Supreme Muslim Council calls: “No to Islamophobia”

On November 7^th, the members of the central collective body of the Muslim Denomination - the Supreme Muslim Council met for their regular monthly meeting. Some of the discussed problems were the plan for the activities and the financial status of the Denomination, as well as the waqf property.

With regard to the financial difficulties of the Denomination the Chairman Vedat S. Ahmed said: “The first condition for solving the problem is that we have to believe. And the second condition – to work. We are facing the challenge to work in this hard situation, to be active and to keep the stability in the system. We have done this once and we will manage to do it again if we adhere to what had led us to the success”.

The Grand Mufti Dr. Mustafa Hadzhi focused on the unity: “It is a fact that when Muslims are united they solve their problems”. He said and continued: “We should see the situation in which we are now not as a problem but as an opportunity”.

There was discussed and adopted the plan-program for the main directions of the activity of Grand Mufti’s Office and the structures of the Muslim Denomination. According to the Chairman of the Council Vеdat S. Ahmed “Through this document the Denomination will be able to fulfill better its activities, because it is a starting point for the priority solving of the problems and the needs”.

The members of the Council voted also an open letter addressed to the Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, the Directorate of the Religious Denominations at the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Chairman of the Commission for Protection against Discrimination Assoc. Prof. Ana Dzhumalieva, in which it is said:

“With the present letter the Muslim Denomination of the Republic of Bulgaria welcomes the decision of the government to adopt a working definition for Antisemitism and the appointment of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Georg Georgiev as a National Antisemitism Coordinator. This is a sign for a will to combat the unacceptable forms of intolerance and hatred towards the different minority groups.

The Muslim Denomination of the Republic of Bulgaria calls on the government to adopt also a working definition for Islamophobia and a decision for appointing a coordinator on Islamophobia and intolerance and discrimination against the Muslims in the country”.

Yuzlem Tefikova