Makkah: Saudi Arabia marked the completion of a renovation project for Makkah’s holy Zamzam well in a ceremony. Prince Khalid Al Faisal, advisor to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and governor of Makkah region, inaugurated the completion of the renovation project for the well and surrounding area in Makkah’s Grand Mosque, also known as Masjid al-Haram, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
The General Presidency for the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque said in a statement that barriers which had been put around the Kaaba for the renovation work were removed. There are 21 meters between the Zamzam Well and the Kaaba. The Kaaba, located in Makkah’s Grand Mosque, is the holiest site for Muslims to which they turn during prayers.

Abu Dhabi, (UNA-OIC) – The United Arab Emirates said that one of the four nuclear reactors at its debut plant has been completed as it moves closer to becoming the first Arab nation to produce atomic power. The announcement came after visiting South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed toured the $20-billion Barakah plant, the state-run WAM news agency reported.
The plant, west of Abu Dhabi, is being constructed by a consortium led by the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO). Sheikh Mohammed described the achievement as “historical” for the energy sector of UAE, which is rich in oil and gas but is looking to increase other sources of power. The second reactor is 92 percent complete, the third 81 percent while 66 percent of the fourth has been completed, WAM reported.
When fully operational, the four reactors will produce 5,600 megawatts of electricity, or around 25 percent of the country’s needs, according to the UAE energy ministry. UAE says it aims to continue diversifying toward its goal of 50-percent clean energy by 2050.

The number of mosques in Denmark has increased by 48 percent in the last decade, according to a recent research. There were 115 mosques in 2006 compared to 170 mosques in 2017, the research stated, according to local media reports. The study was conducted by Prof. Lene Kuhle and Malik Larsen from Aarhus University. The increase is a result of the growing Muslim population in the country, according to the research. It is estimated that Muslims comprise 7 % of Denmark’s 5.7 million population.

Two London mosques were given special listed status in recognition of their architectural and historic importance, in a move a government minister said celebrated “the rich heritage of Muslim communities in England.” The London Central Mosque and Islamic Cultural Center in Regent’s Park, Central London, and the Fazl Mosque in the southwest of the British capital, were both listed as Grade II buildings by the government’s culture department. The Grade II status is awarded to just 5.8% of about 500,000 listed buildings in England, marking them out as particularly important sites .

(Deutsche Welle)

The share of Muslims living in Europe may double to more than 10% of the population by mid-century, according to new research on the continent’s growing Muslim population. The projections of the Pew Research Center are likely to fuel further debate over immigration after a record influx of migrants and refugees into Europe in recent years.
The U.S.-based public opinion and demographic research center modeled Muslim population growth in Europe, defined as the 28 European Union countries plus Norway and Switzerland, on three scenarios taking into account natural population growth, future regular migration — such as for work or school — and refugee migration.
Even under the unrealistic assumption that all migration to Europe stopped today, known as “zero” migration, the percentage of Muslims in Europe would rise to 7.4% in 2050 from 4.9% in 2016. In Germany, the Muslim population in 2050 would rise to nearly 9% from 6% today.
Researchers cautioned that it is very difficult to anticipate the future and underscored that the projections are hypothetical. Push factors that impact migrant and refugee flows, such as instability in Africa and the Middle East, may wane or increase. Much also depends on economics and European governments, which have tightened migration policies domestically and on the E.U.’s borders.
The researchers based their projections on those people who identify themselves as Muslims using data from 2,500 data points, including official statistics and polls carried out in countries that do not collect information on religious identity.
The percentage rise can be accounted for by differences in age structure and fertility rate between Muslims and non-Muslims. Muslims in Europe are on average younger (30.4 years) than non-Muslims (43.8), meaning more women are of child-bearing age.
The researchers predict that a Muslim woman will have 2.6 children, one more than the 1.6 children that a non-Muslim woman living in Europe will bear. The researchers pointed out that while not all children born to Muslim parents will identify as Muslim, kids tend to take on the religious identity of their parents.
Under two other projected scenarios, Muslims would account for between 11% and 14% of Europe’s population by midcentury. For Germany, which has taken in many Muslim migrants and refugees in recent years, the percentage of Muslims is projected to lie between 11% and 20%.
The “medium” migration scenario assumes refugee flows will stop but regular migration will continue at previous levels.
“The zero migration and the high-migration scenario are really thought experiments, kind of what it could be like at either end of the spectrum,” said Conrad Hackett, one of the lead researchers of the study.
Between 2010 and 2016, 7 million people from all religious backgrounds arrived in Europe as regular migrants or refugees. More than half (3.7 million) were Muslims. Only 1.6 million of the total 7 million people were refugees. But the vast majority of refugees were Muslim (1.3 million), reflecting war-torn Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan as top origin countries. However, in Germany’s case, the country’s increase in Muslims mostly come from refugees as opposed to regular migration.
Importantly, the figure of 7 million regular migrants and refugees does not include some 1.7 million asylum-seekers who have had their asylum applications rejected or are not expected to receive protection. Around 1 million of these 1.7 million individuals are Muslim.
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