In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful... The HOPE Bulletin.. Health, Ongoing Projects, Education Report on the Berlin Mosque 1 P a g e www.aaiil.org
Akbar Ibn Abdullah, Editor ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Alhamdollillah! We are indeed indebted to Brothers Khalid Iqbal Sahib and Nasir Ahmad Sahib of the United Kingdom for their valuable contributions that made the publication of this Special International Supplement on Berlin Mosque possible. For the information of our readers who are not aware, Khalid Iqbal Sahib is a younger brother of our late stalwart, Sheikh Muhammad Tufail Sahib Marhoom, and resides in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. During the last tour of Europe and while visiting the Berlin Mosque, Hazrat Ameer, Dr. Abdul Karim Saeed Pasha Sahib, had entered into a contract with the German Government s Monument Department to implement much-needed repairs and renovation of this 90-year-old Mosque. The designated architect of the Monument Department will assess the extent and the nature of renovation work to be undertaken by this project; the cost of renovation spent on this project will be borne equally, 50:50, by the Monument Department and the Central Anjuman. JazakAllah! By reading through this Berlin Mosque Report you will observe that the exploratory work on the renovation process has already begun. For this project to be successful, we need your prayers, enthusiasm and spirited contributions. May Allah (swt), with His bountiful mercy and countless blessings, shower you all with His spiritual bliss and manifold reward for your sadaqa jaariah. Aameen. MY VISIT TO THE MOSQUE AT BERLIN JANUARY 2012 by S.M. Khalid Iqbal, UK I arrived this time on the evening of Monday the 23 rd of January 2012. It was quite a cold evening. Brother Yunis was very kind to be at the airport to pick me up. Tuesday the 24 th was a busy day. As the computer at the Mission House was not working, I went to the Library to use the Internet to send some messages to Lahore and the UK. I had to hasten back as I knew that the team of architects were to come to the Mosque to do their assessment work. 2 P a g e
When I came back they were waiting outside the Mosque with their heavy equipment. I introduced myself and opened the main gate in front of the Mosque. It took them a couple of hours to bring the huge trolley lift inside the Mosque. While they were bringing their heavy equipment inside, I made some last minute arrangements by reshuffling the carpets on the floor of the Mosque so that they could start their work. Wednesday 25 th January One of their specialists came to start his work at 9.00 a.m. I was curious to see the working of the trolley and its purpose. The lift was set up right under the dome so that one person could go up and down and work at the ceiling of the Mosque. The purpose was to assess dampness, cracks and the damage to the ceiling and the dome of the Mosque. I went up with my camera to see if I could take some snapshots from the top, which I did. To touch the roof was an exciting experience, but as the trolley moved with one s movement, it was a little scary too. I wish I could have had a movie camera or a better camera to make full use of the facility. Thursday 26 th January Builders arrived early in the morning and started their work for the day. The weather was still too cold to snow, as they say in England. As the specialists were busy doing their work I used the opportunity to do some shopping, and left the Mosque open for the public, as well. I affixed a big basket to the back of Brother Yasir s bicycle and went to the Turkish shop and bought meat and other stuff for the week in case heavy snow fell, as was forecasted for next few days. 3 P a g e
As soon as I came back, some visitors were waiting for me, and while the builders were working inside the Mosque I had to go out to welcome the guests. Meanwhile, I also answered the queries made by the builders who were doing an assessment of the repairs they intended to do inside the Mosque. It was quite hectic to attend to the visitors as well as to serve the visitors and builders with tea at the Mission House. It was pretty cold too. I do not mind this sort of challenge but I felt that you need someone else to help you on such days. A German visitor who was very much interested in the history of the Mosque came, and while I was talking to him the bell rang and, to my surprise, there were four Malaysian medical students at the gate. 4 P a g e These girls came especially to see the Mosque and wished to perform salah. It was the second group of doctors who came to visit the Mosque during my stay there. After they offered their salah, we came to the Mission House and talked about the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement and the propagation of Islam it is doing in the West through various missions in the world, and in particular the Berlin Mosque. It was interesting that they knew the Mosque through the Internet and were more curious about the Movement which was running it. They accepted my offer to stay for dinner, so I left them to finish the cooking and lay the table in the kitchen while I was busy with the builders. The German guest also became interested in our discussion and accepted my offer to join this informal dinner. He was a structural architect and a keen student of art and the history of the world. He changed his schedule and joined the conversation with the prospective doctors who could speak Malay, Russian, and, of course, English. These girls already knew about Maulana Muhammad Ali s translation of the Holy Quran but they were not aware of his other books and the Lahore Movement. In the end they bought two copies of the Russian
translation of the Holy Quran for the two colleges in Russia and asked me to sign and stamp the books as being from the Berlin Mosque. I gave them The Religion of Islam and some other small booklets as a free gift. They paid for these books as well and showed keen interest in the activities of the Mosque. By the time they left it was quite late in the evening and they expressed their wish to visit again and said that they will keep in touch and send their college friends to visit this mini Taj Mahal. The visitors took a lot of pictures of the Mosque from inside as well as outside and appreciated our hospitality. Friday 27 th January After the Friday congregational prayers some Arabs, Sufis, Afghanis and about six to eight Germans stayed on. The German visitors had a brief talk and took photos of the Friday prayer and various views of the Mosque and the Mission House. Among the people who stayed on were two Afghani visitors. One of them was a Qari, who joined us in the Maghrib prayer. They were also treated to the evening meal. We discussed the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement and what it stands for. They