DAR AL HARB - U.K.: NEW MOSQUE BATTLE RAGES

Storm over mosque plan
By Nazia Parveen

A row has broken out over proposals for a new mosque and Islamic school in a Preston conservation area.

Preston City Council's planning committee has received more than 145 objections to plans by the Preston Muslim Society to rebuild the Masjid-E-Salaam mosque, in Watling Street Road, Fulwood, and rebuild it to include a 17.5 metre tower on top.

The development will cost in the region of £2million.

They also propose a new muslim learning centre on nearby Victoria Road, which would result in the demolition of a building dating back to the 1900s.

Local councillors and residents are concerned about increased traffic and fear the building will be out of character with the surrounding area.

Ward councillor Bobby Cartwright said: "It's not the fact that it's a mosque.
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"The whole purpose of a conservation area is to preserve historic buildings. Our objections are strictly on planning grounds. We have concerns about traffic, and whether the building will be in character with the surrounding area."

Kingsfold Developments, which submitted the plans on behalf of the Preston Muslim Society, have made changes to the plans after discussions with members of the planning committee.
Director Rafiq Tailor, said: "In terms of design and architecture the mosque will look different to Victorian buildings but we have made changes to help it to fit in with the character of the area."

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Changes made to mosque plans

A new mosque would tower over a Preston conservation area [Why would the mosque tower over all of the other infidel structures?!? Because in the first 'treaty' (if you can call it that) the dhimmified infidels had promised not to build houses overtopping the houses of moslems and I quote: We shall not build houses overtopping the houses of the Muslims. The pact of Umar, 7th Century...Islams superiority to the infidel, etc...ed. A.I.] – if it gets the go-ahead from planners.

Architects have altered the original plans in a bid to cool a wave of objection against the proposals to demolish the existing Masjid-E-Salaam mosque, on Watling Street Road, Fulwood, and rebuild it in a more traditional style with an adjoining Islamic school.

Director David Wood, of Wood Associates which has drawn up the plans, said he hoped the new building would "add to the diverse architectural quality" of the area.

Preston Council's planning department has received more than 145 letters of objection from people concerned about the impact the mosque would have on parking and traffic in the area and how it would blend in with the local Victorian architecture.

Mr Wood said: "The existing mosque building is of limited architectural value in the conservation and we have aimed to design a building which respects both the nature of the new mosque and the conservation area within which it is located.

"It is not a cheap replacement of the existing building but an attempt to build something of merit, and it is encouraging for our city that within it are people who are prepared to invest in a building which we hope Preston as a whole can be proud of."

He said the building was only 30% larger than the current site and that the "learning centre", proposed to go in a property on nearby Victoria Road, would only be open for around two hours a day.

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Pertiennt Links:

1) Changes to Mosque Plan

2) Storm over mosque plan

3) Original post concerning this story...

4) Pact of Umar

The Status of Non-Muslims Under Muslim Rule
After the rapid expansion of the Muslim dominion in the 7th century, Muslims leaders were required to work out a way of dealing with Non-Muslims, who remained in the majority in many areas for centuries. The solution was to develop the notion of the "dhimma", or "protected person". The Dhimmi were required to pay an extra tax, but usually they were unmolested. This compares well with the treatment meted out to non-Christians in Christian Europe. The Pact of Umar is supposed to have been the peace accord offered by the Caliph Umar to the Christians of Syria, a "pact" which formed the patter of later interaction.

We heard from 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Ghanam [died 78/697] as follows: When Umar ibn al-Khattab, may God be pleased with him, accorded a peace to the Christians of Syria, we wrote to him as follows:

In the name of God, the Merciful and Compassionate. This is a letter to the servant of God Umar [ibn al-Khattab], Commander of the Faithful, from the Christians of such-and-such a city. When you came against us, we asked you for safe-conduct (aman) for ourselves, our descendants, our property, and the people of our community, and we undertook the following obligations toward you:

We shall not build, in our cities or in their neighborhood, new monasteries, Churches, convents, or monks' cells, nor shall we repair, by day or by night, such of them as fall in ruins or are situated in the quarters of the Muslims.

We shall keep our gates wide open for passersby and travelers.

We shall give board and lodging to all Muslims who pass our way for three days.

We shall not give shelter in our churches or in our dwellings to any spy, nor bide him from the Muslims.

We shall not teach the Qur'an to our children.

We shall not manifest our religion publicly nor convert anyone to it.

We shall not prevent any of our kin from entering Islam if they wish it.

We shall show respect toward the Muslims, and we shall rise from our seats when they wish to sit.

We shall not seek to resemble the Muslims by imitating any of their garments, the qalansuwa, the turban, footwear, or the parting of the hair.

We shall not speak as they do, nor shall we adopt their kunyas.

We shall not mount on saddles, nor shall we gird swords nor bear any kind of arms nor carry them on our- persons.

We shall not engrave Arabic inscriptions on our seals.

We shall not sell fermented drinks.

We shall clip the fronts of our heads.

We shall always dress in the same way wherever we may be, and we shall bind the zunar round our waists

We shall not display our crosses or our books in the roads or markets of the Muslims.

We shall use only clappers in our churches very softly.

We shall not raise our voices when following our dead.

We shall not show lights on any of the roads of the Muslims or in their markets.

We shall not bury our dead near the Muslims.

We shall not take slaves who have beenallotted to Muslims.

We shall not build houses overtopping the houses of the Muslims.

(When I brought the letter to Umar, may God be pleased with him, he added, "We shall not strike a Muslim.")

We accept these conditions for ourselves and for the people of our community, and in return we receive safe-conduct.

If we in any way violate these undertakings for which we ourselves stand surety, we forfeit our covenant [dhimma], and we become liable to the penalties for contumacy and sedition.

Umar ibn al-Khittab replied: Sign what they ask, but add two clauses and impose them in addition to those which they have undertaken.

They are: "They shall not buy anyone made prisoner by the Muslims," and "Whoever strikes a Muslim with deliberate intent shall forfeit the protection of this pact."