SUPREME MUSLIM COUNCIL MET IN SOFIA

The members of the supreme collective body of the Muslim Denomination gathered on 1^st of December in Sofia for another session of the Supreme Muslim Council (SMC). Despite of the low temperatures, snowy and icy roads, the muftis, the chairmen of the Muslim Boards of Trustees, the imams and the teachers who are members of the Council, addressed a number of important topics related to the life of the Muslim community in our country.

In the delivered comprehensive reports from Social Department at Grand Mufti’s Office it was reported that with the campaign for qurban meat were made happy over fifty thousand people. It was also noted that an increase is observed in the trust in Grand Mufti’s Office on behalf of the Muslim population and partner organizations, which can be seen from the results of the social campaigns.

During the summer months SMC made decision to organize a national petition against the attempts to restrict the religious rights of the Muslims in Bulgaria, but as then the country entered in a pre-election atmosphere in order to avoid political speculations its implementation was postponed. As the elections passed the national petition has already started and it is against changes in the legislation aiming at restrictions related to the covering of the Muslim women, restricting the adhan (call for prayer), prohibition of the religious sermons in mother’s language, taking restrictive measures regarding the financing of the Denomination and others.

The topic related to the administration and management of the waqf property is one of the important issues of the Denomination which is regulated and controlled by SMC. About this topic the Council discussed the report of the Committee on Waqf and voted their proposals for rental waqf property, as well as purchasing estates in certain settlements for construction of mosques or their extending.

As in the beginning of this year so for the upcoming year SMC made decision to organize a national campaign for raising funds to support the Course for imams in the village of Ustina, Plovdiv region. It is going to be organized from the beginning of this month till 27^th of January, 2017. For information, during the campaign in the beginning of this year were collected 28 355 leva and a large number of long-life products.