New mosque in Kasak opened with hatim-celebration

The new mosque in the village of Kasak, municipality of Dospat was officially opened on 17th of May, 2015 by the Grand Mufti of the Republic of Bulgaria Dr. Mustafa Hadzhi. Within only one year with donations entirely from the local population and voluntary work, at the place of the old mosque the people from the village built up new and modern prayer house. The new mosque, which has educational corpus, large prayer hall, kitchen with refectory and auxiliary premises, will now meet all needs of the organization of the religious life of the Muslims from the village of Kasak. The event turned into a double celebration because 41 children from the village made the first reading of the Holy Qur’an in their life. The children recited verses from the Qur’an by heart, explained their meaning in Bulgarian language and addressed the people with cautionary words, through which they touched all attendees.

The event, which took place on the square in front of the mosque, brought together over 3000 people from the Municipality of Dospat and the neighboring municipalities. Official guests of the celebration were the Grand Mufti of the Republic of Bulgaria Dr. Mustafa Hadzhi, the Deputy Grand Mufti Birali Birali, the Regional Mufti of Sofia Mustafa Izbishtali, the Regional Mufti of Pazardzhik Abdullah Salih, the Regional Mufti of Blagoevgrad Aydan Muhammed, the co-host of the event – the Regional Mufti of Smolyan Nedzhmi Dabov, the MPs Mustafa Karadaya and Huysein Hafazov, the Director of SRS – Momchilgrad Ahmed Bozov, the Chairman of the Municipal Council – Dospat Elin Radev, the Mayor of the village of Kasak Dzhamal Shalganov, many imams and representatives of Muslim boards of trustees from the region and the country, businessmen, politicians and public figures.

In his welcoming speech the Regional Mufti of Smolyan greeted the residents of the village of Kasak for their initiative and persistency in the construction of the mosque. He reminded about the main function of the mosque as a place for solving the social problems. “The real beauty of the mosques are the people and especially the children who made hatim are the pearls of this mosque who will increase in the future”, said the Mufti and concluded that the initiative and the energy of the residents of the village of Kasak are an example which must be transmitted also in other places in the country. 

The Grand Mufti explained the responsibility of the Muslims for the preservation and the development of the Islamic religion and expressed his satisfaction with the fact that beside the material part of this process, expressed in the construction of the new mosque, the residents of Kasak have built also its spiritual aspect through the training of the young Muslims. He encouraged the youths to continue their education in different fields of the public life, but the most important is they to be good Muslims and responsible citizens of the country.

The children received presents from the Grand Mufti Dr. Mustafa Hadzhi, from Regional Mufti’s Office – Smolyan, from the MP Mustafa Karadaya and from the people from the village. The celebration ended with a lunch for all guests and attendees.