Portal:Islam/Selected article/12

The Abbey Mills Mosque, also known as the London Markaz or Masjid-e-Ilyas, is a proposed mosque and Islamic centre to be built on an 7.3-hectare (18-acre) site in Stratford, east London. It was originally reported that the structure, if built, would have been the largest religious building in Britain and the largest mosque in Europe. For this reason it is often informally referred to in the press as the "mega-mosque". The mosque would be built by Tablighi Jamaat (a Muslim missionary movement) near the site of the London 2012 Olympic Park. Anjuman-e-Islahul Muslimeen is Tablighi Jamaat's charitable trust and has been the owner of the site since 1996. The Tablighi Jamaat website devoted to the mosque places the maximum capacity at 12,000 worshipers. The plan has sparked controversy for various reasons including its initially reported size, the possible chemical contamination risk associated with the site, the uncertainty as to the sources of funding that will be used by Tablighi Jamaat, and alleged links between Tablighi Jamaat and Islamic terrorism. Mosque officials are engaged in resolving the controversies, as well as countering the perception implied by the term "mega-mosque". Public response to the mosque and associated controversies has included on-line petitions, various public talks, debates, speeches, and websites, and even apparent threats against people opposing the mosque. With the expiration of the permit to use the site, and neither a current plan permission nor application for a mosque, the building's future remains uncertain.