Building Giant Mosques in Europe Is a Provocation that Harms the Muslims

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The following are the excerpts from the article: [1]

The Silence of Europe's Muslims Following Terrorist Attacks Has Hurt Their Image

"There has been an ongoing debate in Britain regarding the plans of some Muslims, namely the Tabligh Group, to build a mosque in East London that would be the biggest in Britain, if not in Europe. Reports on the mosque plans indicate that it will hold 40,000 people, with an option for an extension that will increase its capacity to 70,000... Why are the Muslims in Europe insisting on building mosques of such extravagant size? And why is it that the building of such mosques arouses public and political protest in the societies that host the Muslims? "The climate in Europe changed following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the 2005 bombings in the Madrid subway, and the [2005] bombing in the London underground. The murder of the Dutch director [Theo Van Gogh], who made a film on the oppression of Muslim women, [further contributed to this change]. Next came violent incidents that accompanied the protest against the Danish cartoons and the notorious speech by the pope [that offended Muslims]. "Following all this, [the world] began to regard the Muslims with great suspicion. They came to be seen as a threat and a source of violence. [It was said] that some of their mosques were hothouses of terrorism, and that they undermine [the foundations] of the society in which they live. "The images of bearded 'religious' [Muslims] who assiduously attend mosques in European neighborhoods have severely harmed the Muslim diaspora... These people appear on videos after every terrorist attack, [announcing] proudly that it was they who were behind the terrorist operations. At the same time, the vast Muslim diaspora - [although] its overwhelming majority is peaceful and does not support all this terrorism and violence - bears a great deal of responsibility for not protecting its nonviolent image. Several friends have told me that in Spain, the reputation of the Muslims suffered following the train station bombings, and that the silence and indifference of the diaspora [vis-

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