The European Commission held a round table “Imam in EU” in Brussels

On March 28 this year the European Commission headed by its first Vice-President Frans Timmermans, held in Brussels a round table on “Imam in the European Union”.

Among the participants were imams of mosques from EU member countries, representatives of Muslim communities in Europe and people from different European institutions.  The Muslim community in Bulgaria was presented by the Deputy Grand Mufti Birali Myumyun Birali, who took part in the round table.

The event for imams and Muslim religious figures from Europe addressed a number of important topics among which the role of the imam in the society, raising the religious literacy not only of the representatives of the Muslim communities in Europe, but also of the people out of these communities – the non-Muslims and the representatives of the different state’s and nongovernmental institutions and facilities.

During his speech to the other participants in the round table in Brussels the Deputy Grand Mufti of Bulgaria highlighted that the problems concerning the Muslims in Europe can be divided in two big groups: such, affecting all Muslims on the EU territory, and local problems, defined by the specifics and the different conditions in each of the countries.

“Bulgaria can boast with good practices related to the positive interaction of the different religious communities, coordinated by the National Council of the Religious Communities in Bulgaria (NCRCB)” – said the Deputy Grand Mufti. He shared about some of the challenges related to the economic difficulties which the Muslim Denomination in Bulgaria faces. “The problems with the preparation of staff and their realization as religious leaders in the country after that is the result of this”, explained Birali.

The representative of the Muslim Denomination did not miss also to mention about the case of the statement of a Bulgarian prosecutor a few days ago, who defined the increase of the number of the Muslim community in Bulgaria as a “threat to the country”.

“The Muslim community in Bulgaria is very concerned about these trends and if adequate European and state’s mechanisms for combating them are not found, we could hardly overcome these phenomena” – further said in Brussels the Deputy Grand Mufti Birali Myumyun Birali.

  Author: L. Chauhseva