Several mosques threaten to resign from the Islamic Council

OSLO.Senaid Kobilica is the leader of the Islamic Council Norway : Bjørn Sigurdsøn / SCANPIX

Two of the biggest mosques in Oslo threaten to resign  from the organization if  a new board of the Islamic Council Norway (IRN) is not elected by the end of the summer.

Senaid Kobilica, who is the imam of the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the largest Muslim congregation with 9,400 members,  has now called an extraordinary general meeting,  the newspaper Aftenposten writes.

Kobilica was one of the Directors of the Board who resigned last weekend when they did not receive the  support from the   majority of the member organizations  on their decision to depose General Mehtab Afsar after a prolonged conflict.
Kobilica fear that IRN will be split if  a new board is not put in place soon.
– I can not sit by and watch that a group that does not have the confidence of several of the larger mosques is to be in charge until March next year,  Kobilica says to Aftenposten.
Ghulam Sarwar, the chairman of the mosque Central Jamaat-e Ahl-e Sunnat, which has 6,000 members, also  supports an extraordinary general meeting.

Defended FGM
As of now,World Islamic Mission, which has 4,600 members and Tawfiiq Islamic center, which has 7,000 members, want to let the committee continue until further notice.
Now  a committee of three people heads the Islamic Council of Norway. The head of the committee is the Norwegian-Gambians Kebba Seck, who in 2000 had to resign after he defended female genital mutilation.
An account on the  website of IRN states that the committee is to officiate until the next annual meeting on March 1, 2017.

1.3 million in state aid
The Board of IRN has long been dissatisfied with the work of the general secretary Mehtab Afsar .
IRN is an umbrella organization for Islamic religious communities and organizations in Norway. They represent 82 member organizations with 82,000 members, more than half of the Muslims who are organized in Norway. IRN received  1.3 million kroner in governmental funding this year  .

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today