Denmark’s first minaret installed

“A happy and big day for Muslims in Denmark,” says the spokesperson for the organisation behind the upcoming 6,800sqm mosque in Copenhagen

Copenhagen's skyline received a new addition this morning when a 20-metre minaret was put in place at the upcoming mosque in Copenhagen's Nordvest district. 

 

It is the first minaret in Denmark, but its purpose will be primarily symbolic as Danish law forbids using minarets to broadcast a call to prayer.

 

The minaret belongs to the 6,800 sqm Sunni mosque on Rovsingsgade, which is being viewed as the first 'real' mosque in Denmark and which will be the largest in Scandinavia upon its completion. 

 

READ MORE: Denmark's largest mosque nears completion

 

Funded by Qatar
The mosque has received 150 million kroner in funding from the former ruling emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, leading to concerns that the mosque will espouse conservative Islamic views. 

 

The imam who will lead the mosque, 53-year-old Jehad Al-Farra, is associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. Al-Farra said last month that while he has ties to the organisation, which works to create a single global Islamic community and which is criticised for following Sharia laws, the organisation that runs the mosque embraces several Muslim sects. 

 

Dream come true
Mohamed al Mainouni, the media spokesperson for Dansk Islamisk Råd, the 25,000-member organisation responsible for building the mosque, said that seeing the minaret put into place was a significant moment. 

 

"This is a happy and big day for Muslims here in Denmark," al Mainouni told public broadcaster DR. "This is quite simply a dream that is being realised, so this is huge."

 

Al Mainouni predicted that the mosque would have its official opening within a few months. 

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