25 September 2010 - 20:30

Hundreds of mosques throughout Germany will open their doors to the public next week amid mounting Islamophobia in the country.

Ahlul Bayt News Agency ; The focus of this year's 'Day of Open Mosques' on October 3 will be on the historical role of the Holy Quran.

Tens of thousands of visitors are expected to tour the Muslim houses of worship
and pose questions about Islam.

Many bigger mosques have organized exhibitions and will hold round-table discussions
on religion or information gatherings on integration and language courses.

The annual event which concides also with Germany's national day, comes in the
wake of the release of a highly controversial Islamophobic book which alleges Muslims were a threat to German society.

Most of the mosques in Germany are located in major cities like Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Duisburg, Cologne, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Essen and Offenbach.

The planned construction of new mosques in Germany has been overshadowed
by an Islamophobic debate geared at fanning anti-Muslim sentiments in the media.

While most Germans view positively the building of mosques, a marginal but vocal minority has lambasted it as a 'display of Muslim power'.

Supporters of new mosques point out Muslims had the right to build new worshipping houses, since they were forced for decades to pray in old warehouses or decrepit buildings because they were often denied new municipal construction permits.

There are 4.3 million Muslims living in Germany of which 2.5 million are Turks.

Most of Muslims live in what used to be traditional blue-collar cities like Cologne, Hamburg, Duisburg, Essen, Berlin, Frankfurt and Mannheim.

Islam has reportedly become one of the fastest growing religions in Germany.

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