Historic Railway Station in Germany to Be Turned into a Mosque

Maher Mouhandes and the Lüchow Station.

 
Lüchow, Germany, 20 Jumadil Awwal 1438/17 February 2017 (MINA) – The project is the brainchild of physician Maher Mouhandes who has gathered a team of devout Muslims volunteers to carry out work on the building in Lüchow in the Wendland, express.co.uk reported.

Dr Mouhandes will act as imam at the mosque and said he expected to see around 100 worshippers at Friday prayers.

He said: “At the moment we have only one prayer room in Lüchow.

“But the Islamic community has considerably increased as a result of the influx of Muslim refugees.

“The old prayer room is now much too small because many Muslims from other areas travel to the town for Friday prayers.

“We want to create a separate space for the women in the new mosque too, which is important because women and men pray separately.”

The 62-year-old ear, nose and throat specialist, who has lived in the area since 1991, said Muslims are allowed to carry out their daily prayers anywhere but it is “particularly meritorious” when they are performed in the mosque.

The conversion is being financed by donations and many believers were involved in the work themselves.

Dr Mouhandes said: ”Everyone supports the project as much as he can.

“Someone might donate money, someone else might donate their labour. Everyone is helping according to his possibilities.”

He said the community wanted to see their new mosque open for Ramadan in late May.

According to Germany’s National Association of Muslims, the Schura, there are already around 180 mosques in the Lower Saxony region. (T/RS05/RS01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)