As for the call to prayer, there are laws preventing that practice. Council requires a noise impact study for this purpose.

Too many judgments without perspective and knowledge.

I doubt the Saudis give without stating what must go on in these Islamic Centres.

What happens if the curricula is stipulated by the Saudis?

BTW crazy88s, it is the uneducated and ones that do not have the funding that can be manipulated the most….

Thanks for the context. I found your comment very interesting. It is so easy to misunderstand each other.

While people are absolutely welcome to criticise Saudis, or note the problem with Saudi’s funding a mosque in South Africa, lets not forget one thing. Houghton and its surrounding suburbs are home to a sizeable muslim community. They need a place to pray. No-one has issues with synagogues or churches in South Africa. A mosque in Houghton is therefore should not a problem- and should be protected by the consitution. In a world of violence and immorality I can’t believe that people object to people wanting a place to pray.

In addition, the opposition to mosques in London, Switzerland etc, where there are sizeable communities that simply want to pray is just a symbol of the lack of tolerance for “the other” and hearkens back to medieval thinking. If the West expects muslims to reject fanatisicm and integrate the least they can do is respect the fundamental needs of muslims who are non-obtrusively trying to marry life as a minority with their religious obligations.

Let it be known that the local muslims have unanimously opposed the construction of this huge, extravagant project, for a host of reasons. However, the Saudi’s cant care less. Its their money, their land and they will do what they want to. We, the locals will suffer. Why ? Because everytime Saudi abuses human rights, volunteers airspace for illegal wars (like iraq war), or does any pathetic actions ( as they usually do), it will become a reflection on us, the local muslims who happen to have a Saudi project in their area..like now, i agree that they discriminate against other religions by not allowing churches etc in Saudi, but what can we do about it.

I hate Saudi Arabia, many of us do. Which other country in the world is named after its ruling party/family ?? Only the Saudis are arrogant enough to name their country after them ( even the Prophet Muhammad left the name as Hijaz- but the royal family’s pride and arrogance was too much ).

You think the Saudis oppress you Jews, Christians , Hindus etc ?? Wait until your eyes open to how they treat everybody else…their own “muslim brothers”..they systematically oppress indians, pakistanis, bangalis , philipino’s etc.. aparthied like youve never seen..legislation that states how to pay staff based on their skin colour and nationality. They treat us like dirt, and we are muslim. They have ranks for Non-GCC arabs ( egyptians, iraqis, jordanians etc) and use and abuse them. you have no rights in Saudi unless you are GCC Arab ( Bahraini, Kuwaiti, Omani Etc). Look at the debacle here every year with the issuing of Hajj visas.. i could go on for hours…they honestly treat us as sub-standard humans..

but hey, they made a promise to nelson mandela ( was it before or after they won huge arms deal contracts with us?) that theyd build a mosque here in his honour so we get stuck with the white elephant…

face it…the arabs are buying up everything they can…from the waterfront in cape town, to the ports of the west…from 100 000 Ha farms in sudan to secure their food supply to Harrods and other landmarks in western capitals

Should you guys really be worried about a few mosques?

By the way, in Islam all of the earth is a mosque (place where formal prayers may be made) with the exception of unclean places (such as toilets) and places that have been consecrated for the worship of anything but One God

but lets compare apples with apples hey. I live in a predominantly white area. I do not hear church bells ringing “oh so often” (exaggeration on your part?) and I do not get church workers “knocking on my door”. Who has doors onto the street nowadays?

Tell us why Saudi, Sudan, Iran etc etc do not allow Christians to even build a church, let alone ring a bell?? Tolerance is a 2 way street.