<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">When Muaz Razaq left Pakistan for the first time in 2019 to study for his computer science master’s degree in South Korea, he never expected to become the lightning rod of a bitter battle putting the country’s religious tolerance to the test.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">“South Korea stands out as a leader in software engineering and Kyungpook National University was my first choice owing to the positive things I had heard from my seniors and the presence of a mosque nearby,” the 27-year-old, who is now studying for a doctorate, told Al Jazeera.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">“Some locals were curious about my traditional attire and beard, which reminded them of Korea’s past aristocrats, but I never felt animosity or direct discrimination.”</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">All that changed when the university’s approximately 150 Muslims decided to renovate the mosque they established in 2014 near the school’s west gate.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The dispute over the plan has turned the construction site into a target of virulent Islamophobia</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Officially known as Dar-ul-Emaan Kyungpook and Islamic Centre, the mosque is located in the Buk district of Daegu, South Korea’s third-largest city and a conservative stronghold about 240km (149 miles) from the capital Seoul.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">There are about a dozen mosques around Daegu, mainly in the suburbs, catering to migrant labour populations of practising Muslims.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Students raised the funds to demolish their old building next to the university, which was too cramped and lacked proper heating, and put up a new two-storey structure. To secure the necessary planning permission, they had to buy the house next door, which now serves as a temporary prayer hall.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Soon after the new beams were erected in early 2021, the Buk district office abruptly issued an administrative order halting construction, citing complaints from local residents.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The concerns were apparently related to the smell from the students’ cooking inside the mosque, noise and obstruction of traffic – things Razaq says had not previously been mentioned as problems. Aljazeera</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>