It was inaugurated in June 2017, and is named after medieval Andalusian-Arabic polymath Ibn Rushd and German writer and statesman Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

[1] The mosque is characterised as liberal; it bans face-covering, it allows women and men to pray together, and it accepts LGBT worshippers.

[13] The personal security for founder Ateş had to be increased significantly after evaluation by the State Criminal Police Office of Berlin.

[14] Turkish mass media displayed the Rushd-Goethe mosque as part of the Gülen movement, a claim denied by Ercan Karakoyun, chairman of the Gülen-affiliated foundation in Germany Stiftung Dialog und Bildung.

The Al-Azhar University is opposed to liberal reform of Islam and issued the fatwa because of the mosque's ban on face-covering veils such as burqa and niqab on its premises, allowing women and men to pray together and accepting homosexuals.