Stockholm Mosque

Mosque in Sweden

Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan's Mosque (Zaid Ben Sultan Al Nahayans moské, جامع زايد بن سلطان آل نهيان), commonly known as the Stockholm Mosque (Stockholms moské) or the Stockholm Grand Mosque (Stockholms stora moské), is the largest mosque in Stockholm, Sweden. It is located at Kapellgränd 10, adjacent to the small park Björns trädgård, in the Södermalm district of Stockholm. Inaugurated in 2000, the mosque is administered by the Islamic Association in Stockholm.

Discussions for a new mosque in the Stockholm area had been going on for over twenty years before the plans were realized in 2000. The first proposal was to use the building Borgerskapets änkhus at Norrtull. In 2013, Femen activists Aliaa Elmahdy and two others staged a protest in the mosque against Sharia law and the oppression of women. They were arrested by police for disturbing public order.

In 2016 a frequent visitor to the mosque was arrested by authorities in Lebanon on terrorist charges. He had collected the equivalent of 87000 euro to the salafi jihadist group al Nusra Front among visitors to the Stockholm mosque.

In July 2003 the Egyptian Islamist scholar Yusuf al Qaradawi was invited to speak at the mosque in a conference arranged by the European Council for Fatwa and Research (founded by al Qaradawi). Also present at the conference was Rashid Ghannouchi, leader of the then banned Tunisian Islamist party Ennahda. An article in Svenska Dagbladet said that critics of the European Council had stated that it had ties to the Sunni movement Muslim Brotherhood, and that the leadership of the mosque was influenced by it. Imam Halawa of the European Council responded that his organization's purpose was to help European Muslims to integrate in a positive way. Liberal Party politician Fredrik Malm claims that during the conference al Qaradawi expressed his support of suicide attacks against Israeli civilians and called holy war. Malm further claims that al Qaradawi said that deaths of children were not deliberate but a product of the necessities of war. The sermon was reported to the police by Malm. For example, Karam alleged that the phrases implying the United States rapes Islam were mistranslated into phrases that implied the condemnation US torture of Iraqi prisoners. Karam stated that the Imam called Ahmed Yassin a martyr and made anti American remarks. On one of the tapes, with the assassinated Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin on its cover, Sveriges Radio said that Jews were described as a "disease", the "brothers of apes and pigs" and that the "only solution" to the Jews was Jihad. The radio further stated that there were calls for the extermination of Jews. The mosque spokesperson stated that people volunteering at mosques often sent cassettes to the mosque and that he did not know about the presence of these cassettes During the police raid a number of cassettes, CD discs and a video tape were confiscated. An appeal, to make Lambertz review the decision, was also started and was signed by over 3,000 people. Despite this, Lambertz decided not to review the decision.

The mosque can accommodate 2,000 people and the building includes a library, bookshop, gym, offices, lecture halls and a large kitchen. The building also has a café and restaurant.