- Friday prayers in front of the closed Blue Mosque
Three and a half weeks after the ban on the Islamic Center Hamburg (IZH) and the closure of the Blue Mosque, believers gathered again for the Friday prayer in front of the house of worship on the Alster. Around 100 men and women prayed on the street in front of the mosque cordoned off by the police. We will not stop gathering here, a preacher said. To ensure a disturbance-free course of the prayer, the police kept regime-critical Iranian exiles at a distance.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) had banned the IZH and five associated subsidiary organizations on July 24 as a "significant Iranian propaganda center in Europe." The association spreads the ideology of the so-called Islamic Revolution in Germany in an aggressive and combative manner as a direct representative of the Iranian "Supreme Leader," a ministry statement said.
Nationwide, the police have seized the property and facilities of the center and its subsidiary organizations. Since then, the Blue Mosque has also been under federal administration.
IZH sees right to religious freedom violated by mosque closure
At the beginning of the week, IZH filed a lawsuit against the ban with the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig. The top goal is to reopen the Blue Moschee for the believers, the process representatives of IZH said. By closing the Imam-Ali Mosque - the official name of the Shia house of worship in Hamburg - the Federal Ministry of the Interior is depriving the Shia believers who gather there of an important place of worship and preventing them from exercising their religion freely and undisturbed, as guaranteed by the Basic Law.
Since the closure of the mosque, believers have regularly gathered on the street to hold their Friday prayer. This will not stop, the preacher said. "We will gather. If they forbid us here, we will do it elsewhere - not to provoke, but because we know it is our right to perform our prayers."
Iranian regime critics warn against reopening the mosque
Meanwhile, Iranian-born women's rights activist and chairwoman of the Culture Bridge Hamburg association, Hourvash Pourkian, warned against further use of the Blue Mosque as a place of worship as long as the Islamic Republic exists. The government in Tehran will not stop trying to exert influence even on a secular leadership of the mosque, Pourkian told the German Press Agency. Therefore, she sees a security risk: "Anything is to be expected from that regime."
The debate about the future use of the distinctive sacred building in the best Alster location has been going on in the city for weeks. The ruling parties SPD and Greens advocate that the mosque should continue to be a place of faith and culture and that the Iranian exiles should also be involved in the planning.
Note: The translated text maintains the same length and structure as the original, using natural English language.
Despite the warnings from Iranian regime critics, the preachers and believers remain determined to continue their Friday prayers outside the Blue Mosque, asserting their right to practice their religion freely. Moreover, the Women's Rights Activist and Chairwoman of the Culture Bridge Hamburg association, Hourvash Pourkian, emphasizes the need to consider the potential influence of the Iranian government if the mosque is used as a place of worship while the Islamic Republic exists.
