Lleida «gives» a plot of land to Muslims to build a Salafist mosque
The Town Council called for a tender to lease an 8,000-square-metre plot to any religion. Only the Muslims needed it, and they managed to secure better terms.
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The Lleida City Council has resolved the problem of the Ibn Hazm Muslim community, which lacks space to accommodate all its worshippers. Neither Christians, nor Evangelicals, nor Russian Orthodox, nor Jehovah's Witnesses submitted bids to secure more than 8,000 square metres to erect a large temple for over 1,000 people. Since the competition was declared void last April, it can now be awarded to the Salafists of the Ibn Hazm association without any impediment.
In less than a year, The City Council has gone from proposing a competition “open to all religious communities” to directly awarding the plot to Ibn Hazm, tailoring the conditions to its demands.. The initial requirements of 75 years and free of charge they cannot be fully fulfilled, but The reduction of the fee and the direct award have allowed the plot of land to end up in the hands of the Muslim community. the most puritanical in the city.
A concession that was supposed to be open
During the municipal council meeting on 1 March 2025, the conditions for granting a plot of land in the Camí dels Frares industrial estate were approved. It was presented as an offer to all the religious communities of the city. But no one entered the competition. Only the Muslim community showed interest, but they did not agree to the conditions. Despite the need, not even they attended the published competition.
Months earlier (November 2024), the City Council and representatives of Ibn Hazm had narrowed their positions on siting the mosque in the Camí dels Frares industrial estate. The Muslim community He demanded that the concession be for 75 years and that the annual fee be free.. Mayor Fèlix Larrosa acknowledged that they would study “a favourable report on the objections” regarding the duration and the fee, and admitted that there was a legal loophole to reduce or eliminate the payment if it were a non-profit organisation. However, he stressed that “it cannot be free of charge.” Since no other religion had any interest in erecting a temple, no one else was consulted.
In April 2025 the competition was declared void because no one entered. Nevertheless, the council announced that bHe would look for alternative formulas to award the plot of land to Ibn Hazm. to build its great mosque, according to the newspaper Segre.
Direct award to Muslims and price reduction
Report the Segre newspaper On 2 October 2025, the City Council decided to award the plot directly to the Islamic Community Ibn Hazm by means of an administrative concession for 50 years. The annuity has been reduced to €40,054 per year (almost €20,000 less than the initial amount).. The file has been subject to public consultation for 20 working days to allow for objections.
According to the city council, it was necessary to find a solution that would guarantee the religious rights of all people and prevent the Muslims of Lleida from having to pray in the street.
PSC and Junts in favour of the mosque
The March full council meeting that approved the competition to lease the Camí dels Frares plot of land to a religious order was attended by 14 votes in favour of PSC and Junts. The the other 13 councillors (ERC, Comú, PP and Vox) voted against it. The Socialists argued that the operation was “a fair and necessary solution” to ensure that no one «has to pray in the street». Despite talking about «all communities» Everyone knew they were talking about Muslims because they are the only ones who put pressure on the authorities with collective prayers in the street.
European Research Council He harshly criticised the operation because the current conditions are not adequate and believes it is not appropriate to locate a mosque in the middle of an industrial estate, far from the neighbourhoods where the faithful actually live. The VOX councillors voted against it because the operation “favours the expansion of Islamism” and that The City Council was giving in to community pressure., as well as «giving away» municipal property to a «radicalised» community.
The business owners of Can Frares do not want a mosque.
The entrepreneurs of the industrial estate The Friars' Path They have expressed their opposition to a mosque being established in their area of work. According to the president of the business association, Edward Soler, in Statements to Segre He considers the location “not the right place” and believes it will generate mobility problems, especially on days of prayer.
Soler also criticised the administration because “He could have done something similar to boost businesses instead of a place of worship.”Finally, he acknowledged that he understands the need for places of worship for the Muslim community, but believes that the mosque in the industrial estate is not the best option: he proposes that it be moved.’Set up speakers distributed throughout the neighbourhoods., closer to the faithful's homes, rather than a single temple in an industrial area. In fact, until now the council had been in favour of small oratories instead of a large mosque.
Who was Ibn Hazm?
The Ibn Hazm Muslim Association of Lleida is not called that by chance. The Cordovan theologian Ibn Hazm (994–1064) was the foremost exponent of the Andalusian branch of Islam that He defended a strictly literal reading of the Qur'an and rejected flexible or symbolic interpretations.. His influence made him a point of reference for rigorist Islamic movements, andincluding the current Salafists who regard him as a moral authority and a forerunner. The way of viewing religion in the style of Ibn Hazm excludes the use of reason or analogy to adapt Islamic law to new situations. For this reason, in his time Ibn Hazm was highly controversial and cultivated many enmities among the jurists and religious figures of the time..
Despite everything, centuries later we find Ibn Hazm having become a foremost authority for a Muslim community in Catalonia. A community that fails to consider that, with the Qur'an in hand, they ought not to accept any help from the infidels to build mosques. The interpretation of verse 18 of Sura 9 may conclude that Catalan town councils are not required to do anything to help build a mosque. because unfaithful help «contaminates the temple».
That the largest community in Lleida should adopt the name of a rigorist is a declaration of intent: They want to identify with a rigid, literalist tradition, distant from a purely spiritual practice. and where controlling the faithful's life is the priority. And it is precisely this interpretation that seasonal workers and immigrants encounter when they arrive in the city. from places where traditional Islam is more open and able to adapt to social changes.
Lleida divided by Islam
With all this, the proposal to grant the site for a large mosque becomes a new episode in a conflict that Lleida has been carrying on for years: Muslim prayer rooms have generated neighbourhood protests, administrative closures and alternating demonstrations of support and rejection.. The opening of a premises in Cappont, with both pro and anti mobilisations, has highlighted the latent social divide: some denounce a loss of housing value or nuisance, while others invoke the right to worship and coexistence.
In the face of this reality, the direct allocation of a public plot in the industrial estate does not seem to close the gap but rather to widen it, turning a religious matter into an urban, political and symbolic issue that will continue to divide the city. The explicit support of PSC and Junts, the reticences of’ERC and Comú, the frontal opposition of Voice, and now also the complaints of Business owners of the industrial estate, They show that the mosque has become a highly divisive political and social issue in Lleida. Far from being merely a planning matter, the process has turned into a debate about the role of institutions in accommodating religious practice, managing immigration and fostering coexistence in the city.
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