Islam in Venezuela

We have covered almost the entire Latin American for the presence of Islam and life of Muslims in these countries. Today we are covering Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea.

Venezuela has a small but influential Muslim population, which is about 100,000 in numbers or 0.4 percent of the total population of the country. However, another report gives an estimated Muslim population of 126,876 Muslims in Venezuela, 0.5 percent of the nation's population. Most Muslims are Arabs of Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian and Turkish descent. The capital city Caracas has a Muslim population of 15,000. Muslim migrants to a lesser extent usually come from countries such as Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Iraq, Kuwait, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Ghana, Togo, Somalia and Sierra Leone. On the other hand, according to Ahmad Abdo, there are more than 3,000 Venezuelan converts to Islam by 2020.

Majority of the Muslims are Sunnis who belong to belong to the Shafi and Hanbali schools and to a lesser extent Hanafi and Maliki, but he also points to the presence of Shiites in Caracas and San Félix. There is also some presence of Sufis in Venezuela, but without established institutions

National Art Gallery, Ibrahim Al-lbrahim Mosque and CANTV headquarters in Caracas 

[Photo: Jesús Rincón}

The hallmark of the presence of Islam in the capital city Caracas is the Mosque of Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Ibrahim in Caracas is the second largest mosque in Latin America. This historic mosque features a dome, minaret with an octagonal hall rising up from a platform to a circular dome to achieve the transition between the street and the interior of the prayer hall. It was constructed with funds from the Ibrahim bin Abdul Aziz Al-Ibrahim Foundation under the planning of architect Oscar Bracho.

The mosque designed by architect Zuhair Fayez occupies an area of 5000 m², its minaret is 113 metres high and the dome is 23 metres high. Construction of the mosque was completed in 1993. The mosque can hold around 3500 worshipers. Rising higher between the Catholic Cathedral a few blocks away and the Caracas Synagogue, the minaret is the highest in the Americas. 

Other notable mosques and Islamic organisations include the Isla Margarita-Caribe La Comunidad Islámica Venezolana, Centro Islámico de Venezuela, the Mezquita al-Rauda in Maracaibo, the Asociación Honorable Mezquita de Jerusalén in Valencia, Centro Islámico de Maiquetía in Vargas, and the Asociación Benéfica Islámica in Bolívar. There is also a mosque in Punto Fijo built in 2008.

Fixed Point Mosque, Punto Fijo [Photo]

The Punto Fijo Mosque is located in the city of Punto Fijo on the Paraguaná peninsula, in the autonomous municipality of Carirubana in the north of the Falcón state and northwest of the South American country of Venezuela. It was established in 2008 due to the growth of the Muslim community near the duty- free area of ​​Paraguaná.

Margarita Island, a free-trade zone that is home to a sizeable Arab Muslim community. The local cable television outlet carries Al-Jazeera as well as channels from Lebanon and Syria. Women in hijab work cash registers, and on most shop counters, Quranic ayah are on display. Arabs are involved in retail businesses as well as travel agencies and banks.

I have not been able to find any source which could me an insight of living conditions, communities and way of life of Muslims in Venezuela. However, based on the remarks by a girl in the video shared below, it seems that there is strict prejudices about Muslims and they happily coexist with the local non-Muslim population.

I will keep trying and will add as and when I find any. In the meantime, any Venezuelan Muslim reading this post may update by proffering comments in the comment box at the end of the post.

You may now watch a short video on Muslim community in Venezuela:

Disclaimer: The data for this post has been collected from the references given below. If any one differs with the material contained in this post, one may consult the references and their authors.  If someone has more material about the subject, he/she is most welcome to share in the comments box to make the post all encompassing.

To know more about life of Muslims in other non-Muslim countries, please visit our page: Islam and Life of Muslims in Non Muslim Countries

You may also refer to our Reference Pages for knowing more about Islam and Quran.

Photo (Flag) | References: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |

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Please share this page to your friends and family members through Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp or any means on social media so that they can also be benefited by it and better understand Islam and the Holy Qur'an - Insha Allah (Allah Willing) you shall be blessed with the best of both worlds.

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Islam in Angola (Africa)

The African country of Angola is a predominantly Christian country with Islam being a minority religion. As of 2014 census, there are 195,000 Muslims in Angola, representing 1% of total population. The majority of Muslims belongs to Sunni Islam, who generally came from West Africa and the Middle East, though some are local reverts.

The Association of the Development of Islam in Angola is the primary proselytizing organization. Muslim Angolans are represented by the Supreme Council of Angolan Muslims of Luanda.

