Majority against erecting minarets

A Czech poll that reflected the opposition of Swiss voters in a recent controversial referendum banning the construction of minarets "will not deter Muslims from playing an active and positive role in society," said one spokesman for the Islamic community.

The poll of 424 registered voters, also carried out in Slovakia, found that 78 percent of Czech respondents and 70 percent of Slovaks would vote to ban the construction of minarets if a referendum was held on the issue.

A clear majority, 54 percent in the Czech Republic and 56 percent in Slovakia, were also in favor of banning not just minarets but the construction of all mosques, according to the poll conducted by the NMS research agency.

There are three mosques in the Czech Republic, located in Prague, Brno and Teplice, and none have the traditional minarets used to call people to prayer. There are about 12,000 practicing Muslims in the Czech Republic out of a total population of 10 million, Vladimír Sáňka of the Islamic Foundation in Prague, said.

Despite their small numbers, Muslims are finding it difficult to get planning permission for mosques and are often viewed suspiciously by local authorities. Plans to extend the mosque in Brno ran into opposition earlier this year.

"Our aim is to make Muslims an integrated part of the civil society while keeping their own identity," Sáňka said. "We do not want the Muslim community to be detached from society; on the contrary, we want it to be an asset for society. Our priority is to obey the laws of this country in which we live. After all, that is what Islam teaches us. Although there are not many Muslims in the Czech Republic, we try to inform the public truthfully about Islam because fear and resentment stems from ignorance."

The Swiss referendum in November approved a constitutional amendment banning the construction of new minarets with 57.5 percent of voters supporting the prohibition. The Swiss government opposed the ban, saying it would harm Switzerland's image, particularly in the Muslim world. Amnesty International said the vote violated freedom of religion and would probably be overturned by the Swiss Supreme Court or the European Court of Human Rights.

Muslims make up about 6 percent of Switzerland's 7.5 million people, many of them refugees from the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. Fewer than 13 percent practice their religion, the government says, and Swiss mosques do not broadcast the call to prayer outside their buildings.

The Swiss referendum and Czech poll raise the question whether other European voters might follow the Swiss lead and vote to similarly curb Muslims if given the chance at the ballot box. Switzerland's system of plebiscitary democracy compels single-issue referendums if petitions amass enough signatures.

Across Europe, far-right parties have seen gains in recent years on anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant platforms, and Europe is debating how best to integrate Muslim populations.

"The Swiss referendum results do not make us happy," Sáňka said. "There are many Swiss Muslims, originally from Switzerland, but even more are from nearby Bosnia or other Balkan countries. The referendum result will make the integration process more difficult for the minority Muslim community," he said before adding a note of caution.

"The worst is what could follow. Some populists or extremists in other countries could escalate their demands."

- Klára Jiřičná contributed to this report.

Tom Clifford can be reached at
tclifford@praguepost.com