Moscow's Muslim community is looking to raise funds for several mosques on wheels, in a bid to offer the city's crowded places of worship some relief and make it easier for Muslims to pray.
More than 1 million rubles ($15,100) is needed to pay for two mobile mosques and six small stationary ones, the TASS news agency reported Tuesday, citing the project's organizers.
Each mobile mosque will be equipped with a room for ritual washing, a small prayer room and a vending machine that will provide the organizers with a small but steady income.
Muslims can summon the mobile mosques to any part of the city by making a request online, and their services will be provided free of charge, TASS reported.
"The rhythm of the modern city and the small number of places of worship don't always allow Muslims to pray on time," the organizers were quoted as saying.
"Today 2 million Muslims in Moscow are forced to content themselves with only FOUR functioning mosques in the city," they said.
The organizers — who also run a website called HalalGuide, informing users where they can buy halal products in Moscow — added that they were planning to expand the project if it proved a success.
Moscow only has six conventional mosques to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of Muslims living in the capital.