Despite the fact that Although Islam has ancient roots in Angola, the spread of Islam began in the 1990s as massive immigration took place from the West African countries of Mali, Senegal, and Guinea, among others, yet the state of Muslims is larger than pathetic for they remain unrecognised as Muslims by  the Angolan government.

As per a report published in 2019, “The former regime was not so open with Islam in particular and freedoms in general. Consequently, Muslims faced many challenges. One of the most controversial issues regarding religion is the Law on Religion.”

Since 2004, the law has determined that for a religion to be recognized by the state, it must have more than 100,000 members and a presence in over two-thirds of the nation’s territory. In addition, a religious group must submit a minimum of 60,000 signatures to the government to have its congregation legalized.

The non recognition of Islam as one of the religions is despite the fact that government has given legal status to 83 religious groups (all of them Christian) 

In view of the so called non recognition of Islam as one of the religions of the country, Muslims are facing lot of inconvenience in performing their religious rituals, specially the combined prayers. There are no official mosques. Yet, some Muslims obtained licenses to build commercial warehouses and then used the sites to build mosques, without obtaining legal permission or building licenses specifically for such places of religious worship. There are around 69 unregistered Mosques in the country (US Department of State 2021: 4; d’Orsi 2017).

Government officials have also stated that some practices allowed by Islam, such as polygamy, contradicted the constitution. And when the government in 2020, as a measure to prevent the spread of Covid-19, allowed only religious services on Saturdays and Sundays, this was felt as discriminatory to the Muslim community and their Friday services. The director of the Instituto Nacional para os Assuntos Religiosos (National Institute for Religious Affairs, INAR, the regulating body of ‘religious affairs’), called this a “a false problem” because the authorization only affected “legally recognized religions”. In other words, a banned religion had no rights anyway. [3]

However, a report published in 2021 says that despite lack of recognition, Muslims have a peaceful co-existence with the Christian community, which in the past was worse. even being partners of the Angolan State in some social works. But still, the Islamic communities face barriers in their daily loves, the result of the lack of recognition by the Angolan authorities.  [4]

Due to lack of legal entity the Muslims are unable to build a school, a hospital or orphan center or allowing some imam to preach to Angolan Muslims as there is no missionary visa. The report says that the religious activities, such as prayers and important dates for Muslims are easily respected in Angola, according to the new president of Consia.

I could not find latest status of Muslims as the reports available on the net are generally  five years or old.  I will try to update this post as and when some insight in life of Muslims in Angola is laid hands on. Meanwhile I would request input from any Angolan Muslim reading this post. Please leave your views in the comment box.

Disclaimer: The data for this post has been collected from the references as given below. If any one differs with the material contained in this post, one may consult the references and their authors.  If someone has more material about the subject, he/she is most welcome to share in the comments box to make the post all encompassing.

To know more about life of Muslims in other non Muslim countries, please visit our page: Islam and Life of Muslims in Non Muslim Countries

You may also refer to our Reference Pages for knowing more about Islam and Quran.

Photo  | Source(s) References: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |

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Please share this page to your friends and family members through Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp or any means on Social Media so that they can also be benefited by it and better understand Islam and the Holy Qur'an - Insha Allah (Allah Willing) you shall be blessed with the best of both worlds.

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Islam in Georgia

Georgia, a predominantly Orthodox Christian country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia, ha s significant Muslim population ranging between 9-11% according to different sources, that is every one in ten Georgians is a Muslim. However, despite the sizable Muslim population, Islam is seen by many as a hostile religion.

Adjara’s Muslims occupy a peculiar position in the popular mind. They are not real Georgians, because they are not Christians. But neither are they enemies, because they share the same language.[2]

Islam came to Eastern Georgia in 654 by the armies sent by Uthman ibn Affan, the third caliph of Islam and established their foothold in Tbilsi, the capital of present day Georgia. The Autonomous Republic of Adjara on the Black Sea coast in western Georgia is home to a large and much overlooked Muslim community. Islam first arrived in Adjara in the 16th century. A former region of the Ottoman Empire, Adjara was ceded to Russia – and joined to other Georgian territories. Under the Soviet Union rule, the state sponsored drive to proclaim atheism, the Muslim rights were forcible usurped. Even after independence of Georgia, during the rise of religious and ethnic nationalism in the 1990s, Georgia ensured that Islam never regained its pre-Soviet influence, and slowly ceded its positions in Adjara to the Georgian Orthodox Church.
.
The affairs of Muslims of Georgia and mosques are managed by the Georgian Muslim Department, established in May 2011. The same year in July, Parliament of Georgia passed new law allowing religious minority groups with “historic ties to Georgia” to register. The draft of the law specifically mentions Islam and four other religious communities.

