المركز الإسلامي في هامبورغ Imam Ali Mosque Hamburg
Religion
Affiliation	Shi'ism
Location
Location	Uhlenhorst, Hamburg, Germany
Geographic coordinates	53°34′28.45″N 10°00′30.30″E / 53.5745694°N 10.0084167°E / 53.5745694; 10.0084167
Architecture
Architect(s)	Architekturbüro Schramm und Elingius
Type	Mosque
Completed	1961, 1963–65
Construction cost	2 Million Deutschmark
Specifications
Capacity	1500
Dome(s)	2
Minaret(s)	2
Minaret height	16 m
Website
www.izhamburg.com/

The Islamic Centre Hamburg (German: Islamisches Zentrum Hamburg) (Persian: مرکز اسلامی هامبورگ) is one of the oldest mosques in Germany and Europe and is abbreviated IZH. Established in Hamburg, in northern Germany, in the late 1950s by a group of Iranian emigrants and business people.^{[citation needed]}

It is also known as the Blaue Moschee (blue mosque).^[1]

Iranian theologians and politicians (including Ayatollah Beheshti, Ayatollah Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari or Mohammad Khatami) have spent time (often years) at the IZH.^{[citation needed]}

History

During a meeting at Atlantic Hotel (Hamburg) in 1953, a group of Iranian residents of Germany discussed the need to establish their own religious center. A letter was sent to the late Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Husayn Borujerdi asking him for help; Grand Ayatollah agreed with the plan and donated 100,000 Rials to the center. The construction began in 1960 and by 1965 it was completed. In the same year Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti was appointed to lead the center.^{[citation needed]}

During the 1970s the centre played a significant role in bringing about the political rising of Iranian students in the West against the Shah and ultimately contributed to the Iranian Revolution.^{[citation needed]}

Since 1993, the Hamburger Verfassungsschutz [de] (HV) monitors IZH as an outpost of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran due to ideological, organisational and personal ties to the regime. The HV considers IZH to work against the democratic societal order. The IZH has repeatedly protested the monitoring and unsuccessfully to avoid it.^[2][1]

In 2016, IZH members took part in an anti-Israel protest in Berlin where Israel was denounced as an "enemy of humanity" and "terrorist", which became part of the long-standing public debate on Islamic community organisations in Germany.^[2]

Directors

• Hojjatulislam Mohagheghi (1955–1965)
• Hojjatulislam Mohammad Beheshti (1965–1970)
• Hojjatulislam Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari (1970–1978)
• Hojjatulislam Mohammad Khatami (1978–1980)
• Hojjatulislam Mohammad Reza Moghaddam (1980–1992)
• Hojjatulislam Mohammad Bagher Ansari (1992–1998)
• Hojjatulislam Reza Hosseini Nassab (1999–2003)
• Hojjatulislam Seyyed Abbas Hosseini Ghaemmaghami (2004–2009)
• Hojjatulislam Reza Ramezani Gilani (2009–2018)^[3][4]
• Hojjatulislam Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh (August 2018–Present)^[5]