Two of the largest mosques in Oslo say they’ll withdraw their membership in Norway’s Islamic Council unless a new board for the council can be elected this summer. At issue are conflicts involving the council’s administration and board.
The trouble rose when the board of the council (Islamsk Råd Norge, IRN) wanted to fire its high-profile secretary general, Mehtab Afsar, and called a meeting of the membership organization. When a majority of the members failed to back the firing, the board resigned.
Newspaper Aftenposten has reported widespread cooperation problems with IRN. The board reportedly didn’t think Afsar delivered good enough results, while others supported him.
Now the mosque with around 9,400 members from Bosnia and Hercegovina and the Central Jamaat-e Ahl-e Sunnat with around 6,000 members are calling for an extraordinary meeting to elect a new board, while The World Islamic Mission with 4,600 members and the Tawfiiq Islamsk Center with 7,000 members want to let a working commission consisting of just three people run IRN, including a man from Gambia who controversially supported female genital mutilation.
Senaid Kobilica, imam of the Islamic Fellowship Bosnia and Hercegovina, said he fears IRN will remain split until a new board is in place after a scheduled election in March.
newsinenglish.no staff