Turkey is in the forefronts in helping out the Muslims of Georgia and signed an agreement with the Georgian government in 2010 to provide funding and expertise to rehabilitate three mosques and to rebuild a fourth one in Georgia. The Georgia-Turkey agreement allows the reconstruction of the historical Azize mosque in Batumi, Ajaria burned down in 1940.

There are two major Muslim groups in Georgia. The ethnic Georgian Muslims are Sunni Hanafi and are concentrated in the Autonomous Republic of Adjara of Georgia bordering Turkey. The ethnic Azerbaijani Muslims, predominantly Shia Ithna Ashariyah, concentrated along the border with Azerbaijan and Armenia. The Chechens Muslims of the Naqshbandi order are living in Pankisi Gorge.

There are also smaller numbers of Muslims in Georgia belonging to other ethnic groups of the South Caucasus, such as Ossetians, Armenians, and Pontic Greeks (divided between Caucasus Greeks and Turkish speaking Urums). These are mainly descended from Ottoman-era Christian Orthodox converts to Turkish Islam. 

Central Mosque in Tbilisi [Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons / author: Henri Bergius from Finland / Source]

Tbilisi's Jumah mosque is shared by Sunnis and Shia because Soviets destroyed the Shia's house of worship decades ago - it was never rebuilt. Batumi's Orta Jami is not big enough to accommodate the Friday congregation; some worshipers offer prayers outside in the rain and snow, according to Nakaidze. Although an open plot was obtained in 2015 for building a larger masjid, the formal approval for construction has never been approved, probably the local government doesn't want to offend the majority Orthodox Christians.

The makeshift new mosque opened without a building [Courtesy of Tariel Nakaidze / Al Jazeera]

Life in Georgia for Muslims is really tough, specially for the women as the biggest challenge is wearing the hijab in public. While many Muslim women do not cover their hair  in an attempt to blend into Christian society, but those who do and choose to wear the traditional Muslim attire walk the streets while their fellow citizens whisper 'Iranian', 'Turk', and 'Go back to your own country' behind their backs. Many Muslim women recount that they were refused a job simply because they were wearing the hijab to a job interview. Sometimes, they said, mentioning that they were Muslim was enough to bring the interview to an end.

"Generally, if you are not visually recognizable as a Muslim, people are fine with you because they don't necessarily ask about your religion. But if you are wearing a hijab and express your religious identity, you get a different reaction," said Hurie Abashidze, a 25-year-old postgraduate psychology student.[4]

The views of Muslim tourists visiting Georgia are true reflection of life of Muslims in Georgia: [3]

I have just returned from Georgia today and as a hijab-wearing Arab woman I found the majority of Georgians exceptionally rude/giving me the cold shoulder - some people even refused to help when I asked for simple things such as directions etc. I have experienced subtle racism before but I felt in Georgia the hostility towards Muslims is very direct/in your face.

From personal experience, having visited Tblisi with family (women and children), whatever words you wish to use or whatever you like to call it, we were never served in a public restaurant. We would go and sit for about 15~20 minutes but nobody would come to take our order. They just went about with other guests or stood by the counter as if we didn't exist. 

How is the life of Muslims in Georgia, read excerpts from a research: [5]

In Georgia Islam have very extraordinary features. For example, in the rituals and religious practices of the Muslim Georgians of Adjara one may observe some influence of Christianity. Furthermore, over the recent period of time conversion of the Muslim Adjarians to Christianity is getting more and more frequent. Islam of the Chechens (the Kists, according to the Georgian tradition) living in the Pankisi Gorge is well mixed with both the Christian and local pagan beliefs. A very interesting situation has been formed among the Azeri community: as a result of mutual influence of the Shiites and the Sunites, living side by side, the difference between the rituals of these two major streams of Islam has faded (the Shiites perform the Sunite rituals and vice versa).

In the context of the overall religious revival in the world, the rise in the level of religious identity of the Muslim citizens of Georgia (first of all of those who are not ethnic Georgians) is noticeable. New mosques have been constructed and, sometimes, even young people have been sent to the religious educational institutions of the Islamic countries for getting higher Islamic education. All these processes have been funded by foreign Islamic organizations or individuals. In this context the spread of Wahabism among the Muslim communities of Georgia (especially the Kists of Pankisi Gorge) is the matter of much concern, especially as there is a strong discord between the Wahabits and the adherents of the traditional Islam. 

