The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) will finance the construction of first mosque in the country to serve Muslims in Cuba.
Vladimir Gonzalez said in an interview broadcast by Saudi state TV, “Because of this donation from the Saudi side, today we can say that we’re building in Havana the first mosque in our country.”
“We have a small Muslim community in our country; they are very organised. I’m honoured to facilitate their life as Muslim people in Cuba,” he added.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was the first Arab country to establish diplomatic relations with Cuba, date back to 1956.
King Salman Mosque
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will finance the construction costs of the King Salman Mosque in the Cuban capital, Havana, and this will be the first mosque of its kind in Cuba and is located in a privileged location in Havana, and ends more than 20 years of suffering experienced by Muslims there, where there is no mosque to perform prayers and worship.
The mosque will be built on an area of land estimated at 4,312 square meters. Its design has taken into account the Islamic urban style and the urban identity of the Two Holy Mosques, and to go beyond its function as a place of worship, to be a tributary of tourism in the city.
It will allow the city’s residents and visitors to benefit from its external facilities, which will include— a banquet hall, restaurants, public library, restrooms for the public and the mosque goers, green spaces and relaxation areas covered with umbrellas equipped with hydraulic mechanisms that help protect against rain and sunlight.
Muslims in Cuba
The number of Cuban Muslims is about 1,000, out of a total of 11 million Cubans, according to an estimate by the Islamic Organization of Latin America.
Although Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world, and a Pew Research Center report estimates that the number of Muslims in the world will increase by 73 per cent by 2050, the number of Muslims in Cuba is still very small.
Up until now Cuba’s Muslim community, have been praying either at home or makeshift prayer spaces.
Friday prayers are currently held at the Casa de los Arabes (Arab House), which mainly serves Muslim diplomats and tourists. It is said that it once belonged to a wealthy Arab immigrant who lived in Cuba during the 1940s and was built according to Andalusian architectural designs.
