Barcelona Mosque Shelters 70 Residents Displaced by Apartment Fire

The information is relayed, among others, by the Spanish newspaper El Mundo: "The mosque in the La Bordeta neighborhood of Barcelona opened its doors at dawn, at the time of the first of the five daily prayers of Islam, to shelter the 70 residents of two apartment blocks that firefighters and police evacuated shortly after 5 a.m. when a fire broke out in one of the two buildings."

According to one of the young men, named Ahmed, questioned by El Mundo at the entrance of the Islamic center: "I saw that the police were in the street and they asked us for help so that we could open the premises and allow people to enter." "In Islam, help comes before prayer," he also said.

And indeed, the young people would have offered food and drink to the people in need. "We prepared breakfast and distributed water. We also prepared hot tea and offered the toilets in case someone needed to wash," Ahmed said.

The Guàrdia Urbana de Barcelona publicly thanked this gesture from the Muslim community in the neighborhood.