Mosque in Brno damaged. Again

Brno Muslims who went to their mosque on Sunday were shocked to find a spray-painted sign that said “Stop, no to Islam”, the Brnensky denik daily reported. Unknown suspects damaged the facade on Saturday night, the police think.

It has been the four such “attack” on the mosque.

Muneeb Hassan al-Rawi (apologies if the transliteration is incorrect in English), who is a leading personality of the Muslim community in Brno and the Islamic Foundation, says “the mosque is attended by children who are half-Czech and who feel very uncomfortable (to say the least) about being unwelcome this way…”

UPDATE BY REQUEST:: there are approximately 600 Muslims in Brno, says al-Rawi in this May interview for the Brnensky denik daily. Plus there are around 50 people from the South Moravian Region who regularly travel to Brno to attend the regular “ceremonies” (sorry about the general term, I am not an expert on Islam, let alone English terminology, and I wouldn’t want to offend anyone). The mosque is quite small and it does not feature the traditional minaret and other well-known traditional architectural parts.

This year [July 10] the mosque “celebrated” its 10th anniversary. I must say it is almost “invisible”, meaning that you have to look for it to find it, and you definitely won’t see it during your regular sightseeing walk, as it is a 10-minute 4-stop tram ride from downtown.

The leaders of the Muslim community (especially the aforementioned Mr. Muneeb Hassan al-Rawi) meet with the Lord Mayor regularly, and al-Rawi himself often holds talks with noted personalities of other religions [like the Brno rabbi].