The Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalida al-Thani, has offered land to site the country’s first Anglican church since the seventh century when Islam took root in the Gulf country.

|TOP|The decision comes amid complaints from some Muslim leaders, who oppose the construction of the first place of Christian worship in the predominantly Muslim country according to Dubai-based satellite TV channel Al-Arabiya.

According to Qatari lawyer and local Muslim activist, Najib Nuam, the Qataris are “very angry because this decision was taken without listening to their opinion”, reports Adnkronos International.

“Even though we respect all religions and we see the creation of a church in the country as a sign of evolution, we also fear that this could represent the weakening of Islam on our territory,” he said.

The Anglican Church has been keen to display sensitivity to any offence and protest that may arise as a result of the planned church.

Anglican priest Kalif Hanford expressed thanks to the Emir of Qatar for donating the land while remaining cautious: “At the moment we still have not registered protests from the country’s inhabitants, but we expect that something will happen and because of this we have decided not to display any symbol containing the cross outside the church.”

Construction of the church is scheduled to begin in a few months and, once completed, will serve Qatar’s estimated 70,000 Christians, many of whom are part of the foreign contingency working in the oil industry.

The building of the church comes at the request of the Anglican Church of Nicosia, Cyprus, which plans to invest 7 million dollars into the project, which features the ‘Church of the Epiphany’, a conference centre and several meeting rooms.