CATALONIA, July 9, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Home to thousands of immigrants from different nationalities, the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia features many Muslim success stories.

"Catalonia is quite different from other Spanish provinces in terms of the people’s mindsets and economic, cultural and ethnic backgrounds," Moroccan-born Abdel Salam told IslamOnline.net.

Abdel Salam is one of thousands of Muslim immigrants who left their homelands dreaming of a rosy and comfortable life, which he eventually realized.

Almost penniless, he left Morocco 15 years ago for Catalonia, where he now owns a booming and mushrooming business on meat marketing.

Catalonia covers an area of 31,950 km² with an official population of 6.3 million, and its capital is Barcelona.

Since 1979, the region has been continuously achieving higher levels of autonomy which makes it easier for immigrants to achieve success, contrary to other Spanish cities.

"Any immigrant who understands the special nature of Catalonia and acts accordingly will easily integrate and rocket to success," Abdel Salam said.

Thousands of Muslims immigrated to Catalonia, in the north-east corner of Spain, and many of them are now running their own lucrative business, according to IOL Correspondent.

The rising numbers of Muslim immigrants in Catalonia and their remarkable successes, however, have sparked anti-Muslim sentiments over the past years.

The wife of Jordi Pujol, the former president of the autonomous government, said she feared that one day churches in Catalonia would be turned into mosques.

This drew fire, not only from Muslim immigrants, but also from locals dismissing the remarks a blow to social and cultural co-existence in the region.

Catalonia is home to around 100,000 Moroccan immigrants.

This is attributed to the geographical proximity between Morocco and Spain and an agreement between both countries on bringing Moroccan labor into the European country.

Spain has a Muslim minority of about 600,000, while Christian Catholics make up some 94 percent of its 40 million population.