Helmond mosque cancels cleric's visit after talks with city

The Al-Fadjr mosque in Helmond has canceled the conference they had planned for this weekend after the commotion over the arrival of guest speaker Sa'd Ateeq al-Ateeq. This was done after discussions with Mayor Elly Blanksma. The mosque initially decided to only revoke the invitations of the two guest speakers, but on Wednesday announced that the whole three-day conference has been cancelled, the Telegraaf reports. The management of the mosque told the newspaper that they were forced to do so "after having examined the situation closely" and because of the "fierce campaign in the media against the Muslims and us in particular". Sa’ad Ateeq al-Ateeq is considered controversial as he called on Allah for the “destruction” of Jews, Christians, Shiites and Alawis in one of his sermons. After finding out that Ateeq was coming to Helmond, the mayor decided to discuss the situation with the Mosque. According to the mosque, Blanksma insisted that the invitations for the two guest speakers be revoked based on information received from the National Coordinator for Counter Terrorism.