After thirteen years of wait, a stunning new Oxford Center for Islamic Studies is expected to open early next year, with state-of-art features donated by Muslim countries worldwide.

“We are hoping that it will be completed at the end of the year and students and others will start using the building from next term," registrar Richard Makepeace told Oxford Mail on Wednesday, October 28.

“The building will open in stages, of course, and some parts such as the library are already operational.

“The move has been a gradual process and so has the inside of the building.”

He added: “It will be an institute that will stand for many years and we did not want to rush it.”

Work began on the Marston Road building back in 2002 and it was originally expected to open just two years later.

Yet, the delay in funding and construction work pushed the plan for several years.

The new center would include an auditorium, a three-floor library, dining hall and mosque.

Makepeace said the centre should be viewed as an academic institute with a mosque rather than the other way around.

“It will be a Muslim institute in the same way that many colleges are Christian institutes," he said.

“The centre will be used by Muslims and non-Muslims – we want to promote scholarship of the Islamic world.

“We hope it will bring more of Oxford to the Muslim world and also more of the Muslim world to Oxford.”

By inaugurating the new facility, expected next January, the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies (OCIS) will move to it from its current location premises in George Street.

Founded in 1985, the OCIS is a recognized independent center at the University of Oxford.

The center promotes multi-disciplinary teaching, research and publication at Oxford related to Muslim culture and civilization.

Its fellows teach in a range of faculties across the University of Oxford.

Through its international outreach, and links with academic institutions worldwide, the center provides a meeting place for scholars studying all aspects of contemporary Muslim societies.

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