Moroccan Imam Zaki Sidi Mohammed (center) and Muslim worshippers pose for a picture after a prayer in the first official mosque in the Greek capital Athens on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

The first official mosque in Athens, delayed for more than a decade, opened its doors to a few faithful owing to coronavirus, the capital's Muslim community said Tuesday.

The project to open a state-sanctioned mosque in Athens, the only European capital without one, was launched in 2007.

It immediately ran into strong opposition from the influential Orthodox Church, as well as from nationalist groups.

Athens will "finally have a place of worship for its Muslim inhabitants," Naim el Gadour, president of the Muslim Union of Greece said. 

There will be no official inauguration, however, due to restrictions related to the virus outbreak, according to Zaki Sidi Mohammed, the mosque's Moroccan imam.

The Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs announced the opening in a press release late Monday, specifying that under the current circumstances only around 10 people at a time would be permitted to pray in the mosque.

Some 650,000 Muslims live in Greece, the majority in Athens. Most are migrants who arrived in the country over the last 20 years.

Located in Elaionas, a former industrial district, the mosque is the first to operate officially in Athens since the country's war for independence from the Ottomans in 1821.

AFP