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CAIRO
Muslims riot over plans for Christian church in Cairo
A riot broke out over plans to convert a building in a Cairo
suburb into a Christian church on Sunday.
Muslims and Christians clashed in Mataria after worshippers
arrived for a service at the site of the planned church.
One man died in Aswan on the same day during a separate riot
over the police killing of a suspected criminal. It is believed he died
after inhaling tear gas.
Police in Mataria intervened when large numbers of Muslims and
Christians faced off over a building which the Christians want to
convert into a church. The police then clashed mainly with the Muslim
side, they said.
In Aswan, about 450 miles to the south, riot police used tear
gas against civilians protesting that a policeman shot dead a man in
the town on Saturday.
Police said the man was a wanted criminal but the man's
relatives said a police officer killed him in error and then the police
tried to cover up the incident, the sources said.
Thousands of people attended the funeral on Sunday, some
chanting: 'Illegitimate government, unjust government.'
Riot police intervened when large numbers
of Muslims and Christians faced off outside the building
In both cases people threw stones and bottles at the police.
Two of the policemen were injured in Aswan and two in Cairo, and the
protesters damaged shop fronts in both places, they said.
In the incident in Mataria, the confrontation between Muslims
and Christians was the culmination of a long-running dispute over the
plan to build a church there.
Residents said Christians had come from other parts of the
city for the Sunday service at the building, which is not licensed as a
church, and Muslims opposed to a church gathered against them. Some chanted: 'We're going to knock down
the church' and shouted slogans of loyalty to Islam, witnesses
said.
Relations between Egyptian Muslims and the Christian minority,
estimated at up to 10 per cent of the population, are usually peaceful,
but unrest breaks out from time to time over new churches, conversions
and inter-confessional marriages.
Muslims riot in Cairo over the
opening of a Christian church
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BRADFORD
Followers flock to see spiritual leader open £2m
mosque
A new mosque, built at a cost of £2 million, has been
officially opened in Bradford by the Shia Islam sub-sect’s 97-year-old
spiritual leader.
The Dawoodi Borha community welcomed Dr Syedna Mohammed
Burhanuddin yesterday to open Europe’s second-only purpose-built Borha
mosque in Syedna Way, formerly Plumpton Street, Girlington.
Syedna Way was renamed after Dawoodi Borha community members
campaigned for the change three years ago to honour their leader, who
has travelled from India for his third visit to the city.
Crunwelle Court in Allerton,
where he has stayed during his visits, was also recently renamed Syedna
Place, in his honour.
Dr Burhanuddin officially named the new mosque Adam Masjid,
and carried out a series of blessings allowing the community to
officially pray there under their leader.
Onali Shamshudin, of the Bradford Dawoodi Bohra community,
said: “It’s just out of this world. When we started the building we
were allowed to have the name of the street changed and we are very
proud. It’s such an historic event for our community.”
The mosque is one of the first in the UK to incorporate solar
panels to cover most of its electricity needs. It features several
prayer areas, a covered courtyard, a dining hall and classrooms.
Its most ornate part is a prayer hall with marble walls and
the 100 Islamic names for Allah written around it in gold plate.
Unlike many mosques which have prayer facilities for women in
separate buildings, the new mosque includes a women’s area as part of
the central building.
Rashida Manimoon, of Thornton Road, is a member of the Burhani
Women’s Association. She said: “We’re just so excited. It’s an amazing
day. We’ve been waiting for him to come for so long and now he has made
us so happy. We have so much belief in him. He is like a grandfather to
us.
“Having the name of the road changed is very precious to us
and it is an honour to celebrate our leader.”
A spokesman for Bradford Council, which approved the street
name changes, said: “Syedna Way was changed four or five years ago and
Crunwelle Court was recently officially renamed Syedna Place.
“In order for a name change to go ahead the law requires it to
be agreed by two thirds of council tax payers on the street. In the
case of Crunwelle Court/Syedna Place there was only one property on the
street.”
The Mosque overlooking Bradford
Cathedral
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