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