I could not find more material on life of Muslims in Georgia. May be Georgian Muslims read this post leave their impressions in the comment box below.

You may now listen to a first hand account of a Muslim in Georgia and the life therein:

Disclaimer: The data for this post has been collected from the references as given below. If any one differs with the material contained in this post, one may consult the references and their authors.  If someone has more material about the subject, he/she is most welcome to share in the comments box to make the post all encompassing.

To know more about life of Muslims in other non Muslim countries, please visit our page: Islam and Life of Muslims in Non Muslim Countries

You may also refer to our Reference Pages for knowing more about Islam and Quran.

Photo | References: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 

If you like Islam: My Ultimate Decision, and to keep yourself updated on all our latest posts to know more about Islam, follow us on Facebook

Follow @IslamUltimate

Please share this page to your friends and family members through Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp or any means on Social Media so that they can also be benefited by it and better understand Islam and the Holy Qur'an - Insha Allah (Allah Willing) you shall be blessed with the best of both worlds.

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Islam and Life of Muslims in Non Muslim Countries: Puerto Rico

Muslims in Puerto Rico, located in Caribbean island and unincorporated U.S. territory, constitute a very tiny presence: a mere 5,000 heads (2007 estimate). Islam found its way to this part of the world as early as 1493 and was carried across the Mediterranean and the Atlantic by Spaniards, who were forced to take on the Christian faith yet remained Muslim in their own right, and by Africans, who were forced to come to the Americas yet maintained their faith and sense of identity.  Many “Moriscos,” or Iberian Muslims, came to the Caribbean bypassing several Spanish laws that prohibited them from coming to the Americas and served as merchants and explorers. Some were taken as slaves. However, despite this early presence, the growth of Muslims in Puerto Rico has been very negligible, though their presence brought the second monotheist religion to the island.

As per Wikipedia, the present Muslim community largely consists of immigrants from Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt and Syria, with some descendants who arrived between 1958 and 1962. At the time, the vast majority of Puerto Rico's Muslims lives in Caguas – a city in the island's central region located south of San Juan – where they operate restaurants, jewelry stores and clothing outlets.

Islam is not very well known in the Caribbean. Although Puerto Rico currently holds a Palestinian, Pakistani, and Egyptian community, a new Latin Caribbean community is growing and is in the spot light. This provides Dawah, invitation to Islam, to their own people from all over the island. Thanks to social media, Islam has already been accepted by so many Latinos. Social media has gradually informed the natives about Islam, creating more education and attacking the idea of Islamophobia caused by the media and a lack of education. 

Despite the small Muslim population, there are nine mosques (masjids) in Puerto Rico. Initially,  a storefront mosque on Calle Padre Colón in the Río Piedras district of San Juan served the entire religious community on the island during earlier years, however, today there are mosques and Islamic centers in Aguadilla, Arecibo, Hatillo, Ponce, Vega Alta, and San Juan.

Puerto Rico Islamic Center at Ponce in Barrio Cuarto, Ponce [Photo]

In recent years some Puerto Ricons have been reverting to the religion of their ancestors: Islam. In each of Puerto Rico’s nine mosques, researchers have found an increasing number of recent local converts. There is no accurate measure, but anecdotal evidence suggests rising numbers. 

For Juan, a reverted Muslim, Catholicism, the religion adopted by his ancestors when they converted, was too confusing. The doctrine of “tawhid” in Islam – the oneness of God – was, as he saw it, simpler than what he believed to be the complex theology of the Trinity. Furthermore, he felt that Islam called for a higher morality and sense of self-discipline. And so, he “reverted” – that is, returned to the faith of his birth and the heritage of his Iberian forebears in al-Andalus, in what is modern-day Spain.

Most Muslims keep two elements of identity: One that of Puerto Ricon national and other as a Muslim. As  per a report, Muslims in Puerto Rico have a deep history and a rich narrative that expands the understanding of what it means to be Muslim on the one hand, and, on the other, Puerto Ricon. 

An iconic representative of Islam in the island has been Khaled Alkhatib, born in Caguas and raised by Muslim parents, he has dedicated his life to spread his word.

Although the Muslim community is merely 0.1% of he total population of the Island, in December 2015, Destiny Vélez, the newly crowned Miss Puerto Rico was suspended by the Miss Puerto Rico organization after an anti-Muslim rant on Twitter, as a result of strong Muslim protest.

