Swiss voters have supported a referendum proposal to ban the building of minarets, official results show. More than 57% of voters and 22 out of 26 cantons – or provinces – voted in favour of the ban.

The proposal had been put forward by the Swiss People’s Party, (SVP), the largest party in parliament, which says minarets are a sign of Islamisation.

The government opposed the ban, saying it would harm Switzerland’s image, particularly in the Muslim world.

In a statement, the government said it accepted the decision. It said: “The Federal Council (government) respects this decision. Consequently the construction of new minarets in Switzerland is no longer permitted.”

Switzerland is home to some 400,000 Muslims and has just four minarets.

Supporters of a ban claimed that allowing minarets would represent the growth of an ideology and a legal system – Sharia law – which are incompatible with Swiss democracy.

But others say the referendum campaign incited hatred. On Thursday the Geneva mosque was vandalised for the third time during the campaign, according to local media.

Amnesty International said the vote violated freedom of religion and would probably be overturned by the Swiss supreme court or the European Court of Human Rights.    »»» BBC News

The insanity of such a ban is seen by looking at the photo accompanying this article. It shows a Swiss church steeple and a Swiss mosque minaret. Notice how similar the two structures are from the architectural point of view. It is one thing for a government to control outside advertising signs or to limit some forms of architecture for safety or esthetic reasons. But this ban is a direct attack on freedom of religion. Furthermore, the argument that minarets are, sui generis, symbols of political islamization and the imposition of shari’ah law shows how little the Swiss know about such things. One of the principles of shari’ah is ‘urf and ‘adat, which is respect for the prevailing customs and practices of a people so long as they are not at variance with some fundamental priniciple of justice in the Qur’an and the Traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him). The idea that shari’ah and democrati principles cannot co-exist is a false teaching of two groups: the Western racical enemies of Islam and the Salafi extremists within Islam.

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