Grand Mufti Dr. Mustafa Hadzhi on an official visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The Grand Mufti of the Republic of Bulgaria Dr. Mustafa Hadzhi, accompanied by the Chairman of the Supreme Muslim Council (SMC) Vedat Ahmed and the Deputy Grand Mufti Birali Myumyun Birali, went on an official visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

On June 27 this year the delegation from the Muslim Denomination of Bulgaria visited the Ministry of Religious Affairs in the capital Riyadh. The religious leader of the Muslims in our country met with the Deputy Minister of the Religious Affairs Dr. Yusuf bin Muhammad.

Within the meeting the host expressed his pleasure with this visit and emphasized that it is our duty to work for maintaining good relationships.

“In our efforts to show the true Islam we have to work for the development of better quality education and organization of the life of the Muslims in the countries where we are living.” – Dr. Muhammad said during the meeting.

During the meeting the two parties agreed on the thesis that it would be good if these activities are organized together with the official state institutions in order to formalize them. This would not let the dissemination of radical ideas and various interpretations which oppose people one against another and cause tension both in the Muslim community and in our relations with the other religious communities.

The Grand Mufti of Bulgaria in his turn presented the structure of the Muslim Denomination in our country and the principle of the work for the organization of the religious activities of the Muslims in the country.

“The Muslim Denomination in Bulgaria makes all efforts to maintain good relations with the state institutions and tries to maintain creative dialogues and good relations with the other religious communities in the country as well.” – Dr. Hadzhi said during the meeting.

He focused also on the efforts of Grand Mufti’s Office of the Muslims in the Republic of Bulgaria for cooperation with the Muslim communities in the neighboring Balkan countries and the interaction with them in the framework of various joint events.

The spiritual leader of the Muslims in Bulgaria highlighted the fact that there is no registered case of a Bulgarian Muslim member of IS which proves the maturity among the representatives of the Muslim community in our country. “We do hope that there will not be such case in the future as well.” – added Dr. Mustafa Hadzhi.

At the end of the meeting the Deputy Minister on Religious Affairs of Saudi Arabia expressed the readiness of the Ministry to respond to and to support different projects of the Bulgarian Muslim Denomination related to the Muslims in the country.

As a sign of gratitude for the kind hospitality and as a memory from the visit of the Bulgarian delegation the Grand Mufti Dr. Mustafa Hadzhi presented a gift to Dr. Yusuf bin Muhammad – traditional prayer rug embroidered with the inscription of “Bulgaria” and rose oil.