Head of the Georgian Muslims’ Religious Department said that a religious university named “Imam Ali (AS)” will be set up in Georgia.
Mir Taqi Asadov said that the reqired official permissions have been issued for opening the university.
He added that the Islamic courses offered by the department will be hosted by the university in the near future and the participants will receive certificates.
Philosophy, logic, Islam and the history of Georgia are among the courses to be held at the university, he stated.
Mir Taqi Asadov also said that the activities of the university will include holding academic seminars and online forums.
Currently, Muslims constitute approximately 10 to 15 percent of the Georgian population. Islam is represented by both Azerbaijani Shia Muslims (in the south-east) ethnic Georgian Sunni Muslims in Adjara, and Laz-speaking Sunni Muslims as well as Sunni Meskhetian Turks along the border with Turkey. There are also smaller communities of Greek Muslims (of Pontic Greek origin) and Armenian Muslims, both of whom are descended from Ottoman-era converts to Turkish Islam from Eastern Anatolia who settled in Georgia following the Lala Mustafa Pasha’s Caucasian campaign that led to the Ottoman conquest of the country in 1578.
source:iqna