The 5th Congress of the Muslims of Ukraine was held on December 11, in Kyiv. It was organized by the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Ukraine (SBMU). According to UMMA, more than 3,000 delegates from all over Ukraine gathered in the Ukraine Palace to discuss the problems and achievements of development of Muslim communities. Representatives of nearly all the nationalities living in Ukraine attended the convention. Visitors and representatives of foreign diplomatic missions were also invited.

The head of the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Ukraine, Mufti of Ukraine, Sheikh Akhmed Tamim, stressed that the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Ukraine is a centralized Islamic public organization, which has led the unification movement of the Ukrainian Muslims for twenty years and is constantly making practical steps to implement it through Islamic education. “We are sincerely glad that representatives of various nationalities got together under the umbrella of SBMU,” said the Mufti.

Sheikh Akhmed Tamim noted that some people still view Islam as a religion of aggression and terrorism, which is a mistake. “Islam always teaches to spread good, work for the good of the people, and we always condemn the crimes of the extremist movements. We have opposed their ideology, we have opened the eyes of many people to allow them to distinguish between the believers and representatives of various sects and political movements calling to shed blood,” said the Mufti of Ukraine.

According to the mufti, Muslim communities in Ukraine are developing, they build religious buildings and educational institutions. He mentioned the success of the construction of the first assembly Mosque Ar-Rakhma in Kyiv and thanked everyone who assisted in it.

According to the hierarch, the main problem of Ukrainian Muslims is that officials at the local level are slow in returning religious buildings to the Muslims.

Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych and the Kyiv State Administration sent their greetings to the congress. The convention was also greeted by a representative of the head of the Chechen Republic, spiritual figures from Dagestan, head of the Spiritual Center of Muslims of the Crimea and representatives of regional communities from all over Ukraine.