For a Dutch entrepreneur who received bomb threats, Ramadan now brings a respite

Collage of photos from an event organised by Moskee for Kids. Photo courtesy of Moskee for Kids

When Naziha founded Moskee for Kids, she had the same worries as any entrepreneur with a new venture: “When you start a company, you think about the usual challenges. Will they find my services too expensive? Perhaps there will be criticism about some social media post.”

But a few weeks after the launch of her company, she was receiving hate speech and bomb threats. The initial publicity for Moskee for Kids had caught the attention of certain Islamophobic parties, who anonymously emailed her and tweeted about the company, accusing her of “brainwashing children with Islam”.

Naziha, who declined to give her full name for this article because of the threats, is now using the holy month to take a step back to focus on herself and reflect on her faith. After the hard work and sleepless nights spent on planning the launch and then running her company, the hate campaign took its toll for a while, but now, with the investigation in the hands of the police, Naziha says she wants some time away during Ramadan.

The idea for Moskee for Kids came to Naziha when she saw that mosques in the Netherlands have children sit on the ground and that they are not allowed to play within the premises. “I wanted to change this, as I saw different possibilities after I spent time in Indonesia. There, mosques are less formal and encourage play,” she said.

In April 2018, Naziha launched Moskee for Kids in the Netherlands to make Muslim children in the Netherlands and Belgium more enthusiastic about going to the mosque and to help them gain a positive image of their religion. Naziha soon received a lot of positive feedback from her clients. Through Moskee for Kids, she organises events that involved craft and outdoor projects. She also sells craft products, including mosques that can be assembled and painted.

Collage (from left): The play mosque; and the Ramadan mosque that can be coloured. Photos courtesy of Moskee for Kids.

As Naziha doesn’t have big financial sources, she is relying on family and friends to run her business while she spends time away in Indonesia for two-and-a-half weeks. “Without them, my project would be impossible. [During this period,] they will do the work for me in the Netherlands. I will coordinate with them from Indonesia, but they will deliver the orders, post them and manage the Facebook page.”

“My strength mainly comes from hope and trust in Allah. I truly believe in my mission. Although it's a lot of hard work, financial loss and even death threats, my trust in the Almighty is that in the end it will be all fine,” Naziha said. She added that she gets her motivation from her clients, and especially the children. “They are so happy and proud when painting and decorating their mesjids. Their reactions really motivate me.”

Seher Han hired Moskee for Kids for an education event organised by the Dutch Islamic Federation (Nederlandse Islamitisch Federatie), and he especially appreciated the fact that the Moskee for Kids craft events involved painting mosques. “Usually, the children make some jewellery, but here, they really enjoyed putting together the mosque and then painting it. My children (4 and 2) participated too,” Seher said.

Naziha would like to eventually add more products and services, not only in Europe but also in South East Asia. “My motto is: Do your best and Allah will do the rest,” she said. “So I’m just doing my best, and I will see what God has planned for me.”

(Writing by Susan Muthalaly; Editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@thomsonreuters.com)

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