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November 14, 2006

UK: Cardiff Mosque Blaze

A mosque in Cardiff has been on fire this morning. A blaze began on the second floor (first floor US) and then spread to the roof. Fire crews were called at 8.25 am. The BBC states that police are looking for a man of Middle Eastern appearance who was seen in the area. The man is in his 20s, and wearing a dark hat and coat.

The Medina Mosque in Woodville Road, Cathays, Cardiff, has been the scene of previous controversy. The mosque cost £5 million to build, and was designed by architects from Cairo, Egypt. The Medina Mosque is the largest in Wales, with room for 3,000 worshippers.

Cardiff is no stranger to mosques. The very first registered mosque in Britain was one in Cardiff, from 1860. Currently there is a large Muslim community in Cardiff, the regional capital of Wales, with members coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Yemen and Somalia.

Last month, the Charity Commision launched a preliminary investigation into funds which had been gathered at the Medina Mosque for victims of the Pakistan earthquake of October 8, 2005.

£56,000 ($106,248) had been gathered for relief operations, with £33,000 ($62,610) used to purchase medical equipment, including a ventilator, for two hospitals, £14,000 ($26,561) for buying jackets and £9,000 ($17,076) was sent to the Pakistani High Commission in London for relief aid.

The mosque trustees said that all of the money had been accounted for, and were putting together an internal audit. The Charity Commission had become involved because there appeared to be little transparency about the accumulation and distribution of funds.

The Charity Commission had brought in by some members of the mosque, as they claimed the mosque trustees had not been open about the donations and their eventual destinations. The complainants had said they wanted independent auditors to be brought in to resolve the issue.

In September there was another controversy at the Mosque where a meeting was called to decide if a motion of no-confidence in the mosque's elected committee could be brought.

With a history of internal dispute and the reporting of a man of "Middle Eastern" appearance being spotted near the scene, it appears highly probable that this mosque fire was neither an accident, nor an act of racism or Islamophobia.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 14, 2006 7:06 AM

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