In this IslamOnline story (thanks to Anthony for the link) about French Muslims’ plan to build grand new mosques to rival French churches and synagogues, there is the telling quote that I made the headline here:
An IOL survey shows that most Muslim Parisians preferred to hand their Zakah to mosque officials rather than giving it to other charities.
“I prefer mosques to other charities in the country, given the ferocious campaign against Muslim assets in the West driven by the [US] global war on terror,” Qadri Bin Salama, a restaurant owner told IslamOnline.net.
In other words, he’d rather give to mosques than to Islamic charities, NOT because the charities may send his money to terrorist groups, but because Americans may take the money in an effort to keep terrorists from getting it.
Also there is this interesting information about the number of mosques in France:
The number of mosques in France has increased to at least 1554 by the end of 2003, moving from rented underground rooms to owned places of worship in public places and squares.
French journalist and Islamic affairs expert Xavier Ternisien said the Paris northern suburb of Saint Denis hosts alone 97 mosques while there are 73 others in north France.