Follow the money

The Nishinippon Shimbun is reporting (only in Japanese and only on-line for a week) that an agreement has been reached between the residents of Higashi Ward in Fukuoka City and the local Muslim population to build the first mosque in Kyushu. The land was purchased last September, but it took an additional three months to win the approval of the neighborhood association.

The southernmost of the four main Japanese islands, Kyushu has a population of about 13 million. Fukuoka City is the largest city on the island, with roughly 1.4 million people, but there are at least two million more in the metropolitan district. The article estimates the Muslim population on the island at about 800 people, most of whom are graduate students at area universities, and most of whom live near Fukuoka City. (And from personal observation, most of whom are married.)

Two things struck me about the article. The first was the effort made by the Moslems to win over the neighbors. There was the expected opposition at first, for two reasons. One is that Islam is dangerous. The other is that there would be a large number of foreigners coming and going in the neighborhood.

The second objection in particular makes the natives seem close-minded, particularly for big-city dwellers in today’s Japan. But I think it’s a lot to ask of people who’ve had limited personal contact with foreigners to assimilate that many all at once. Relations with the neighborhood are bound to be difficult because these particular foreigners are mostly graduate students, so their residency in Japan will be limited to a few years. Also, from my observation, Moslems tend not to circulate very much in Japanese society anyway. And the difficulties are compounded further because the perceptions that are the basis for the first objection are very much based in reality.

The neighborhood association finally relented on the condition that they could reopen discussions with the Moslems if any difficulties arose. The chairman of the association said, “We’d like to cooperate in any way that we can cooperate,” which came across just as lukewarm in the original Japanese as it does in English.

The second fact that struck me was the amount of money involved. The construction costs for the mosque are estimated at 120 million yen (slightly more than $US one million), and that doesn’t include the cost of the land. They’ve been raising funds since 1998, and have collected about 50 million yen (slightly more than $US 422,000) through, as the paper reported, “donations and bazaars at local festivals”.

I’m sure they’ve been very industrious, and eight years is a long time, but they would have had to sell one heck of a lot of falafel on a stick to collect 50 million yen. One wonders how much of the money they collected was obtained through donations. The article only mentioned construction costs; I’m sorry, but bazaar profits won’t be nearly enough for grad students to pony up the price of real estate in a large Japanese city.

So where are the donations coming from?

While this is pure speculation on my part, the first thing that came to mind is Saudi philanthropy, and as the Western world is belatedly discovering, that can be very dangerous. As this article notes, “Saudi Arabia has reportedly spent over $70 billion since 1979 on overseas aid, more than two-thirds of it on its campaign to spread Wahhabism across the world.” I don’t think it’s necessary to provide links to the growing number of media revelations that Saudi money supports some rather unsavory radical imams, who in turn have inspired some rather unsavory terrorists.

Unfortunately, I suspect that the local Nishinippon Shimbun reporter may not be aware of the potential problems that lurk beneath the surface. The Islamic conflicts with Western society and the Islamic presence in Europe are stories that have gone largely unreported here in Japan.

Of course, my concerns may be unfounded. I would not dream of suggesting that every mosque is a breeding ground for terrorism, nor would I dream of suggesting that most Moslems are potential terrorists. Most of the Moslems I’ve met here are congenial people who are serious about their studies, and anxious to return home as soon as they’ve earned their degrees.

But the money for that mosque and its land has to come from somewhere, and the motives of the people who are the most generous in situations such as these are highly suspect.

And while I’m sure most of the Moslems in Kyushu are fine, upstanding people, all it takes is one rotten Atta to spoil the barrel.

If things turn out for the worst, of course, we won’t find out until it’s too late.