FRENCH MUSLIM LEADER CALLS FOR DOUBLING OF MOSQUES

Muslims attend Friday prayers on Jan 23, 2015 in the Gaillac-Toulza mosque, in south-western France. One of France's top Muslim leaders has called for the number of mosques to double over the next two years to remedy a shortage of places of worship for the country's millions of faithful. -- PHOTO: AFP — Muslims attend Friday prayers on Jan 23, 2015 in the Gaillac-Toulza mosque, in south-western France. One of France’s top Muslim leaders has called for the number of mosques to double over the next two years to remedy a shortage of places of worship for the country’s millions of faithful. — PHOTO: AFP

Le Bourget, 17 Jumadil Akhir 1436/6 April 2015 (MINA) – One of France’s top Muslim leaders has called for the number of mosques to double over the next two years to remedy a shortage of places of worship for the country’s millions of faithful.

Speaking at a weekend gathering of French Islamic organisations, where participants asked for respect in the face of a rise in anti-Muslim attacks, Dalil Boubakeur said the 2,200 mosques in the country did not adequately represent Europe’s largest Muslim community, The Sunday Times quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

“We need double (that number) within two years,” the head of the French Muslim Council and rector of the Paris mosque said in the town of Le Bourget near the capital.

“There are a lot of prayer rooms, of unfinished mosques, and there are a lot of mosques that are not being built,” he added Saturday at the Muslim gathering, billed as the largest in the Western world.

According to the French Government, there were between 5 to 6 million Muslims in metropolitan France in 2010.

According to Jean-Paul Gourévitch (fr), there were 7.7 million Muslims( about 11 percent of the population) in metropolitan France in 2011.(T/P008/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)