Koreans Protest Muslim ‘Prayer’ Street Takeovers

Muslim street takeovers in the name of ‘prayers’ have become a global problem from New York to London to Moscow, they’re creating conflict in India, and, less expectedly, in South Korea.

On a Friday afternoon, dozens of men stream out of a five-story building in Ansan’s Danwon-gu, some dressed in long white garments and caps, quietly walking away or chatting in small groups along the street.

The building they emerge from looks like an ordinary commercial property, but it is the Ansan Islamic Center, one of 21 mosques operated nationwide by the Korea Muslim Federation.

The crowd, made up mostly of Muslim migrant workers from across the city, had gathered for Jumu’ah — the weekly Friday congregational prayer held around 1 p.m. that replaces Dhuhr, one of Islam’s five daily obligatory prayers.

The center, which can accommodate up to 600 people, often becomes overcrowded during its weekly Friday gatherings when they coincide with major holiday seasons, leaving some worshippers to pray on the streets, officials said.

“This isn’t like a few dozen people; there were thousands. Are they really allowed to block the streets like that? Some people were even putting mats down. I respect religion, but it should be practiced in a way that respects others too,” one user wrote on Instagram.

These are power moves. Korea has 21 mosques. And that’s just the beginning. The street gatherings create pressure for more mosques. They establish the first foothold of Islamic supremacy on Korean soil as they already have across Western cities. By forcing the indigenous population to submit to the Islamic control of space, the process of Islamization begins and it ends in one of only two ways.