I could not find much material about Muslims in Puerto Rico, but herein under is a video showing various mosques across the island:

Disclaimer: The data for this post has been collected from the references as given below. If any one differs with the material contained in this post, one may consult the references and their authors.  If someone has more material about the subject, he/she is most welcome to share in the comments box to make the post all encompassing.

To know more about life of Muslims in other non Muslim countries, please visit our page: Islam and Life of Muslims in Non Muslim Countries

You may also refer to our Reference Pages for knowing more about Islam and Quran.

Photo | References: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |

If you like Islam: My Ultimate Decision, and to keep yourself updated on all our latest posts to know more about Islam, follow us on Facebook

Follow @IslamUltimate

Please share this page to your friends and family members through Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp or any means on Social Media so that they can also be benefited by it and better understand Islam and the Holy Qur'an - Insha Allah (Allah Willing) you shall be blessed with the best of both worlds.

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Islam and Life of Muslims in Non Muslims Countries: Luxembourg

Luxembourg though a secular European country and Muslims form a sizable minority of the total population dominated by orthodox and Protestant Christians. Since 2015, Islam is one of the officially recognized religions in the country. The presence of Muslims in Luxembourg is not very old and in mid 70s there were just a few hundred Muslims in the country. However since then, the size of Muslim community has swelled at a rapid rate and as per many estimates, there are 10,000 to 20,000 Muslims in the country.     

The Muslim population increase is mainly attributed to the asylum seekers from former Yugoslavia, mostly Bosniaks. The Muslim population also witnessed as a surge as workers migrated after the labour agreement between Luxembourg and Yugoslavia. Presently, the Muslims in Luxembourg are mainly Bosniaks, Moroccans, Albanians, Turks, Tunisians, Algerians, and Iranians. Since it is illegal for the government to collect statistics on religious beliefs and practices, it is unclear how many are citizens of the Grand-Duchy. A study (European Values ​​Study) reports a strong progression of the Muslim religion, from 0.7 to 2% of the population between 1999 and 2008. It is now presented as the second religion of the country.

Six mosques currently exist in the country. And a lot of Muslims get together there for the Friday prayers. These mosques, which in fact are Muslim cultural centres and do not resemble typical mosques, are also the venue for special Ramadan prayers  and Eid congregations beside holding of religious festivals.

Shop were one can find Halal Foods [Photo]

In a survey carried  out by Islamophobia Observatory, a non-profit founded in 2016 to promote intercultural dialogue in Luxembourg, reveal that whilst Muslim residents of Luxembourg broadly feel well-integrated in Luxembourg, 60% of respondents to an inquiry maintain that Islamophobia exists in Luxembourg. 

Lahcen Abarri, the head of the research and psychological unit, explained that Islamophobia is most prevalent in the workplace, in the media, and in public spaces. Nevertheless, Islamophobia has also been observed in the realm of politics. The Observatory has noted that some MPs have attempted to stigmatise the presence of Islam in Luxembourg with targeted parliamentary questions concerning Muslims. [3]

Please watch below a video of pilgrims from Luxembourg proceeding on Umra to Saudi Arabia in 2017 (The commentary in not in English):

I could not find more information on the way of life of Muslims in Luxembourg. May it is for the reason that Muslims “remain a little-studied and little-known community today,” notes the researcher. If readers can add anything, they are most welcome to do so in our comment box.

Disclaimer: The data for this post has been collected from the references as given below. If any one differs with the material contained in this post, one may consult the references and their authors.  If someone has more material about the subject, he/she is most welcome to share in the comments box to make the post all encompassing.

To know more about life of Muslims in other non Muslim countries, please visit our page: Islam and Life of Muslims in Non Muslim Countries

You may also refer to our Reference Pages for knowing more about Islam and Quran.

Photo | References: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

If you like Islam: My Ultimate Decision, and to keep yourself updated on all our latest posts to know more about Islam, follow us on Facebook

Follow @IslamUltimate

Please share this page to your friends and family members through Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp or any means on Social Media so that they can also be benefited by it and better understand Islam and the Holy Qur'an - Insha Allah (Allah Willing) you shall be blessed with the best of both worlds.

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Islam and Life of Muslims in Non Muslim Countries: Sweden

Muslims in Sweden are said to be about 8.1 percent of the total 10 million Swede population, that is something like 810,000 Muslims living in the country. Although, there have been some connections of the Vikings with the Muslims in the 7th-8th centuries, there has not been any significance arrival of Muslims in the country.  In 1930 census, 15 persons were said to be listed as "Muslims and other Asian faiths."

