Islamic "mosqueing" and the appropriation of public spaces

Muslim mayor Sadiq Khan and others, Trafalgar Square, London, 16 March 2026.

Contents

Jerusalem to London
Pact of Umar
Discussion
References

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1. From Jerusalem to Trafalgar Square

mosqueing, adj., appropriating a public or private space through the Islamic act of prostrating in prayer.

appropriate, v., to take something for one's own use, typically without the owner's permission.

On 16 March 2026 Trafalgar Square in London saw a large public gathering of Muslims celebrating the end of the Ramadan fast. In attendance was the Muslim mayor of London Sadiq Khan and senior Islamic clerics. A large area was fenced off for the occasion, during which thousands of people prostrated in prayer, with men at the front and women separated into a group placed behind them. Loudspeakers issued verses from the Qur'an and other statements; people shouted Allahu Akbar! [God is the greatest!], proclaiming Islam as the one true faith, above all others. Needless to say, some people took exception to this, including Conservative Party member of Parliament Nick Timothy who subsequently issued on X a statement proclaiming it "an act of domination" as follows:

Too many are too polite to say this. But mass ritual prayer in public places is an act of domination. The adhan [Muslim call to prayer five times a day] - which declares there is no god but allah and Muhammad is his messenger - is, when called in a public place, a declaration of domination. Perform these rituals in mosques if you wish. But they are not welcome in our public places and shared institutions. And given their explicit repudiation of Christianity they certainly do not belong in our churches and cathedrals. I am not suggesting everybody at Trafalgar Square last night is an Islamist. But the domination of public places is straight from the Islamist playbook. Trafalgar Square belongs to all of us. It is a national memorial to our independence and our salvation. Last night was not like a televised football match or a St Patrick’s Day celebration. It was an act of domination and therefore division. It shouldn’t happen again (Timothy 2026).

This posting resulted in a flurry of criticism calling him an Islamophobe; cries for his sacking from the party; and calling for his to withdraw his remarks, otherwise he would be accused of "hate speech" and likely face criminal action under British law. Needless to say, he did not back down or retract; he was not sacked from his party or parliament; and widespread support rose up in his defence.

Why such controversy? Google AI will tell you in part why, in answer to the question put by the present writer:

Q: What is the Islamic meaning of mosque?

Ans.: A mosque, known in Arabic as a masjid, means "place of prostration" and is a dedicated space for Muslims to gather for prayer and worship of Allah. It serves as a community center for daily prayers, Friday sermons, education, and reflection. While a mosque is typically a covered building, any clean, open space can serve this purpose, reflecting the concept that the entire earth can be a place of worship.

Recent controversy surrounding the Muslim "taking over" of public spaces in Europe, Great Britain, the Americas and Australia reveals that there is more to it then Google AI reveals. The practice of senior Islamic clerics and others, including large crowds of Muslims, prostrating in prayer within non-Islamic mosque building spaces such as Christian churches, public sidewalks and streets, monumental places such as Trafalgar Square in London, and in front of the Town Hall, Sydney, this has historically bore deeper significance. Below are a few examples.

* Holy Sepulcher 637AD

In 637AD Calif Omar entered Jerusalem and when talking to Patriarch (Saint) Sophronius he said: "I need to pray." Sophronius then offered the Holy Sepulcher as a place to pray. Omar refused and walked away to pray somewhere else. Upon his return he said to Sophronius:

"Do you know why I did not pray in the Holy Sepulcher? .... If I had prayed inside the church you would have lost it, and it would have gone from your hands, because after my death the Muslims would seize it, saying "Omar prayed here," and turned it into a mosque." (Ibrahim 2026)

This points to the Muslim appropriation of public and private (sacred) spaces as early as five years after the death of Muhammed and prior to the compilation of the Qur'an. Over the next two centuries of conquest from Spain in the west, throughout the Middle East and northern Africa including Egypt, and east towards India, Muslims would take over Jew synagogues, Christian churches and other sacred places. They would either be destroyed or converted to Islamic mosques, in total disrespect for their previous use.

