Ljubljana struggles to find space for a mosque

Another country with a small Muslim population is Slovenia, though Islam is the second largest religion there, after Orthodox Christianity. And yet, there’s no mosque. And the story of trying to get one built in Ljubljana, the capitol, has been long and fraught with delays.

For important holidays, Slovenia's Muslims currently use the cultural centre Hala Tivoli in Ljubljana, which otherwise hosts events like basketball matches and pop music concerts.

Mufti Nedžad Grabus, head of the Slovene Muslim community says: "We are waiting still to get a permission to buy land for a mosque in Ljubljana. Unfortunately I can not give you any exact facts about that."

During the more than 30-year struggle to build a mosque, things have occasionally turned nasty. At one point, some Ljubljana city council members suggested building the mosque near a garbage dump. Leading the fight against the mosque was city council member Milan Jarc, who argued that the building would "change the character of Ljubljana”. Jarc also led a campaign to have a referendum on the subject, collecting 11,000 signatures of support. The referendum was sunk by then-mayor and the Constitutional Court in 2004. Delays continued, despite all the efforts of the then very active ombudsman. The new ombudsman Zdenka Čabašek ­Travnik hopes that a solution will come soon:

"I am in constant contact with Slovenian politicians and the representatives of the municipality of Ljubljana. I also keep in touch with the religious communities regularly. In these informal meetings, we try to come to reach consent about starting to construct the mosque as quickly as possible."

A quick solution to the mosque problem was further delayed by a denationalization claim filed by the Catholic Church. The Church claimed the property on which the mosque was supposed to be built.

In June 2007, Slovenia's mufti Nedžad Grabus and Ljubljana's new Mayor Zoran Jankovič signed a letter of intent on the sale of municipal land for a mosque and adjoining buildings, some 12.500 m2 near the centre of Ljubljana. The Muslim worship centre will be located near a Protestant and Orthodox Church. According to Slovenia's Mufti Nedžad Grabus, the building is important not only for the country's Muslims, but to provide a place to educate locals about their religion.

"We believe that people in Slovenia should know something about our religion. Today there is no possibility at any public university in Slovenia or any other school to learn about Islam, to teach, to help people know something about religion, which is very important in the modern world."

Slovenia's government has not put any restrictions on the Muslim community's freedom to worship in the past and a new Religious Freedoms Act entered into force on March 3, 2007. Still, daily services have so far been held in private homes or rental spaces under cramped conditions because of the lack of mosques. Slovenia's Muslim community is hoping that these days will soon come to an end.

If all goes according to plan, the Muslim community will start the procedure of acquiring a building permit by late 2008

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