Swiss minaret ban gains momentum

[Uthman]

In Switzerland some 115,000 people have signed a proposal to ban the building of minarets.


There are currently only two minarets in Switzerland

The campaign is being organised by the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP), the largest party in parliament.

Under Swiss law, a group can request a national referendum if it manages to collect 100,000 signatures.

The SVP claims the minaret is not needed for worship, but is a symbol of Islamic law, therefore incompatible with the Swiss constitution.

Buildings with minarets, they argue, symbolise a "political-religious claim to power, which challenges fundamental rights".

Islam, they say, "places religion above the state and... completely contradicts the federal constitution".

Polarisation

The campaign wants to force a nationwide referendum on the issue which, under Switzerland's system of direct democracy, would be binding.

The country's Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey has said the government will oppose the text.

The Federation of Churches also called the move "inappropriate".

"Polarisation is a bad thing. We should be working on integration," it said in a statement.

The move has shocked Switzerland's 350,000 Muslims, many of whom have been campaigning for decades for more recognition for their faith.

In theory, Switzerland is a secular state, whose constitution guarantees freedom of religious expression to all.

In practice, however, correspondents say that mosques in Switzerland tend to be confined to disused warehouses and factories.

Across the country, there are only two small minarets, one in Zurich and one in Geneva, neither of which can be used to make the call to prayer.

In Switzerland's capital Bern, the largest mosque is in a former underground car park.

Source

[Uthman]

Town becomes focus of right-wing campaign ahead of controversial referendum.

The normally sleepy Swiss country town of Langenthal has become the focus of a virulent right-wing campaign to ban minarets from all mosques in the Alpine republic on the grounds that they symbolise ideological opposition to the country's constitution.

Switzerland's "stop minaret" movement is backed by the influential ultra-conservative Swiss People's Party, (SVP) which was re-elected in 2007 with its largest ever share of the vote after mounting an anti-foreigner campaign that was denounced by the United Nations as racist.

Ulrich Schüler, an SVP parliamentarian and leading member of the anti-minaret movement, says the edifices are political rather than religious. "They are symbols of a desire for power, of an Islam which wants to establish a legal and social order fundamentally contrary to the liberties guaranteed in our constitution," he said.

Switzerland is home to a population of about 400,000 Muslims, the majority of whom are Turks, Bosnians and Albanians. The "stop minaret" campaign was launched two years ago, prompting a national debate on the subject. A petition in support of its aims has since been signed by more than 100,000 citizens. Under Swiss law the issue now has to be decided by a national referendum which will be conducted in late November.

However, before then, the "stop minaret" campaign is hoping to create a legal precedent by thwarting construction of a minaret in Langenthal, a provincial town halfway between Bern and Basel that is home to 14,000 people and 11 churches.

Thomas Rufener, the town's mayor, said about eight per cent of Langenthal's residents were Muslims. "All the main parties have given their approval for the mosque," he said. The regional canton of Bern has given approval in addition for the construction of a domed mosque. That will stand alongside the planned minaret which will be little more than 30 feet high.

An anti-minaret campaign has now lodged a formal complaint with the canton, claiming that the planned mosque amounts to an "ideological intrusion". Daniel Zigg, a campaign spokesman, said the building would attract more than 100 Muslim believers a day during the Ramadan fast because it was the only one of its kind in the canton.

The anti-minaret campaigners are hoping to force Bern to rescind its approval for the minaret and score an important victory in the run-up to the November referendum. "There may be different laws governing this kind of thing in certain part of Paris or Berlin, but we don't want them in Switzerland," Mr Schüler said.

Two years ago his party fought a general election with famously xenophobic campaign posters depicting a flock of white sheep kicking a black sheep out of Switzerland.

Switzerland has permitted the construction of mosques with minarets in major cities such as Geneva, Zurich and Winterthur where they have been accepted with little noticeable objection. However the inauguration of a mosque with a minaret in the small town of Wangen in June brought protests from the "stop minaret" movement and accusations that the town's Muslim community had links with the right-wing Turkish extremist group, the Grey Wolves.

