The Islamic Shura community has formally inaugurated this Friday a mosque in the Pardinyes neighborhood of Lleida with capacity for 200 people. The purchase of the premises and the works have cost the community about 145,000 euros, which it has paid with donations from Muslims collected in recent years, according to its president, Abdelaziz Kinidi.
It does not yet have a name, it will bear the name of the community, Shura, which in Arabic means consultation. “Any decision we are going to make is going to be based on advice and consensus,” explained Aziz Bounjimi, member of the community.
At the inauguration, which was attended by the mayor, the socialist Fèlix Larrosa, Aziz Bounjimi, who has lived in Lleida for 33 years, assured that a lot of work must be done to establish roots in the city of the following generations, from whom they were born. in Catalonia.
“Our children were born here and have no feeling for here. I have been in Lleida for 33 years, my son was born here, he has grown up in an environment in which the majority are from Lleida. He will turn 24 next month and constantly hears “you who are from there.” “We have decided not to return. We will return yes, but either expelled, or deported, or killed, or dead. It is the only way, not even the extreme right can kick us out, because it would not be in their best interest,” he also stated.
“Your words are wise, sincere, but they are words of mourning. These are the moments we must overcome. “This is a diverse, welcoming city that we must build together,” the mayor responded in his turn to speak.
The socialist added that Lleida needs “the Muslim community that has contributed to a more civic city.”
"I want to ask you - Larrosa has also said - to pray for us, for the councilors, to pray for the citizens, to pray that we find peace with ourselves and with those who think differently. “We councilors have to move towards a city of peace.”
In addition to Larrosa, the event was attended by socialist councilors, Junts and ERC. To the Republican Sandra Castro, who was part of the government team of the previous ERC-Junts mandate, Larrosa told her that she had also contributed to the opening of this oratory by modifying the ordinance that regulates public establishments, which is where There is the section on centers of worship, previously very restrictive.
Abderrafie Ettalydy, president of Magrebeida, assures that the opening of an oratory in Pardinyes was a pending issue. “Other neighborhoods already have them and many Muslims live in this area. We have achieved it in record time, one year, it is paid for.”
For its part, the Ibn Hazm collective, the largest in the city, which in recent weeks has prayed in the canalization of the Segre river, under the Príncep de Viana bridge, has returned this Friday to occupy the marquee of the Camps Elisis , where he will pray again every Friday until he finds a definitive space.
The City Council plans to call a public tender to offer land for worship where the mosque of this community could be located, which on some Fridays brings together close to a thousand Muslims.
