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Kobe Mosque is a site to be celebrated this Ramadan

The mosque was constructed in 1935 by Czech architect Jan Josef Švagr. (Kobe Muslim Mosque)
The mosque was constructed in 1935 by Czech architect Jan Josef Švagr. (Kobe Muslim Mosque)
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13 Apr 2022 07:04:20 GMT9
13 Apr 2022 07:04:20 GMT9

Shams El-Mutwalli

DUBAI: Kobe Muslim Mosque is a site to be celebrated in Japan this Ramadan—a holy month of fasting in Islam—as it is recognized as the first mosque to be built in the country, located in Nakayamate Dori in Chuo-ku, Kobe.

Constructed in 1935 by Czech architect Jan Josef Švagr, the three-story mosque has a central prayer hall on the ground floor. The mosque also has a white marble Mihrab and Minbar.

The mosque’s Islamic Culture Center also provides study sessions that provide information about Islam.

According to a statement printed in the Kobe Muslim Mosque Report in 1936, the Kobe Muslim Mosque Committee recorded how “when completed the mosque was opened by Mr. Ferozuddin on Friday 2nd August 1935 before a large gathering of Muslim ladies and gentlemen coming from many lands.”

Contributors to the mosque. (Kobe Muslim Mosque Report)

The statement also highlights how on the afternoon of the 11th October 1935 “about six hundred guests responded to our invitation to see the mosque building.  Later in the evening of the same day they gathered in the Tor Hotel where a great reception was held.”

Mayor of Kobe at the time, Ginjiro Katsuda, also shared a message that was printed in the same report.

“As Mayor of Kobe, I have much pleasure in extending to the Kobe Muslim Mosque Committee my hearty congratulations on the occasion of the opening of the mosque. It is the first Muslim Mosque built in Japan, and Kobe may well be proud of it. The appearance of the new mosque is quite befitting such a cosmopolitan city as Kobe,” he said.

Kobe Mosque. (Kobe Muslim Mosque Report)

“The new mosque affords a place of worship for Muslim people not only in Kobe, but for those living in other places of Japan,” and stated toward the end of his message that “it is my earnest wish that this new place of worship will prove to be another strong link in the chain of Muslim-Japanese friendship.”

The mosque has gained further recognition as it remained unharmed during both World War II, and the Great Hanshin Earthquake.

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