The number of Muslims in Spain has increased 10-fold in the past three decades, the secretary of the Islamic Commission in Spain, Mehmet Ajana Elouafi, told Anadolu Agency.

Elouafi said current official figures put the number of Muslims in Spain at 2.5 million, while unofficial figures put their number at 3 million.

"In the past, the majority of Muslims were immigrants, but now a percentage of Spaniards are Muslims themselves," he said.

"There are about one million Spanish citizens who are Muslims, some of whom have acquired Spanish citizenship and some of whom are of Spanish descent," he said.

Most Muslims in Spain are of Maghreb origin (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania and Libya), Pakistani and Senegalese, and most live in the regions of Catalonia, Valencia, Andalusia and Madrid, Elouafi said.

Muhammad Alwafi Secretary of the Islamic Commission in Spain (Anatolia)

Ramadan in Spain

"53 Islamic federations are active in Spain, 15 of which are very active, and the number of mosques is about two thousand," he said.

Muslims in Spain, as well as around the world, are celebrating the advent of the holy month of Ramadan, organising iftar programmes and gathering for Taraweeh prayers, al-Wafi said.

"In our programmes dedicated to the month of Ramadan, we invite non-Muslims from our neighbours to participate with us, and this solidarity that we are showing together this month, we give a message of the need to spread this atmosphere throughout the year," he added.

"They and associations representing evangelicals and Jews signed a co-operation agreement with the Spanish state in 1992, through which they were able to guarantee the legal and social rights of Muslims," he said.

Muslims break their fast on the first day of Ramadan at a mosque in the southern Spanish town of Estepona near Malacca (Reuters)

Problems faced by Muslims

However, there are many problems that have not yet been resolved, such as the difficulty of obtaining permission and permission to build a mosque, the existence of only 40 graves for Muslims, in addition to Islamophobia and problems in integration and education, he said.

Elouafi attributed "the slow resolution of the problems faced by Muslims to bureaucracy due to the political structure of Spain, which consists of a central government, self-administrations and municipalities."

"The situation of religious freedoms and social rights in Spain is much better now than in the past," he stressed. Compared to other European countries, he considered that "there are fewer incidents of Islamophobia in Spain."

Incidents of Islamophobia "increase in times when economic conditions worsen and unemployment increases", he said.