Union of Islamic Communities of Spain


The Union of Islamic Communities of Spain is a religious organization with a centered in Madrid, which is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. It is supported by Spanish Islamic religious communities. UCIDE is registered in the Registry of Religious Entities at the Spanish Ministry of Justice.
Its purpose is the development of Islamic religious activities.
It is a co-founder of the Islamic Commission of Spain, representative at the Spanish State, and of the Muslim Council for Cooperation in Europe, representative organ at the European Union. The elected president is Sir Riaj Tatary, who is part of the Advisory Commission on Religious Freedom. In 2019, he accused by Spanish media of having links with Al-Qaeda funders.

History

In the 1960s groups of Muslim university students created student associations and cultural centers, evolving into the "Muslim Students Union of Spain". In 1967, Spain enacted the first law allowing Muslims to organize for religious purposes, becoming in 1968 the nationwide "Muslim Association of Spain" with its central seat in Madrid. It was registered in 1971. They actively contributed to the preparation of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 and the Statutory Law on Religious Freedom of 1980. In the same year the Union of Islamic Communities of Spain emerged, with registration in 1991.
In 1989 the "declaration of notorious rooting" of Islam in Spain, was developed, prior to the negotiation and signing the "Cooperation Agreement" between the Spanish State and the "Islamic Commission of Spain", which was established for this purpose with another federation in 1992. The Economic Convention about teachers of Islamic religious education in schools and the curriculum of the courses to study was approved and published by early 1996. That same year it created in Strasbourg the "Muslim Council for Cooperation in Europe", with UCIDE as a founding member.
In 2006, the inclusion at the Social Security system for imams and the regulation of prison religious assistants was achieved. The Union of Islamic Communities of Spain has collaboration agreements with Al-Azhar University in Cairo and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which participates in joint projects with the Spanish State's Foundation for Pluralism and Coexistence.

Links with Al-Qaeda terrorists

In June 2019, 350 Spanish police officers uncovered a network of Al-Qaeda funders in Spain, including Al-Qaeda's historic financier Mohammed Zouaydi, as part of "Operation Wamor". Europol stated that the network was "part of a huge international clandestine structure, with the aim of attacking the Western economic system as a form of terrorism ".
According to Spanish media, the head of the Al-Qaeda network was Fares Kutayni, who was with his daughter Hayfa Kutayni, director of the Union of Islamic Communities of Spain. Fares Kutayni was described as a "close relative" of Riay Tatary Bakry, founder of UCIDE and President of the Islamic Commission of Spain, who is tied to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Representatives

UCIDE representatives include:
The Union is headquartered at the offices of the Islamic Community of Madrid, Abu-Bakr Mosque.
UCIDE also adopts the regional organization of the State, coordinated from its regional offices with their elected representatives.