The emigration of Muslims was noticeable in the 1940s when Muslim of Finnish Tatars origin emigrated from Finland and Estonia. However, Islam began to have a noticeable presence in Sweden with immigration from the Middle East, in particular Iraq and Iran, beginning in the 1970s. The second-largest Muslim group consists of immigrants or refugees from Eastern Europe, particularly from former Yugoslavian countries, most of them being Bosniaks. Besides, there is also a sizeable community of Somalis. As of the year 2000, an estimated 300,000 to 350,000 people of Muslim background lived in Sweden, or 3.5% of total population.

Nasir Mosque, Gothenburg [Photo: Wikipedia Commons / Alislam.org]

Sweden has a number of mosques dotted all over the areas where Muslim communities reside. Nasir Moské, Gothenburg, built in 1976 is considered the first mosque in Sweden, which quickly became not just a religious centre but a centre for study, festivals, and many other events for the community. The second mosque, Malmö Mosque, Came up in 1984, and later, the Uppsala Mosque in 1995. More mosques were built during the 2000s, including the Stockholm Mosque (2000), the Umeå Mosque (2006) and the Fittja Mosque (completed 2007), among others. The governments of Saudi Arabia and Libya have financially supported the constructions of some of the largest Mosques in Sweden.

The attitude of majority Christian Swede population has been generally mixed. Although, there have been no Muslims living in areas that now constitute Sweden in the 16th century, yet since then there has been a sort of negativity about Islam that has since prevailed.

A popular painting from the same century depicts Saint Christopher carrying Jesus as a child on his shoulder, saving him from water in which the Pope and Muhammad drown. The painting was aimed at Catholicism, and portrayed the Pope and Muhammad as false prophets. Turks were often used synonymously with Muslims, as a prayer book of Caspar Melissander from 1609 reads, "Sweet Lord Jesus Christ, keep us from the Turk, the Tattar, the Pope and all sects." Decrees during the 17th century eventually made practicing Islam illegal, as well as any other religion outside of the Church of Sweden. In 1734, membership in the Church of Sweden was established as a precondition for citizenship, and any non-Lutheran could be banned from entry into the country. [2]

However, the public opinion towards the Muslims softened with continuous contact to the Ottoman Empire. King Karl XII made exceptions to the citizenship laws in 1718, allowing Muslim and Jewish migrants from the Ottoman Empire the right to perform their religion. But again, attitude towards Islam deteriorated in the early 20th century with the rise of nationalism and Orientalism in Sweden. Archbishop Nathan Söderblom, teacher and mentor of several of the leading Swedish Orientalist scholars, was highly critical of the faith. 

• Jonas Otterbeck, a Swedish historian of religion, claims that most Anti-Muslim sentiment in the country were derived from an opposition to traditional Islamic clothing such as the hijab. At the end of the 1980s, extremist xenophobic groups began targeting Muslims as a severe societal problem and causing the recession in Sweden’s economy.
• Håkan Hvitfelt conducted surveys in the 1990s to research the Swedish public's attitudes towards Islam. He found that the majority of Swedes had "a rather or very negative attitude to Islam" and considered Islam "incompatible with democracy, oppressive against women, and expansive" in nature.

And since then, the life of Muslims in Sweden has not been very easy. There have been numerous attacks on the mosques in the country. And a sharp reaction erupted from the locals when Muslims were granted permission to hold a weekly call for prayer. And soon thereafter, there were calls from the Christian Democrats of Sweden to ban mosque from broadcasting call to prayer.

The shuttered down mosque [Photo]

Likewise the attacks on mosques have seen a sharp rise since 2017 by 10 times compared to previous year. The Uppsala University report by Mattias Gardell said 38 mosques or Muslim assemblies had come under attack in Sweden in 2017. Max Stockholm from the Swedish Agency for Support to Faith Communities, who financed the report, told Swedish TV SVT the attacks on mosques and Muslim assemblies is a threat on freedom of religion, which is established in the Swedish constitutional law. [4]

And such news news continue to be reported even today. On banning of calls to prayers, Avdi Islami, a spokesman for the Muslim community in Vaxjo, said thousands of Muslims visit the mosque every year and likened the prayer calls to ringing church bells. "We have a society in which we are different...it's therefore better to think of the differences as making us stronger," he told TT. 

