As part of the program to meet the community in Europe, Dr Asghar Moledina, President of WORLD Federation, Dr Husein Jiwa, President of COEJ and Amir Merali, AFED Councillor visited Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany and Norway following their earlier visit to France and Portugal.

In Sweden, they visited the community in Marsta, a suburb of metropolitan Stockholm.  A community centre exists in Marsta that has catered for the needs of the community, however due to the growth in the area, there is now an opportunity to build high-rise centre that would make the community self-sufficient.

The delegation discussed with Salim Govani, the President of the community, and his team the way forward for the centre. They also addressed the jamaat and attended the majlis / lecture delivered by Shaikh Hassanain Govani, the resident Alim.

From Marsta, the delegation proceeded to Gothenburg where they were met by officials of Trollhattan jamaat. Hosted by Dr Gulamabbas Rajpar they spent the day learning about the various activities of the centre and met up with Shaikh Safdar Razi, the resident Alim. The learning facilities at the centre and the enthusiasm of the young team were very impressive.

On 8th December, 2014 the team left for Copenhagen by train.  There they met Syed Mahdi Khademi and his team.  The construction of the Imam Ali Mosque in the region is in its final stage and its opening is anticipated to be some time during April /May 2015. It was heartening to see the multi-cultural community that hold various intra and inter faith programs. The youths run an outreach program which is much appreciated by the wider community. More information can be found on their website which is available four languages: Arabic, Persian, English and Danish.

From Copenhagen the delegation flew to Geneva where the community is looking to purchase a property in which to hold regular functions for the growing community.   Langenthal was the next stop where the delegation was received by Dr Husein Khimji and his family.

On the evening of Tuesday, 9th December, the Ashre Zaynabiyya program was held at the Imame Zamana centre in La Chaux – de – Fonds.  Following this visit, Dr Moledina and Dr. Jiwa visited Frankfurt and saw the progress of the construction of the Hadrat Fatima Zehra Centre - scheduled to be completed by end of 2015. They also attended the Arba’een program and were once again amazed at well integrated the community was with members being from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

From Frankfurt, the team flew to Oslo where they were met by Mawlana Syed Shamshad Rizvi and his team. The Tauhid Centre there is up and running with a lot of outreach activities although they still require funds to finish the exterior work of roads leading to the mosque and parking areas.  The community has lectures in three languages: Urdu, Arabic and Persian and various books have been prepared in the local language.

Overall it was very encouraging to learn and take note of the very balanced and positive growth of the message of Ahlul Bayt (a) in Europe. There is of course, a need for more connectivity between the various communities so that work can be coordinated to achieve the best results for the existing and future generation.