* Sydney Town Hall, 9 February 2026

On 9 February 2026 an illegal Free Palestine rally was held in front of Sydney Town Hall in Australia. Thousands of people gathered and, after a series of initial speeches, decided to march to the Sydney Opera House. As the protest and any planned march had been declared illegal by the New South Wales state government, the police were forced to intervene. They had wanted the rally to be held at Hyde Park - a large open space which would not disrupt traffic - but this did not happen as the organisers refused the request. Upon hearing that the protestors were getting ready to march away from the Town Hall and George Street in front of it, the police moved in and ordered the crowd to disperse, whilst closing off their route towards the Opera House. Nevertheless, a large number of protesters moved in that direction and, as a result, clashed with the police lines. Some of the public and police were injured in various scuffles. At one stage a group of Muslim men sat down on the middle of the street, directly in opposition to the police, prostrated themselves, and began to pray. This was a clear act of defiance on the part of the Muslims and illegal, as they had already been given an order to disperse as directed. As a result, a number of police moved in and forced the men to disperse as directed. Needless to say there was a public outrage that the police should be seen to be stopping Muslims praying. What many of those critics did not realise was that this was not a religious act, but a political act, as outlined above. It was, as Nick Timothy would later note, an act of domination, claiming the streets of Sydney for Islam and totally inappropriate and, in the Town Hall case, illegal. It was also an act in which law enforcement officers were ignored in carrying out their legal obligations and their duty. As such, all of those on the ground praying could have been arrested for failing to follow police directions.

Police disperse Muslims praying during protests in Sydney, The Guardian, 9 February 2026, YouTube, duration: 1.17 minutes.

* Trafalgar Square, London, 16 March 2026

[Described above.]

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Muslims praying in a Sydney street, March 2025.

2. Pact of Umar 637AD

The rules under which Muslims treat non-Muslims following conquest or mass entry into countries and nation states were initially set out in a pact made by Umar the First with defeated Christians from Syria in 637AD, just five years after the death of Muhammed. Since that time they has been added to Shariah law and expanded upon to apply to all non-believers, also called Infidels. This includes Jews, Zoroastrians, Hindus, Buddhists and the many other spiritual beliefs which are not Islam.

The entrance of Caliph Umar (581-644) into Jerusalem 638AD.

The original text of the pact, with additions, is presented below. It was initially written in the form of a letter from the defeated Christians to the Muslim conquerors, and specifically to Calif Umar ibn al-Khattab. It's aim was to put an end to the brutal and horrendous slaying, torture, rape, be-heading, dismemberment, enslavement, and defilement of sacred places carried out by the Islamic combatants and their religious leaders and adherrents. The Christians saw it was the next best thing to genocide. Their plight is reflected in the first, gut-wrenching words of the pact, namely: In the name of God! pleading for an end to the slaughter.

Pact of Umar 637AD

We heard from Abd al-Rahman Ibn Ghanam as follows: When Umar ibn al-Khattab, may God be pleased with him, accorded a peace to the Christians of Syria, we wrote to him as follows:

In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate! This is a letter to the servant of God Umar, Commander of the Faithful, from the Christians of such and such a city.

When You marched against us, we asked of you protection for ourselves, our posterity, our possessions, and our co-religionists; and we made undertook to following obligations towards you:

