100 million pounds ($190 million) to build the mosque.

Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Every Friday, Abdul Khaliq heads down a deserted lane with hundreds of other Muslim men to pray at a temporary shelter on a windswept wasteland in east London. He's waiting for the shacks to be replaced by Europe's biggest mosque.
``We are going to produce a landmark, something not seen in this country before,'' said Khaliq, project manager for the global Islamic missionary movement Tablighi Jamaat, which plans to spend at least 100 million pounds ($190 million) to build the mosque. Khaliq and his friends call it the London Markaz; neighbors in the borough of Newham dub it the ``Mega Mosque.''
The proposed mosque is the latest flashpoint in London's struggle to integrate a growing Muslim population amid concerns about homegrown terrorists. The structure would stand next to the 2012 Olympic stadium and, with room for 60,000 worshippers, be almost as big. Opponents say it would create a Muslim ghetto in the surrounding neighborhood and change the complexion of London.
``I absolutely defend the right to worship, but this is going to be huge,'' said Alan Craig, a representative of the Christian Peoples Alliance on Newham Council. ``When billions of television viewers see aerial shots of the London Olympics, they won't see St. Paul's Cathedral or any other traditional British landmark, they will see a mosque.''
Police say three U.K.-born Muslims and a Jamaican carried out the July 2005 bombings that killed 52 people in London. In August, about a dozen Britons were arrested on suspicion of plotting to blow up transatlantic airliners.
Since the attacks, Prime Minister Tony Blair's government has stepped up efforts to fight extremist Muslim groups. He has sought to deport Muslims who preach hate and challenged Muslims to root out radicals in their own communities.
Intelligence Report
Abu Hamza al-Masri, the former imam of London's Finsbury Park mosque, was convicted in February of encouraging the murder of non-Muslims and inciting racial hatred. Al-Masri, 48, has appealed his conviction and seven-year jail sentence.
``You can't tell me extremism doesn't go on in mosques,'' said Christine Nagle, 57, a retired cook who lives next to the site of the proposed mosque. ``I wouldn't like to see it happen.''
Craig said the U.K. should investigate alleged links between Tablighi Jamaat and terrorists. A 2005 U.S. intelligence report released during hearings for prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said Tablighi Jamaat was becoming ``increasingly radicalized'' and was used as a cover by al-Qaeda members.
`Peaceful People'
Khaliq said he isn't aware of any radicals within Tablighi Jamaat. The mosque will be funded by donations, and the group doesn't accept contributions from extremist organizations, he said.
``These are the most peaceful people you can find, spreading the good word and telling people to behave with their parents and teachers, to refrain from smoking and drinking and drugs and to live a good life,'' said Khaliq, who joined the group more than 50 years ago.
Newham is one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse areas of the U.K., with more than 100 languages spoken. In the 2001 census, 46 percent of residents said they were Christian and 24 percent Muslim. Of the 250,000 residents, 39 percent were white, 32 percent Asian and 22 percent black.
``If this mega mosque goes ahead, we will end up with a Muslim quarter of London, with Tablighi Jamaat, an ultraconservative movement, at its heart,'' said Patrick Sookhdeo, a director of Barnabas Fund, which finances Christian projects. ``There will effectively be a parallel society in London.''
Reid Heckled
During a speech last month in the east London community of Leytonstone, Home Secretary John Reid was heckled by spectators who demanded that he stay away from a ``Muslim area.'' David Cameron, leader of the opposition Conservative Party, has vowed to break up Muslim ``ghettos'' if he succeeds Blair.
Tablighi Jamaat has owned the proposed mosque site for 10 years. The public will be asked to comment after an official request for planning permission has been filed, said Michelle Hyland, a spokeswoman for Newham Council.
The London Thames Gateway Development Corp., a government agency responsible for regenerating the area, will decide whether to permit the mosque. The application may eventually end up with Ruth Kelly, Blair's Communities minister.
London Mosques
London's first mosque opened in 1924, and there are now more than 1,000, the most of any non-Muslim city. The Baital Futuh mosque, western Europe's largest, opened in 2003 in Morden, south of London. It has room for 10,000 worshippers. The U.K.'s biggest church, Liverpool's Anglican cathedral, holds 3,000.
The planned mosque would be ``a symbol of Islamic domination of Britain and Britain's cultural surrender to the jihad,'' according to Melanie Philips, author of the best-selling book ``Londonistan.''
An artist's impression of the proposed mosque on display at London's Victoria and Albert Museum shows wind-turbine minarets, a water cascade, an Islamic garden, an olive grove and a school. An area would be set aside where people of all faiths can meet and promote greater understanding, said the architect, Ali Mangera.
``It won't be divisive in any sense, and we don't want to create any sort of ghetto whatsoever,'' Mangera said. ``If anyone passes by on their way to the Olympic Stadium, they will be welcome to come in.''


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