MADRID – Spain has released a guide on its Muslim community, including their number, concentration areas and places of worship, the first such move by a European country. According to the guide, there are some 1.3 million Muslims in Spain.
Moroccans, Algerians, Pakistanis and Senegalese make up the majority of Muslims in the southern European country.
Past estimates usually put the number at about at 1.5 million out of a total population of 40 million.
The guide, released by the Arab House Institution of the Immigration Ministry, shows that there are 300,000 Muslims in the north-eastern province of Catalonia, making up the bulk of Muslim population in Spain.
The southern province of Andalusia is home to 120,000 Muslims, followed by the capital Madrid with 80,000.
The cover of the guide features an immigrant working woman, an Islamic architecture and a researcher conducting a scientific research.
The official guide shows that there are nearly 400 mosques and prayer rooms in Spain.
It lists only 13 big mosques and Islamic centers across the southern European country.
"More grand mosques should be built to cater for Spanish Muslim worshippers," MP Mohamed El-Shayeb told IslamOnline.net commenting on the guide.
Building stately mosques has become a mission impossible for many Spanish Muslims.
In the southern city of Seville, Muslims have been trying for years to build a stately mosque but in vain.
Efforts by Catalonia Muslims to build a grand mosque have also hit a stalemate over opposition from locals.
Shayeb also called for reforming the Islamic Commission of Spain to better represent Muslims.
"It's important for Muslims to feel that they are part and parcel of Spanish society."
Islam is the second religion in Spain after Christianity and has been recognized through the 1967 law of religious freedom.
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