#Barxiluna marks 50 years of the first Muslim oratorio in Barcelona
Activities for "Barxiluna برشلونة: (Dis)memory of the Islamic Past and Present", jointly organised by the Office for Religious Affairs (OAR) and Espai Avinyó - Llengua i Cultura, concludes with two activities in November as part of the 50th anniversary of the Barcelona Islamic Centre, the first institutionally recognised oratorio for the Muslim confession in the city.
“Oratorios”, a route around four Islamic centres in Barcelona, conceived by the Espai Avinyó, will take place on 9 November. In addition, “50 years of the first Islamic oratorio in Barcelona” is a round table with representatives from various Muslim communities in the city, to be held at El Born CCM on 15 November, directed by the OAR. The session offers a space for reflection and dialogue about the past, present and future of the Muslim community in Barcelona.
On the occasion of the 50 years of history of the Barcelona Islamic Centre, the Office for Religious Affairs (OAR) is organising the round table “50 years of the first Islamic oratorio in Barcelona” in collaboration with El Born CCM and with the participation of representatives from different Islamic communities in Barcelona. The activity will revolve around three themes: the assertion of the history of Islam as part of the city’s historical heritage, the challenges and resistance that communities come up against in their activity and the practice of their faith, and perspective and proposals for the future. The session is being held in El Born CCM, a place which in itself is testimony to Islamic history in Barcelona, as just in front of it, in Plaça Comercial, we can find a Muslim necropolis dating back to the year 1100.
Participating in the round table, moderated by Hajar Menssouri, from the Fundació Bayt al-Thaqafa, will be Salah Ataat and Anwar Aldirra, members of the Barcelona Islamic Centre; Bombo Ndir, from the Coordinator for Senegalese Associations of Catalonia (CASC); Hasnat Mustafa, from the Minhaj al-Qur’ân community, and Muhammed Halhoul, from the Islamic Cultural Council of Catalonia. This will be followed by a conversation with Hatim Azahri, from Joves Units del Poble-sec, and Hafsah Shabbir, from Minhaj al-Qur’ân, who will discuss the challenges and opportunities for young Muslims in Barcelona. The goal of the activity is to assert the presence of Muslim communities in the city and open up opportunities for dialogue between people, at the same time giving visibility to the social task and recognition of these communities in Barcelona. This is the same goal as all the activities in the cycle “Barxiluna برشلونة: (Dis)memory of the Islamic Past and Present”, which this session rounds off.
The cycle has underlined the close link that Barcelona has with Islam, historically and today. For nearly a century, from the year 718 to 801, the city was part of Al-Andalus and was known as برشلونة (Barshilūna or Barxiluna). After this period, many people of Muslim religion remained in the city and their presence has continued through to the present. In the 70s, the community grew again through the arrival of people from predominantly Muslim countries such as Morocco, Senegal and Gambia, and now, with the arrival of people from Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine. These second communities were young people with technical and medical degrees, taking advantage of policies during the Franco regime that allowed them to gain doctoral qualifications in Spanish faculties. Initiatives were started in 1974 to offer a permanent oratorio for the growing Muslim collective in Barcelona, and that same year a group of Arab students from the city managed to get the Barcelona Islamic Centre open in the neighbourhood of La Sagrera as a delegation of the Madrid Islamic Centre.
The centre would be the first institutionally recognised Muslim worship facility in Catalonia, funded with Arab money and still operating today, a testimony to the lasting presence of Islam in contemporary Barcelona. The centre was followed by other spaces such as the Barcelona Friends Association of Moroccan Workers and Retailers in 1978; the Pakistan Islamic House and Centre in 1981, which would become the Tàriq ibn Zyad mosque four years later, and the Rahma mosque, opened in 1983 between Barcelona and L’Hospitalet de Llobregat on the initiative of Moroccan workers.
To complement the round table “50 years of the first Islamic oratorio in Barcelona”, the Espai Avinyó has conceived “Oratorios”, a bus route around four Islamic centres and exploring how and when they were founded, the obstacles they have come up against, the profile of their users, their current roles and their perspectives for the future. The activity will visit the Karam ilâhî Islamic Centre, the Nou Barris Muslim Community, the Barcelona Association of African Muslims, and the pretext for the celebration, the Barcelona Islamic Centre.
These visits form part of a series of parallel activities for the 4th UNESCO Forum Against Racism and Discrimination, a rich agenda prepared by Barcelona City Council during November and until after the summit, which is being held in Barcelona on 9, 10 and 11 December 2024. The Forum aims to bring the fight against racism to the fore in international agendas, the goal being to achieve specific commitments in this area. Along these same lines, Barcelona City Council seeks to give visibility to projects against racism in the city, which is why an agenda has been programmed with relevant activities by social organisations and the City Council alike.
#BARXILUNA: (DIS)MEMORY OF THE ISLAMIC PAST AND PRESENT. 50 YEARS OF THE FIRST ISLAMIC ORATORIO IN BARCELONA
Round table “50 years of the first Islamic oratorio in Barcelona”
- Date: 15 November
- Times: From 5.30 pm to 7.30 pm, with a ten-minute break.
- Venue: El Born Centre de Cultura i Memòria, Sala Moragues (Plaça Comercial, 12)
- Registration: Free activity. Capacity limited, booking required be contacting activitatsoar@bcn.cat.
“Oratorios”. Route around Islamic centres in Barcelona
- Date: 9 November
- Time and place: Karam ilâhî Islamic Centre (Carrer Aneto, 22), at 10 am.
- Times: From 10 am to 2 pm.
- Registration: Free activity. Capacity limited, booking required be contacting espaiavinyo@bcn.cat.
Further information:
You can find all the material from the #Barxiluna activities here.