promised to keep in touch with us in future and expressed their willingness to help us if we need them, especially the person who was well educated and a Hafiz as well. Saturday 28 th January A female teacher came to see if she can bring ten to fifteen kindergarten students to spend a couple of hours at the Mosque. I agreed to see them on Monday the 30 th January. Regina Harisch, the teacher, was married to a Moroccan and had a teenage Muslim son. She was familiar with Islamic values and the sanctity of the mosque. She came to see this Mosque for the first time and was amazed to see a mosque with minarets in one of the best suburbs of Berlin. Sunday 29 th January I kept myself busy preparing the side room of the Mosque as an office cum interview cum small meeting room for the Imam. I shifted the small fridge and the oil-filled electric radiator in the room as well. It took me some weeks to prepare this room, as I had actually been working on this project since last year. I also cleared the small room upstairs of the Mission House so that it could be used as a comfortable bedroom. Monday 30 th January Two teachers and ten kindergarten children wrapped up in their woolly hats and duffel coats with their small rucksacks arrived on time. I prepared the Mosque by laying a red carpet on the stairs. They had reached the Mosque after a long train journey, so after they had visited the Mosque for a short time I took them to the Mission House and let them relax on the sofas in the lounge. 5 P a g e
The teacher told me that about four children could not come as they were ill. They were all children of students in the university colleges in Berlin. The kindergarten school caters for professional couples in the university colleges in Berlin. It is a day school for the children. It is interesting to know that these children were from various social, cultural and religious backgrounds, that is, Muslims, Christians and mixed-religions. When other school children come to see the Mosque, they spend 45 minutes to an hour in the Mosque and then leave. But these five-year-olds spent quite some time in the Mosque and then were invited to the Mission House for lunch and drinks, where they enjoyed the time for relaxation. It was a cold morning and they had had a long journey on the train to get to the Mosque. They took their wellington boots and coats off and came in the lounge with their lunch boxes and drinks. I brought tea, biscuits and cakes for the teacher to share. Some of the children knew Islamic salutations like Assalam o alaikum, and Bismillah, whereas a Christian girl could say the Lord s Prayer in full. I hope the next trip of the children from the same school will be more interesting and informative. The visit of students from various schools, colleges and universities provides a good opportunity to tell the students about this beautiful Mosque, which was Berlin in 1927, and its history. Here, we try to promote interreligious understanding and mutual exchange of visits. 6 P a g e
Tuesday 31 st January The other interesting visitor this week was an Iraqi student, Br. Ahmad, from a university college in England. He was in Berlin with forty other students and their teachers for a media study tour. Br. Ahmad decided to do a documentary on one of the Islamic institutes in Berlin so he came to see the Mosque and to check whether or not we would allow the filming. He wanted a German, an Arabic, or a Turkish speaking person to be with me so that he could have simultaneous translation of the English version into German and Arabic. He gave me the following three topics of his project: Islam in Germany, The History of Berlin Mosque, and The German Muslim Converts. I was lucky to have at the time a guest from Frankfurt who could speak both German and Arabic. Wednesday 1st February The media film team with the Iraqi student from England came to the Mosque. Br. Ahmad came with his equipment but no lights, so I offered him our spotlights and asked him to set them up. Then we checked the sound system and moved furniture to suit the requirements. He started his interview with the adhan, which he himself called. He could do the adhan in various dialects, like Iraqi, Saudi, Egyptian, and Moroccan, as well. He spent almost the whole day in the Mosque and left after saying the Maghrib prayer with us. He purchased copies of the German translation of the Quran and The Religion of Islam for the college library. For the history and other details about the Mosque and the activities of the Mission, I found A Brief History of the Berlin Muslim Mission (Germany) 1922-1988 by Br. Nasir Ahmad very useful. This report is worth reading for anyone connected with the Mosque or working there. To me, it provides all that I should know about why our forefathers chose Berlin to build a mosque and set up a mission to propagate Islam in Berlin. Thursday 2 nd February Builders are still working daily and I think they will continue their work next week as well. A little quiet but there is plenty of work at the Mission House to fix various lightings and bulbs and in the Mosque as well. Friday 3 rd February Builders and architects came as usual and continued their work. They stopped during the Friday prayers but we asked them to stay behind if they wished to observe the service, which they did out of curiosity. The Friday sermon was about the birthday of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and the message it should carry to the Muslim Ummah in general. As usual, after the prayers we stayed in the Mosque till the Asr prayer. A German couple came to ask for du a-i maghfirat for their aunt who had died a Muslim. I requested our guest, Mr Zafar Iqbal, to lead this prayer, which he did by reciting Sura Yaseen and various other prayers, and all of us joined in. The couple made a donation and appreciated our readiness to do the prayers, a sort of mini memorial service, at such a short notice. 7 P a g e
Conclusion I left for London on the evening of 5 th of February 2012. To end this report I must say that every time I come to Berlin I meet people of different faiths and cultures, who come to this Mosque from all the corners of the world, and they ask for books in Russian, German, French, Persian, Arabic, Turkish, and, of course, in English, as well. Therefore, we should set up a stock of books in all the languages of the world. In my experience at the Woking Mosque I never came across this sort of varied demand as in Berlin. I see great scope for activities and interfaith interaction at this unique Oriental Mosque, which is rightly called the Berlin Mosque (Jewel in the Crown of Berlin). CONTACT INFORMATION Akbar Abdullah Editor, The HOPE Bulletin Mailing Address: P.O. Box 232811 Sacramento, California 95823-0430, U.S.A. E-mail Address: akbar_786us@yahoo.com Telephone Number: (773) 539-6892 8 P a g e ISLAM stands for I SHALL LOVE ALL MANKIND