It’s time for evening prayers. Shah Malik heads to Masjid Usman, in an Athens neighborhood that is home to immigrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
A handwritten sign taped beside the entrance reads that the prayer space is registered as a library. At least 200,000 Muslims live in Athens, but of the 120 prayer spaces in the city, only three have been able to navigate a maze of legal restrictions to register as mosques.
“You have to hire a bunch of lawyers and inspectors,” said Malik, who came to Greece from Pakistan 14 years ago and serves as the makeshift mosque’s treasurer. “You have to rent a proper space with safety measures, like multiple exits. It’s a shame, but most of us cannot afford to do that.”
