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FRANFURT: Because the outbreak of the warfare in Ukraine thousands and thousands have fled the nation, lots of them folks from the Center East.
A mosque within the German metropolis of Frankfurt is doing what it will possibly to supply them with a contented Ramadan.
Abu Bakr Mosque lies within the Hausen quarter, and is certainly one of about 50 mosques in Frankfurt. Because it was constructed and inaugurated in 2007, it has seen a number of crises.
Mohamed Seddadi, 51-year-old German Moroccan who’s the mosque’s administrator, remembers all of them. He confronted its first disaster after the 9/11 assaults.
Seddadi and his colleagues had lastly obtained the license to construct the mosque a 12 months earlier than. Now they have been not sure if they need to construct it in any respect attributable to rising Islamophobia.
“Then native politicians, amongst them the mayor, visited us and advised us that now we have now to construct it greater than ever,” he advised Arab Information. “They gave us consolation.”
Seddadi got here to Frankfurt as a scholar in 1990. In 1992, he joined a bunch of Muslim college students who would commonly meet for discussions and prayer. He had tried a number of different Muslim teams earlier than however discovered none of them interesting.
“This one had no nationwide boundaries so I felt simply at dwelling,” he stated. “Religion shouldn’t have any nationwide boundary in any respect.”
It was not simply religion but additionally loyalty to Germany that Seddadi thought of a necessity. “I really like this nation and its freedom. It’s my dwelling.”
It was a very long time earlier than the inspiration for a mosque constructing was laid. In 1996, the group purchased an property in Hausen the place the devoted would pray within the constructing of a former automobile restore store.
“We had two main targets on the time: To gather donations to construct a mosque, and to get to know the neighborhood,” Seddadi stated.
Neighbors of all faiths have been commonly invited to hitch meals throughout Islamic festivities. “It’s essential to us that we’re good neighbors.”
The constructing — comprising two storeys with room for greater than 1,000 folks to wish — was completed and inaugurated in 2007.
Two imams, from Egypt and Morocco, lead the prayers and maintain sermons. Seddadi is hoping for a 3rd, German, imam. “I’d wish to have a German imam who was born, raised and educated right here,” he stated.
Within the basement, there’s a restaurant serving Center Japanese and North African dishes. “It’s open to everybody.”
When COVID-19 hit in 2020, the mosque confronted one other disaster simply earlier than Ramadan as its prayer rooms couldn’t run at full capability.
With each the troubles of group members and the necessity for non secular steering rising, Seddadi and each imams would obtain about 30 cellphone calls a day.
The restaurant remained closed, however Seddadi and his colleagues started a brand new strategy: “We’d ship the menus or provide iftar meals to go.”
The latest disaster has been the warfare in Ukraine. For Seddadi and his colleagues, it got here as a shock.
“We by no means would’ve thought that it may get that severe,” he stated. “With a warfare this shut, we’re wanted.”
A particular assembly of the members of 9 mosques in Frankfurt was held. Its individuals made a number of choices to return to assistance from those that require it.
Because the outbreak of the warfare, greater than 5 million refugees have left Ukraine, with greater than 360,000 coming to Germany.
A lot of these are from the Center East and North Africa as Ukraine has a group of tens of 1000’s from the area.
Seddadi strives to supply them with no matter is feasible to allow them to have a happier Ramadan — simply as yearly, the kitchen employees of the mosque put together and prepare dinner meals for these in want.
The meals are both immediately delivered to the refugee camps on the town, or will be picked up by refugees in entrance of the mosque. To try this, Seddadi and his colleagues intently coordinate with the administration of the camps.
To fulfill these targets, the kitchen employees should put together 150 meals a day, a quantity that stretches them to their limits.
“It’s troublesome,” Seddadi stated. “However we are able to’t reject the request of anybody who’s in want.” Volunteers from the neighborhood, together with non-Muslims, additionally assist.
The mosque’s openness that Seddadi values a lot is clear throughout Ramadan as employees ship menus to non-Muslims from Ukraine as nicely. “The idea of iftar and charity is that anybody in want will get one thing to eat,” Seddadi stated.
Because the warfare in Ukraine drags on, he has just one want: “It ought to cease as quickly as potential. The photographs I see and the tales I hear are simply insufferable.”
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