committing this will be banned from the centre!”
The website also contacted the municipality of the 14th district to find out further details about the investment, but they were surprised as they heard about the topic for the first time. The press agent of the municipality said that they don’t know anything about the community buying an estate in Zugló, so it can be excluded that the location was of municipal ownership.
Atv.hu managed to find out that the new centre will be in Paskál Street, in a building where a gym used to function. The cultural centre will include a mosque, lavatory, library, kid supervision, shop, office, restaurant, fitness section and an apartment for the imam.
Copy editor: bm
Source: http://www.atv.hu/