Stichting Islamitisch Centrum Arnhem Noord

Registered formally as the Stichting Islamitisch Centrum Arnhem Noord, this Dutch Islamic foundation serves the Muslim community of the northern quarters of Arnhem, the capital of the Gelderland province in the eastern Netherlands. The centre was founded in the late twentieth century by Moroccan and Turkish guestworkers who had come to work in the Dutch industries of the post war decades and remained to raise families, and it has since expanded to welcome converts, refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia and Bosnia, and second and third generation Dutch Muslims. Arnhem itself has a distinguished history, celebrated for the wartime battle memorialised in the film A Bridge Too Far and for its beautiful parks including the Sonsbeek and Hoge Veluwe. The Islamic centre occupies a converted community building in the Geitenkamp or Presikhaaf area, retaining the Dutch brick facade with its tall windows and tiled roof while adapting the interior for Islamic worship and education. The ground floor houses the main prayer hall with its qibla oriented along a line calculated to point across the plains of Central Europe toward Mecca, a simple but elegant mihrab carved in Turkish cedar and carpeted in deep green and blue. A second floor hosts the women's prayer area, two classrooms and a small kitchen used for gatherings. The centre conducts Friday prayers with sermons delivered alternately in Dutch, Arabic and Turkish, reflecting the tri lingual needs of the congregation. Weekend classes teach children Qur'anic recitation, Arabic alphabet and stories of the Companions, may God be pleased with them. The centre actively participates in interfaith work with Arnhem's churches, synagogues and humanist organisations, organising joint visits and public lectures that build the kind of neighbourly relationships the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, exemplified. During Ramadan the foundation offers evening iftars featuring Moroccan harira, Turkish mercimek corbasi and stroopwafels for dessert, and on Eid mornings the community rents a larger hall to accommodate the full prayer. Visitors arriving at Arnhem Centraal station can reach the centre by short bus ride, and are invited to attend, dressing modestly and observing the attentive hush characteristic of Dutch congregational life.