Morocco to Build a Mosque in Spain

Rabat- The Moroccan government wants to build a mosque in Spain’s autonomous region of Catalonia, according to Spanish daily La Vanguardia.

According to the same source, the government of Catalonia has accepted the construction of a worship site after a number of meetings in Rabat between officials of the Catalan government and Moroccan authorities this summer.

The Catalan delegation in charge of studying the project held meetings with one of the King’s advisers, as well as with Mohamed Taoufik, the Moroccan Minister of Islamic Affairs and Endowment.

With over 280,000 Moroccans immigrants, Catalonia hosts the largest Moroccan community in Spain, which totals over 850,000 people.

With a growing number of Moroccans who live in the Catalan region, Rabat aims to build a mosque to preach the moderate Malekite version of Islam, followed in Morocco, thus preventing prevent the spread of a fundamentalist interpretation of the religion.

According to the Spanish newspaper, Moroccan authorities have developed a plan to obtain the support of the Catalan authorities and enable it to open a mosque in Catalonia before Gulf countries do it. However, they still have not provided any details on the project or their sources of funding.