This week, Europe’s largest mosque Moschea di Roma seceded its position to a newly built, white marble house of worship located in Shali, a small town of around 54,000 residents near Grozny, the capital of Chechnya. The 9,700-square-meter mosque, which is reportedly named after the Prophet Mohammed, was designed by an Uzbeki architect, and is able to hold more than 30,000 people (its grounds can accommodate an additional 70,000 worshippers).
The leader of Chechnya President Ramzan Akhmadovich Kadyrov, who has ruled the Muslim-majority Russian republic for 12 years, since 2007, described the mosque as "unique in its design and majestic in its size and beauty." In 2008, the 42-year-old leader unveiled the country’s then largest mosque, “Heart of Chechnya,” which is located in the capital and can hold up to 10,000 worshippers.
According to various reports, officials from across the Gulf region and Islamic world attended the inauguration, with The National naming the UAE Minister of Tolerance Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, Saudi Arabia's Minister of Islamic Affairs, Sheikh Abdullatif Al Sheikh, and the Kuwaiti Amiri Diwan adviser and chairman of the International Islamic Charitable Organisation (IICO) Dr Abdullah Al Maatouq as attendees.
As reported by Saudi Gazette, the secretary general of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Yousef Al Othaimeen, was also present at the opening ceremony, and the Muslim World League secretary general Mohammed bin Abdul Karim Al Issa delivered the first Friday sermon to be given in the mosque.
