page_title: Mariam Al-Batool Mosque
section_title: Attendants
hierarchical_section_title: Mariam Al-Batool Mosque / Public policy / Attendants
caption_attribution_description: English: Mariam Al-Batool School at Triq Kordin in Paola, Malta
context_page_description: Mariam Al-Batool Mosque is a mosque located in Paola, Malta. The first stone of the mosque was laid by Muammar Gaddafi in 1978 and its doors were open to the public in 1982, and officiated in 1984. The initial scope of the building was to serve the Muslims in Malta, at the time mainly economic migrants from Libya, and to promote conversions to Sunni Islam among the Maltese society.
  Even though there are a number of other Muslim places of worship in Malta, the Mariam Al-Batool Mosque is the only officially recognized and mosque-designed structure in the country, so it is colloquially referred to in Maltese as simply il-Moskea. The building of others have been proposed.
context_section_description: The mosque is visited by mainly Maltese Muslims, tourists, migrants and refugees. The Muslim community in Malta has increased from less than a hundred Muslims in 1974, to 3,000 Muslims in 2007, to 6,000 Muslims in 2011, to 10,000 Muslims in 2014. These estimates can be discredited as there has never been a proper conducted census about the Muslim population by the National Statistics Office (NSO Malta). There are about 18,000 refugees in Malta according to The Daily Telegraph with the overwhelming majority being males and Muslims.
  In 2016 Ivan Vella said that there are up to 45,000 Muslims in Malta but this was also a conservative figure. With the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya over 55,000 visas were issued for Libyan citizens, generally of Muslim faith, to live in Malta, between 2011 and 2015. However, these are, for the most of them, temporary visas for medical care or other reasons.
   
  The rapid growth of Muslims is mainly attributed to economic migrants, accompanied by interfaith marriages. Over 1,300 men are naturalized Maltese citizens mostly through marriage, and around 250 are native-born citizens of Malta. Around 350 Maltese citizens are reported to have converted to Islam, mainly Maltese women before or after marrying their Muslim husband; in general this is desired by Muslims to ensure that their children are raised "devout muslims". Maltese women are at times either "forced", pressured or persuaded to convert to Islam. Some muslim fathers have gone as far as taking their children away from their Maltese mothers, by taking them to their country of origin, with the scope to further ensure that they are raised as Muslims. 
  The mosque has become too small in the context of the growth of the Muslim population. Most of the attendants are from Libya, Somalia and Syria. The rise of crime among foreign Muslims, in Malta, is turning the mosque community into an isolated ghetto. Imam Elsadi himself said that the Muslim community aims not to "live in ghettoes". Some efforts by Maltese politicians have taken place to avoid this, such as by official visits.
caption: Entry to Mediterranean Garden (formerly Gaddafi Gardens) and The Malta Islamic Cemetery[13]
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