The Vatican has opened a prayer room for Muslims in the Apostolic Library

In the heart of the Vatican, in the 500-year-old Apostolic Library, a special room has been set up for Muslim prayers. The decision was a response to a request from Islamic scholars visiting the library for a suitable place to perform namaz.

According to GB News, the scholars asked the management for a “room with a prayer rug” and their request was granted. The library’s deputy prefect, Giacomo Cardinali, commented, calling the institution a “universal library.” He noted, “We have incredible ancient Qurans….. We have Arab, Jewish and Ethiopian collections, as well as unique Chinese pieces.”

The Vatican’s Apostolic Library, founded in the 15th century, is rightly considered the intellectual center of the Catholic Church. Its holdings include some 80,000 manuscripts, 50,000 archival documents and nearly two million books, as well as hundreds of thousands of coins, engravings and other valuable artifacts.

This gesture of interfaith dialog by the Holy See is remarkable, especially when compared to the rules in the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Under Saudi law, entry into Mecca for non-Muslims is strictly forbidden, and violators face heavy fines and deportation. Despite the fact that the Vatican has no mosques or permanent Muslim residents, it regularly receives Islamic visitors and pilgrims.

Recall, according to a study by the Center for Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), Islamist militants killed 22,307 people on the continent over the past year. Most of the dead are Christians who were attacked in West, East and Central Africa. Radical groups are targeting churches, Christian communities and populated areas where believers live.