Seyran Ates’ vision of a liberal mosque where all Muslims can pray together — women and men, Sunni and Shiite, straight and gay — is almost a reality, and the 54-year-old daughter of Turkish guest workers in Germany is ecstatic as she enters the light-flooded room undergoing its final touches. “I couldn’t be more euphoric, it’s a dream come true,” Ates said with a smile as she touched the white carpet that three Turkish workers were laying out in the freshly painted room. Ates, a
well-known women’s rights activist and lawyer, has fought for eight years to establish a place of prayer for progressive Muslims in Germany where they can leave their religious conflicts behind and focus on their shared Islamic values. The mosque, which opens Friday, will be the first of its kind for liberal Muslims in Germany, Ates said. “This project was long overdue,” she said during an interview with The Associated Press this week. “There’s so much Islamist terror and so much evilness happening in the name of my religion …READ MORE