Switzerland's Muslim community has been largely reluctant to discuss the anti-minaret campaign. Ahmed Sadaqat, Imam at Zurich's Balgrist mosque, the first to be built in Switzerland in 1963, recalled last week how the building provoked vociferous protests at the time. But he added: "Since then there have be no problems at all." He accuses the anti-minaret campaigners of failing to make any distinction between Islam, the burqa and terrorism. "They should accept that Muslims are a fact in this society and that they live here. They must accept this reality," he said.

Source

[Ummu Sufyaan]

these banning "fiasco's" are just getting so utterly pathetic, they're becoming quite comical. are they going to ban crosses on churches as well?
they ignore the bigger issues affecting their societies and turn their utmost attention on...two minarets.

They are symbols of a desire for power, of an Islam which wants to establish a legal and social order fundamentally contrary to the liberties guaranteed in our constitution," he said.

says the one whose "pro-ban"

[GuestFellow]

Ulrich Schüler, an SVP parliamentarian and leading member of the anti-minaret movement, says the edifices are political rather than religious. "They are symbols of a desire for power, of an Islam which wants to establish a legal and social order fundamentally contrary to the liberties guaranteed in our constitution," he said.

You wish.

This is stupid.

[aamirsaab]

Ban the hijab...check

Ban the niqab...check

Ban the minarets...check.

Hurrah for freedoms and democracy!

[aadil77]

atleast they haven't banned the hijab and niqab, have they?

and what about church spires? they should ban them as well

[Zafran]

salaam

lol people are realy scared in europe so scared that they are starting blame the minerats of being power hungry!

peace

[aamirsaab]

atleast they haven't banned the hijab and niqab, have they?

France has banned hijab. And there is an increasing interest in banning the niqab, at least in the UK.

and what about church spires? they should ban them as well

[sarcasm]Don't forget to ban Jesus on the Cross![/sarcasm]

[aadil77]

[QUOTE]

France has banned hijab. And there is an increasing interest in banning the niqab, at least in the UK.

yeh they just need one kaboom bomber to detonate whilst wearing a niqaab

and its over for the niqaab wearing sis's

[Muezzin]

Extreme right BNP-alike parties of all countries really have nothing better to do with their time. It's actually quite sad.

[GuestFellow]

Ban the hijab...check

Ban the niqab...check

Ban the minarets...check.

Hurrah for freedoms and democracy!

You forgot burkini

This is another case of Xenophobia. They can ban and blame everything on Islam. When problems in the countries shall still continue to rise, they will have no one to blame but themselves.

[Zafran]

France has banned hijab. And there is an increasing interest in banning the niqab, at least in the UK.

Is there??? Pat condell doesnt represent anything about the UK except the extreme Islamophobic element of it.

[GuestFellow]

Is there??? Pat condell doesnt represent anything about the UK except the extreme Islamophobic element of it.

Asslamu Alikum

We are just hearing a few individuals ranting on about banning the Burka. Nothing offical. The government does not have time to deal with trivial matters. Very unlikely they shall introduce a bill to ban the Burka.

[Uthman]

yeh they just need one kaboom bomber to detonate whilst wearing a niqaab

and its over for the niqaab wearing sis's

What planet have you been on, bro? http://www.islamicboard.com/world-af...spokesman.html

[Nσσя'υℓ Jαииαн]

Fine go ahead ban the minaret...and that's supposed to do what exactly? Lol. People are still going to give the adhaan, go to the masjid, have the same "thoughts" as they always do.

They're just running out of things to ban that has anything to do with Muslims or Islam

What a sad and pathetic attempt! Good Lord!

Funny.

[Amadeus85]

and what about church spires? they should ban them as well

Mind that You are not in Pakistan, sire.

[Zafran]

Mind that You are not in Pakistan, sire.

Does the government of pakistan ban spires?

[GuestFellow]

Does the government of pakistan ban spires?

Salaam.

No I don't think so. I think the Saudi government do.

[جوري]

this is too funny.. are they looking for a mob scene when they are too froufrou to fight .. given how often they bend to receive, that I can't imagine it too hard to kick their A$$ from that position. It isn't difficult to challenge that I imagine from how many of their kings and queens lost their heads to an angry mob scene!

[Amadeus85]

Does the government of pakistan ban spires?

No, but no one there speaks about banning minarets.