T R AV E L T R E N D S
SUPPRESSED
SWISS-LAM
Six years into a ban on building minarets, Tharik Hussain is in Basel, Switzerland hunting for a 19th century ‘convert’ with a Saudi connection. By Tharik Hussain
“I think it is after the tram stop.” “Mosque?” “Just carry on it is there, you will see it.” But I couldn’t see it; in fact, I had absolutely no idea what to even look for. Mosques are not allowed to look like mosques in Switzerland ever since building minarets was banned in 2009. I was in Clara, an ethnic area north of the River Rhine in pretty little Basel, 90 DESTINATION JEDDAH AUGUST 2015
home to Switzerland’s largest Muslim community. All around me halal shops and restaurants mingled with little independent boutiques as quaint trams trundled through the streets. Yesterday, on a historic tour of the city, I learnt that Basel has a long history featuring religion. My guide Maria had pointed out that even the city’s coat of arms features a Bishop’s crosier - the medieval rulers of Basel. During that time, like everywhere else in Europe, Basel was suspicious of other faiths. In the 14th century Basel Massacre, 600 Jews were burnt alive on an island in the Rhine - they had been responsible for the Plague apparently. Then, as anti-Semitism peaked at the
KF Mosque mihrab