that we will not erect in our city or the suburbs any new monastery, church, cell or hermitage;
that we will not repair any of such buildings that may fall into ruins, or renew those that may be situated in the Muslim quarters of the town;
that we will not refuse the Muslims entry into our churches either by night or by day;
that we will open the gates wide to passengers and travellers;
that we will receive any Muslim traveller into our houses and give him food and lodging for three nights;
that we will not harbor any spy in our churches or houses, or conceal any enemy of the Muslims;
that we will not teach our children the Qu'ran;
that we will not make a show of the Christian religion nor invite any one to embrace it;
that we will not prevent any of our kinsmen from embracing Islam, if they so desire;
that we will show respect towards the Muslims and move from the places in which we sit if they choose to sit in them and take our seats;
that we will not imitate them in our dress, either in the cap, turban, sandals, or parting of the hair;
that we will not make use of their expressions of speech, nor adopt their surnames;
that we will not ride on saddles, or gird on swords, or take to ourselves arms or wear them, or engrave Arabic inscriptions on our rings;
that we will not sell wine;
that we will shave the front of our heads;
that we will keep to our own style of dress, wherever we may be;
that we will wear girdles / belts round our waists;
that we will not take slaves that have been allotted to Muslims;
that we will not build houses over-topping the houses of Muslims;
that we will not display the cross upon our churches or display our crosses or our sacred books in the streets of the Muslims, or in their market-places;
that we will strike the clappers and sound our bells in our churches lightly;
that we will not recite our services inside our churches in a loud voice when a Muslim is present;
that we will not carry Palm branches or our images in procession in the streets;
that at the burial of our dead we will not chant loudly or carry lighted candles in the streets of the Muslims or their market places;
that we will not bury our dead near Muslims;
that we will not take any slaves that have already been in the possession of Muslims, nor spy into their houses;
that we will be guides for Muslims and refrain from breaching their privacy in their homes; and
that we will not strike / beat any Muslim.

All this we promise to observe, on behalf of ourselves and our co-religionists, and receive protection from you in exchange; and if we violate any of the conditions of this agreement, then we forfeit your protection and you are at liberty to treat us as enemies and rebels.

Additional elements added later included:

Payment of jizya tax for exemption from military service
Exclusion from government service or office

On top of all this, there is a litany of discriminatory such as jihad towards non-Muslims as set out in the Qur'an and Hadith and under Shariah law, all of which point towards an entrenched hatred of Infidels which begins with education and indoctrination of children and young people as taught within families, schools and mosques. It can therefore be seen from this that the "invasion" and conquest of Western countries by Muslims, whether militarily or through immigration, has significant impact upon indigenous cultures and those non-Muslims who are not killed, imprisioned or put into slavery in the process, and are forced to live as second and third class citizens in their own countries. A good recent example of this is Iran since 1979, wherein the Shah was replaced by an Islamic Ayatollah and a violent, evil regime which not only killed dissenters amongst its own population, but also spread Islamic hatred and terrorism around the world through organisations such as HAMAS and Hezbollah.

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3. Discussion

The public display of Muslims praying in large numbers on Western streets and in public spaces appears to be a post-Covid phenomena. Why? Because in that period large numbers of Muslim refugees and illegal immigrants arrived in Great Britain, Europe, the United States and, to a lesser extent, Canada and Australia. Many came not simply to obtain a better standard of living, but to serve the cause of Islam and actively promote the ideology towards establishment of a global caliphate under Shariah law. Public praying is one form of doing this and making a claim to the lands they now occupy. The pushback from non-Muslims is, in the view of the present writer, reasonable and necessary. The disregard for indigenous cultural heritage on the part of Islam has been present since the time of Muhammed in 622AD when he arrived in Medina and took control of that Arabian town. Non-Muslim societies have been fighting back since that time, and mostly unsuccessfully. Such a time has now arrived for the West to fight back.

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3. References

Arora, Aron, There’s nothing sinister about Muslim prayers in Trafalgar Square. As a bishop, I reject the right’s attacks on worship, The Guardian, 20 March 2026.

Ibrahim, Raymond, Muslims turn doormat Christians into Prayermats, Raymond Ibrahim, 28 March 2026, YouTube, duration: 130.02 minutes. Relevant discussion at approximate 75 minute mark.

Sacerdoti, Jonathan, Feeling uncomfortable about Muslim prayer in Trafalgar Square isn’t racist, The Spectator, 19 March 2026.

Timothy, Nick, [Comment on Trafalgar Square Islamic event], X.com, 17 March 2026.

Wikipedia, Conversion of non-Islamic spaces into places of worship, Wikipedia, accessed 29 March 2026.

-----, Pact of Umar, Wikipedia, accessed 30 March 2026.

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Last updated: 29 March 2026

Michael Organ, Australia

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Islamic "mosqueing" and the appropriation of public spaces

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