Mosques around the World — Page 87
T. The First Mosque in Switzerland. The 18th of October 1946 was a Friday, and I had arrived in Switzerland from England along with two other colleagues only five days earlier. In the course of the first Friday prayer, offered on a hill - "Waidberg" in. Zurich, I felt a strong urge to pray for a mosque in Zurich. . In 1955 Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Ilra arrived in Switzerland for medical treatment. During his stay in Zurich, Hazoor instructed me to build a mosque in Zurich. Before the preparations could be started in earnest, a message came from Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Ilra, who was then in Germany, that before building a mosque in Switzerland, one would be built in Hamburg. After a temporary suspension of efforts, the work for building a mosque in Zurich was resumed. . The most formidable difficulty seemed to be the procurement of a suitable site. One attempt after the other bore no fruits, and the prospects were dim and disheartening. It was decided that I needed to approach the local government. I had my first meeting with the Mayor of Zurich, Dr. Emil. Landolt, on June 19, 1957. The mayor sympathized with the idea of building the first ever mosque of Switzerland in. Zurich, but was apparently helpless. After two years of negotiations at different levels, a contract was signed with the local government on December 24, 1959, for a plot of land on lease for 60 years. It took almost another year to get the public registration of the contract on November 29, 1960. . The site for the mosque happened to lie just opposite a big church, and it was genuinely feared that getting a building. permit would pose great problems. Indeed, there was opposition to our project from church circles, but the local authorities, particularly the mayor, had been so thoroughly briefed by us that the opposition had no chance. Luckily, a. Swiss Ahmadi Muslim, Herr Fried Badertscher, was working as an architect in one of the offices of the Municipal. Corporation of Zurich. He was a great help. Over a period of two and a half years he worked out eight different sketches for the mosque, and the 8th attempt offered the optimal solution to meet our requirements. The center, too, adopted this plan. . The task of doing the project was entrusted to the construction company Ernst Gohner AG. In connection with the building permit, objections were raised as to the minaret, the dome, parking lot, the mandatory space to be left ahmadiyya Muslim Association USA: 1994 Souvenir between neighbor's houses, etc. . At long last, the building permit was issued with the rider to start construction within one year. . I requested the center to send a brick from the Mubarak Mosque in. Qadian to be used in the foundation of our mosque. Hazrat. Khalifatul Masih Ilra had the brick flown to Zurich after he blessed it with his prayer. . Sheikh Nasir Ahmad. The next stage was to secure the right amount of funds, and according to the center the prospects were bleak. I was. asked to negotiate with the government of Pakistan directly. . I spoke on the telephone to President Ayub Khan, with whom I had a brief acquaintance many years earlier when he was Commander-in-Chief. Later, on the 22nd of January, 1961, I traveled to Munich and met President Ayub Khan and Mr. Mohammad Shoaib, the Finance Minister of. Pakistan, when they were visiting Germany. The Finance. . Minister was opposed to the very idea of a foreign exchange grant for any mosque at all, but by the Grace of God I was able to make him change his mind. After a few months our application was accepted. . Now everything was apparently ready to start the work. It turned out, however, that the building permit had expired, and we had to get it renewed. This involved getting over all. the formalities and cumbersome red tape. . At this juncture, we were confronted with yet another. unforseeable hurdle. A suitable site, the building permit, the foreign exchange grant - everything was there, but the money had not yet arrived. The building firm insisted on a bank guarantee which seemed almost impossible to provide, considering our financial standing. But Almighty God opened the door and the Canton Zurich Bank agreed to give a guarantee to the building firm. This favorable development was nothing short of a miracle. . At long last, Hazrat Syedah Amatul Hafeez Begumra, the revered daughter of the Promised Messiahas, laid the foundation stone on the 25th of August, 1962. On June 22, 1963, Hazrat Chaudhary Muhammad Zafrullah Khanra performed the inauguration of this, the first mosque in. Switzerland, in the presence of the mayor, Dr. Emil Landolt. . The mosque was named "Mahmud Moschee. " Thus my dream on the 18th of October, 1946 for a mosque in Zurich was realized after about 17 years, Alhamdolillah. All praise belongs to Allah. . Sheikh Nasir Ahmad, the first Missionary to Switzerland 87