Canada’s Uyghur Muslims Open New Mosque

The Uyghur community bought a renovated 150-year-old church.

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, OTTAWA – Community Muslim uyghur who is in Canada has opened a new mosque in the suburbs of Toronto, Canada. The mosque officially opened in a renovated 150-year-old Roman Catholic church building.

The inauguration of the mosque was carried out by reading the Quran and raising the blue and white crescent moon, as well as the star-spangled flag of East Turkestan. It is said that this building can accommodate up to 2,000 worshipers.

The Canadian East Turkestan Association, which uses the Uyghur preferred name for the autonomous region UIghour Xinjiang (XUAR) di China north-west, drafting the idea of ​​the Center UIghour Canada in 2008. Then, 13 years later, they purchased the church building for US $ 482,000 with donations from Germany and Australia.

“For UIghour in Canada, it’s like showing what results can and cannot be achieved through unity and solidarity, ”said community president Tuyghun Abduweli, quoted in Free Asia Radio, Thursday (30/9).

He mentions the unity of the community which ultimately enabled them to buy a church and turn it into a mosque. Not only as a place of worship, this building is also used to share about culture, history and religion.

This opening ceremony brings together members of the community UIghour in Canada, a member of the Canadian parliament, as well as diplomats and civil servants. Leaders of two large groups of exiles UIghour, namely the President of the Congress UIghour Dolkun Isa, based in the world, and executive director of the campaign UIghour in the United States, Rushan Abbas was also present in this activity.

The Canadian Association of East Turkestan also invited Catholic priests and former church members to raise awareness of the plight of the people. UIghour in XUAR. The church’s last pastor, Robin Wilkie, said the Catholic congregation was aging, while church administrators were no longer able to maintain the building.