Fredrik Johansson, who grew up in Sweden, has this to say about negativity about Muslims in Sweden: "As can be understood, even if you don’t understand Swedish, around 50% are negative towards Islam. The full study (in Swedish) shows that in almost every population group, at least 40% are negative towards Islam. Most negative are men on the countryside with low education. While Turks mix well with the local population for their not very conservative Islamic views, the majority of Muslim asylum seekers in Sweden have low education, and have little social mobility and are rarely able to integrate. Due to not having “roots” and seeing no future, their children often become either troublemakers or radical islamists in these parallel societies. The Swedish public television is always trying to promote “oppressed groups” such as Muslims. They are happy to show Muslim girls on TV, often with headscarves, but I rarely see any young Arab Muslim men. Probably because the men have the “wrong” values…" [7]

There are fairly large populations of Muslims resident in both capital cities. So long the Muslims walk around the cities and streets without revealing their identity through their attire, they are generally not noticed nor any eyebrows raised. However, women clad in Hijab or body covering with black loose garment are instantly picked up and one can draw negative and verbal, reactions as this is seen as a visible reminder of the lack of gender equality in Muslim countries.

There are no official statistics on the exact number of Swedish converts to Islam, but Anne Sofie Roald, a historian of religions at Malmö University College, estimates the number of converts from the Church of Sweden to Islam to be 3,500 people since the 1960s. Roald further states that conversions are also occurring from Islam to the Church of Sweden, most noticeably by Iranians, but also by Arabs and Pakistanis.

There are a number of organizations that are established in various parts of the country by the Muslim communities to look after their interests and organize community festivals and meeting, and ensure schooling of the Muslim children. The religious festivities like Ramadan and Eids are celebrated and Muslims organizations help organizing these events.

The local youth is specially against waves of immigrants swarming the country. They believe that the immigrants are robbing their rights as government is doling out more to accommodate the immigrants. They also believe that the a people portraying a very different culture in an always liberal Swede society is simply misfit.

Watch the video below and see how the pulse of the society is towards Muslims, specially the immigrants:

I tried to collect some data to give out a point of view of Muslims living in the Sweden, but unfortunately could find any positives to pen here.

Author's Note: The data for this post has been collected from the references as given below. If any one differs with the material contained in this post, one may consult the references and their authors.  If someone has more material about the subject, he/she is most welcome to share in the comments box to make the post all encompassing.

Photo | References: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
Photo | For more Q&A about understanding Islam click here

If you like Islam: My Ultimate Decision, and to keep yourself updated on all our latest posts to know more about Islam, follow us on Facebook

Follow @IslamUltimate

Please share this page to your friends and family members through Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp or any means on Social Media so that they can also be benefited by it and better understand Islam and the Holy Qur'an - Insha Allah (Allah Willing) you shall be blessed with the best of both worlds.

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Islam and Life of Muslims in Non Muslim Countries: Sri Lanka

The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is actually a Buddhist dominated country with Hinduism, Islam and Christianity as its three minority religions. After Hinduism, which is about 12.6% of its populations, Muslims constitute about 10% of its population or some 2.1 million Muslims living on the Island.

Muslims arrived the island in the 7th century when Arab traders were trying to find new trade routes. By the 8th century A.D., Arab traders had taken control of much of the trade on the Indian Ocean, including that of Sri Lanka. Many of them settled down on the island in large numbers, ushering in the era of Islam. From 16th to `9th century, Arab Moors, Javanese (Muslims from the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, in Indonesia) and Malaysian Muslims added to the growing Muslim population on the island. Their descendants, now the Sri Lankan Malays, adopted several Sri Lankan Moor Islamic traditions while also contributing their unique cultural Islamic practices to other Muslim groups on the Island.

The arrival of Muslims from India during the 19th and 20th centuries has also contributed to the growth of Islam in Sri Lanka. Most notably, Pakistani and South Indian Muslims have introduced Shafi'i and the Hanafi school of thought into Sri Lanka. Despite this, most Muslims on the island still adhere to the traditional practices of Sunni Islam.

Jami-Ul-Alfar Mosque, mosque in Pettah area is one of the oldest mosques in Colombo [Photo: Wikipedia]

Presently, Muslims in Sri Lanka are handled by the Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs Department, which was established in the 1980s to prevent the continual isolation of the Muslim community from the rest of Sri Lanka. Muslims of Sri Lanka, mostly continue to derive from the Moor and Malay ethnic communities on the island with smaller numbers of converts from other ethnicities, such as the Tamils.

