User:TheservantoftheGuide/Hungarian Islamic Community (Magyar Iszlám Közösség)

The Hungarian Islamic Community (MIK) was registered as a church by the State Church Affairs Office of Hungary in 1988, and in 1990 the entry of the Capital Court approved this. One of the founders, who became the president of the community, was Balázs Mihálffy. In 2012 with the lead of Zoltán Bolek it became registered as an organization with recognized church rights, and recognized by the Hungarian Parliament.

In the beginning
The Hungarian Gül Baba Muslim Congregation, established in 1931, was the legal predecessor of the Hungarian Islamic Community. The cultural secretary of this early Islamic community was Gyula Abdulkerim Germanus. From 1949, their religious gatherings were liquidated. In the Kádár system, foreign Muslim students were allowed to hold their prayers. It was for this purpose that the Muslim Students' Association (Muszlim Diákok Egyesülete) was established, which maintained a mosque in Zsomboliai Street. The people of the authority tried to keep the Hungarian Muslims who converted from the 70s away from them. It was then that Balázs Mihálffy became a Muslim, the first Hungarian Muslim to translate the Quran. He was the namesake and emir of the Hungarian Islamic Community. It was also at this time that the current president of the Hungarian Islamic Community, Zoltán Bolek, became a Muslim.

From 1988
The Hungarian Islamic Community was recognized in 1988 and had 20 members at the time.

The goals and relations of the Community
The leaders and most active members of the Community are mostly Hungarian Muslims, who declared to abstain from any kind of radicalities, and they are searching cooperation with the other Abrahamic religions. They are keeping in touch with MAZSIHISZ (Association of Hungarian Jewish Religious Communities), the Reformed Church of Hungary, but with other Christian communities too. In 2020, the number of members was above 5000, but at least one thousand was living in Egypt, Austria, England, Germany, France, Romania and Turkey. The basic requirement for a person to join is to have a legal presence in Hungary for a maintained period of time.

The Community partook in several aid campaigns for Sudan, Iraq, Bosnia, Pakistan, Indonesia and Syria, but also for the Hungarian diaspora in the neighboring countries. They are also teaching Arabic and Islam, organising conferences etc. During Ramadan, Kurban Bayram (Eid al-Adha), etc. they are supporting the poor people of Hungary, regardless of their religion, with clothing and food, and also the less developed hospitals with medical equipment.

The masjid of the Community
In 2017 they bought a building in the XIV. district of Budapest, which is now an Islamic Cultural Center. It's name is Germanus Gyula Islamic Cultural Center, Durics Hilmi Husszein Masjid. 