Qatar funds first mosque in Slovenia

[Bengal_Tiger]

Qatar helps fund first mosque in Slovenia




12:41 AM
15
September
2013

Qatar’s Minister of Awqaf (Endowments) and Islamic Affairs HE Dr Ghaith bin Mubarak al-Kuwari, member of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic (left), Slovenian Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek (second left), Slovenian Mufti Nedzad Grabus (third right) and the Mayor of Ljubljana Zoran Jankovic lay the first stone of what will be the first mosque in Slovenia during a ceremony in Ljubljana yesterday.

Agencies/Ljubljana


The foundation stone of Slovenia’s first mosque, which will be financed by Qatar, was laid at a former industrial site in the capital Ljubljana yesterday, more than four decades since the first official petition was submitted by Muslims seeking their own place of worship.
Qatar’s Minister of Awqaf (Endowments) and Islamic Affairs HE Dr Ghaith bin Mubarak al-Kuwari attended the ceremony along with Slovenian Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Member of Collective Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic.
Several thousand people attended the ceremony, including Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Jankovic, who helped lay the first stone. The ceremony was also attended by Director of Department for International Development at Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr Ahmed bin Mohamed al Meraikhi.
HE the Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs said that Qatar, in accordance with the vision of HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and HH the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, works on promoting a civilized image of Islam and Muslims and encourages non-Islamic state to form a dialogue with Islam.
For her part the Slovenian Prime Minister thanked HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and HH the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and the State of Qatar, for their generosity and their donation to build the mosque.
The laying of the stone was a “symbolic victory against all forms of religious intolerance”, said Bratusek, adding that Europe would not be as culturally rich without Islam.
The initiative has been beset by administrative hurdles and a lack of political will in the mainly Catholic country of 2mn people, of which some 50,000 are Muslims.
Construction of the mosque is expected to begin in earnest in November and is projected to take three years at a cost of some 12mn euros ($15.9mn). The Islamic community will foot most of the cost, thanks to a large donation it expects from Qatar.

http://www.gulf-times.com/qatar/178/...ue-in-slovenia

[Bengal_Tiger]

1. Slovenia was the richest of the ex-Yugoslav states, the first to gain its independence and along with Croatia regarded itself as more European than the other more "Balkan" Yugoslav republics.

2. Slovenes are known to have a superiority complex towards other ex-Yugoslavs and did not want a mosque in their country.

They may have had to due to EU pressure. This now means every country in the EU has mosques in it.

3. The Muslim community in Slovenia are mainly Bosniaks originally from Bosnia and the Islamic community (in the ex-Yugoslavia the "Islamic community" meant the official clerical structure, the Muslims of the ex-communist bloc all had state recognized Muftiates and a centralized leadership) there will presumably be aligned to the Islamic community/Muftiate in Bosnia.

In September 2013 the foundation stone was laid for a mosque to be 70% funded by Qatar 44 years after the a petition was filed to build a mosque. The mosque will include a cultural centre at a cost of US$16 million to be completed in 2016 with construction commencing in November. The groundbreaking was attended by Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek who said the building would be a "symbolic victory against all forms of religious intolerance" and that Europe would not be as culturally rich without Islam. There were about 10,000 others in attendance including Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Jankovic and an unnamed government minister from Qatar. Slovenia's highest Islamic authority Mufti Nedzad Grabus said: "We are happy to be starting this civic project in Ljubljana, which will thus become a better-known and a more pluralistic city."[1] The ceremony was also attended by the Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bakir Izetbegovic, who said: I am happy to attend this extraordinary ceremony sharing joy with Bosniaks and Muslims all over Slovenia and Ljubljana, who will soon get their home -- a modern Islamic cultural center and a mosque. I thank the Republic of Slovenia and Ljubljana for the support to the project by providing the necessary permits and approvals for the construction. Thanks to all people of good will, the governments of friendly countries and organizations for their engagement, their voluntary contributions and donations to the Mufti Nedzad Grabus and his associates in this historic project." Other attendees were former President of Slovenia Danilo Turk and Mufti of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina Hussein Kavazovic.[2] The project had faced administrative hurdles and was a political risk in a majority Roman Catholic country. It also faced a possible referendum on the matter in 2004 with 12,000 signatures for a plebiscite; however, the Constitutional Court of Slovenia rejected the petition on the grounds of freedom of religion. It was also controversial due to the financial crisis afflicting the country. At the ceremony, there was also a rare sight of women in headscarves.[3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Slovenia