30 March 2017

Norwegian Muslims plan replacement Islamic council

30,000 Norwegian Muslims could change membership to a new umbrella organisation set up to replace the controversy-hit Islamsk Råd Norge (Islamic Council Norway, IRN).

The purpose of the breakaway organisation would be near-identical to that of IRN.

“I see no other option than to set up a new organisation,” Basim Ghozlan, trustee at the Rabita Mosque in Oslo, told Klassekampen.

IRN’s employment of niqab-wearing Leyla Hasic as an administrative consultant has sparked extensive debate on the council’s role in promoting dialogue between Muslim communities and the rest of Norwegian society.

Both the Bosnian and Albanian mosques in the capital have already announced that they would leave the umbrella of Muslim organisations represented by the council.

The combined membership of the two mosques is 14,000.

Three other mosques – Islamic Cultural Centre and Central Jamaat-e Ahl-e Sunnat, along with the Rabita Mosque - have also begun to withdraw their memberships. [The Local] Read more