KOLN: With about 3.4 million believers, Islam is, after Christianity, the second-largest religion in Germany. This becomes ever more visible: the construction of mosques is booming. Of course, as with all representations of religion in the state and public sphere, this boom comes with conflict. According to the Islam-Archiv, there are 143 “classical mosques” in Germany. There are 128 mosques in the planning stages . Most of them are very sparse. According to the Muslim Central Committee, there are in addition more than 2000 “hidden mosques”, that were not originally built as houses of worship but are today used as prayer rooms or mosques.