In Sri Lanka as a whole, Muslims suffer from low literacy rates and systematic discrimination. As a result, only few Muslim politicians have managed to secure ministerial jobs or diplomatic positions. During the 26-year Sri Lankan Civil War, the Muslim community was “the target of discrimination, political violence, massacres and ethnic cleansing” by the rebel Tamil Tigers and the government-backed Sinhalese nationalists. On August 3, 1990, LTTE gunmen entered the Meera Jumma mosque of the Muslim-majority town of Kattankudy, “locked the doors to prevent escape and began firing into the crowd” of 300 worshipers. Using automatic weapons, they killed more than 100 people.  During the 1990s and 2000s, the LTTE killed 1,050 Muslims and forced 120,000 of them to leave their homes, lands, businesses and possessions behind in the north. The government has largely ignored the internally displaced Muslims, and there “has been no government inquiry into the LTTE’s massacres and expulsions of Muslims or meaningful apology.”

There are 749 Muslim schools in Sri Lanka, 205 madrasas which teach Islamic education, and an Islamic university in Beruwala (Jamiya Naleemiya). Al Iman Schools in Colombo was the first organization of Islamic schools of its kind, teaching an integrated Islamic curriculum since 2008. In the early 20th century there were few Muslim professionals in accounting, medicine, engineering, etc., but at present they are exceeding the national average. Due to the lack of opportunity in Sri Lanka, many Muslim professionals are emigrating to get jobs abroad, such as to the Middle East, United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe. The Moors have had better social and economic mobility, mainly due to the historic head start they had in getting education and government jobs under the British colonial rule.

The life of Muslims have recently gone under a major change since the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings. No one is really sure in the government or even among Muslims as to why the bombing did take place in the first palace. Whatever the reason and agenda, this brought to fore the presence of radical National Thowheeth Jama'ath, a Salafi influenced organization, was behind the bombings, leading to increasing censorship of Salafi movement in Sri Lanka.

And since early this year, the life of Muslims has undergone a major change. Most of the Muslims denounced the tragic incident and in fact are in forefronts demanding that the perpetrators to be caught and held accountable for the harm they have inflicted on people of many diverse communities and the fact that the actions of these extremists are antithesis of the teachings of Islam – a religion which promotes peace and unity.

Anti Muslim sentiments [Photo: AFP/BBC]

Despite the Muslim stance and stand against the terrorism, the backlash has been brutal as Mosques and Muslim-owned shops have been vandalized or set on fire. In the north-western town of Kiniyama, hundreds of people stormed a mosque, destroying windows and doors and burning Korans, according to witnesses. The attack was triggered by a group of people demanding a search of the building after soldiers inspected a lake nearby looking for weapons, as reported by the Reuters news agency. A large pasta factory was burned near Minuwangoda, with the owners accusing police of standing by while employees were trapped inside. 

Although, the government says that security forces have restored calm to streets in the areas affected by violence and insist officers are preventing revenge attacks on Muslims, the unrest prevails in Muslim dominated communities. There is concern among Muslims that their fears about retaliatory violence were not acted on soon enough.

The daily anti Muslim charges rather look silly but enough to harass them. One Muslim woman’s crime was to wear a shirt printed with a ship’s helm. Her accusers said it looked like the wheel of dharma, so she must be mocking Buddhism, the religion of the majority. A young Muslim man was nabbed for having three sim cards in his pocket, and a broken memory card. True, he worked in a phone shop, but police insisted he must have snapped the memory card to hide nefarious contents. A rich Muslim doctor was accused of having secretly sterilized 4,000 women by pinching their Fallopian tubes. More than 700 of the supposed victims have complained, enraged by rumours of a fertility “jihad” against non-Muslims. 

A top Buddhist monk,Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana Thero, called for violence against members of the religious minority, and stoning the Muslims. The monk, who heads the Asgiriya Chapter, one the largest and oldest Buddhist chapters in Sri Lanka, went on to call for a boycott of Muslim-owned restaurants, reinforcing a long-standing and unsubstantiated rumour that Muslim restaurants served their Buddhist customers food spiked with sterilization medication. "Don't eat from those [Muslim] shops. Those who ate from these shops will not have children in future," he told worshipers at a temple in the central district of Kandy, where that same rumour had unleashed days of anti-Muslim riots last year.

After the Easter bombing in Sri Lanka, the Buddhist nationalists are exploiting anti-Muslim sentiment and Muslims are living a life on a razor's edge:

Unfortunately, I could not find anything positive about the life of Muslims in Sri Lanka. Perhaps the Easter attacks have marred everything, even the good image of Muslims and their contribution to the country. Perhaps there would be better days some day!!

Author's Note: The data above has been collected from the references as given below. If any one differs with the material contained in this post, one may consult the references and their authors.  If someone has more material about the subject, he/she is most welcome to share in the comments box to make the post all encompassing.

Photo | References: | Main Source:  Wikipedia | Other Sources : | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |

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