Kobe Mosque, Kobe, Japan
Kobe Mosque, after World War II bombing, the mosque was still standing
Kobe mosque, today
Kobe Camii
Mosque Kobe, Interior
Kobe Mosque (神戸モスク, Kōbe Mosque?), also known as Kobe Muslim Mosque (神戸ムスリムモスク, Kōbe Muslim Mosque?), was founded in October, 1935 in Kobe and is Japan’s first mosque. Its construction was funded by donations collected by the Islamic Committee of Kobe from 1928 until its opening in 1935. The mosque was confiscated by the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1943. However, it continues to function as mosque today. It is located in the Kitano-cho foreign district of Kobe. Owing to its basement and structure, the mosque was able to endure through the Great Hanshin earthquake. The mosque was built in traditional Turkish style by the Czech architect Jan Josef Švagr (1885–1969), the architect of a number of Western religious buildings throughout Japan.
When the buildings around it almost razed to the ground, Kobe Muslim Mosque still standing upright. This mosque suffered only cracks on exterior walls and all the glass windows broken. The exterior of the mosque became a bit dark because the smoke bomb attack. Japanese soldiers who took refuge in the basement of the mosque survived the bomb threat, as well as concealed weapons. This mosque became a place of refuge for victims of war.
subhanallah.