"The first Islamic center in Europe in terms of the diversity of services offered". This is how the Annour Center, inaugurated in Mulhouse in May 2019 after a decade of work, is presented, almost half of which is financed by private donations from Qatar.
This white building with high energy performance - whose ultra-modern yet unfinished construction that will bring together mosque, school and shops - came out of the ground in northeast of Mulhouse, city where Emmanuel Macron is going on Tuesday to unveil his fight strategy against Islamist "separatism".
On about 10,000 m² spread over three floors, there are plans, in addition to the prayer room that can accommodate 2,000 people, classrooms, a cultural space, a funeral home, shops, a swimming pool, a car park, etc.
"There is nothing hidden"
"The prayer hall represents only 13% of the area, the rest is open to everyone," Nasser El Kady, president of the Association of Muslims of Alsace (Amal), responsible for the project. If it is not the participation of the town hall in the purchase of the land, the project is financed only by private donations, which amount to 19.5 million euros for 85% of the work completed. .
Of this amount, "between 4 and 5 million euros are local donations and the remaining three quarters come from Qatar and Kuwait", up to 65% and 35% respectively of the approximately 15 million euros coming from the foreigner, detailed Mr. El Kady, recalling that alms is one of the pillars of Islam.
"But we do not work with the States, these are private donations transmitted by associations, there is nothing hidden," says the president of Amal, a member association of Muslims in France (ex-UOIF).
Frequent interfaith meetings
“Mulhouse is the flagship project of Qatar Charity (note: influential Qatari NGO) , that's how they present it. […] For them it is a way of rooting and developing political Islam in Europe, in mosques which are centers of life, ”journalist Georges Malbrunot explained in 2019 to the newspaper Alsace. co-wrote with Christian Chesnot the book “Qatar Papers” on Qatari funding for European projects.
Nasser El Kady maintains on the contrary "work so that there is no communitarianism", with in particular frequent interreligious meetings or social actions. "We do not accept conditioned donations, no member (of the center ) is taxed from abroad, we control our speech, we choose our imam," he said.
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Since the symbolic laying of the foundation stone of the Annour center (Editor's note: light in Arabic) in early 2009, quickly followed by a halt in construction until 2012, the budget initially planned has almost doubled. At the end of May, the first prayer was held in the large blue and white worship hall overlooked by a huge chandelier and a suspended mezzanine for women. According to the president of Amal, there is still 2.5 million euros missing to finish, a sum which will be impossible to collect without foreign funds.
