Islam and Life of Muslims in Non Muslim Countries: Slovakia

Slovakia, a landlocked country in Central Europe, bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest, is an interesting case study as far Islam is concerned. Of the total population of about 5.5 million, Muslims count is only 5,000 or a little over, ess than 0.1% of the country's population, yet it seems the Slovaks are fearful of this tiny Muslim population.

There are 18 state-registered religions in Slovakia, of which 16 are Christian, one is Jewish, and one is Bahá'í. But when it came to Islam to be recognised as a registered religion in 2016, a two-third majority of the Slovak parliament passed a new bill that to obstruct Islam and other religious organisations from becoming state-recognised religion by doubling the minimum followers threshold from 20,000 (agreed upon in 2007) to 50,000. Today, Slovakia is the last member state of the European Union without a mosque fro its Muslim population.

Not being officially recognised, on the other hand,  poses major difficulties for the group. Among other things, they are not allowed to have official religious leaders, conduct Muslim marriages or receive financial contributions from the State, rights which 18 other recognised religions have. 

The reason behind this attitude is the assumption that, according to many of the country’s politicians and citizens, Islam is a serious threat. 

“Islamisation begins with kebab and in Bratislava it has already begun. So understand what it could be like in 5-10 years,” says MP Andrej Danko. 

Imagine the ill founded fears about a people practicing Islam whose proportion are the least, almost 0.1% of total population, and becoming a threat to the mainstream Christian Orthodox Slovaks. 

In 2015, amidst the European migrant crisis, Slovakia agreed to admit 200 Christian asylum seekers, but refused to accept Muslims under an EU scheme to share migrants between member states. Slovak Ministry of Interior Affairs explained this decision by the absence of Muslim places of worship in Slovakia which will allegedly complicate the refugees' integration in Slovak society. The decision was criticized by the EU, which doubted the decision's legality, and expressed concern for its discriminatory nature.

Michael Colborne, a Canadian journalist based in Prague who covers all things central and eastern Europe, tweeted in 2017 that It’s not easy being a Muslim in Slovakia. He further added: [4]

• Slovakia’s politicians, including the man at the very top, have made it clear that Muslims are public enemy number one. Prime Minister Robert Fico, a man re-elected last year despite being mired in a series of scandals, jumped on the anti-Muslim train in the wake of the European refugee crisis in 2015. “Islam has no place in Slovakia,” he said after being elected in May 2016.
• In the wake of the November 2015 attacks in Paris, Fico flat-out stated that his government was “monitoring every single Muslim currently present in the territory of Slovakia.” Later in 2016 he told journalists that one of his three fundamentally unchangeable positions was his stance “against the emergence of a united Muslim community in Slovakia.”
• “The problem is that Islam is more than just a religion,” one of Kotleba’s MPs, Natalia Grausova, once said. “It is a cruel, disgusting and inhuman political system.”

Such is the hatred that is aired both officially and officially in the streets of Bratislava and the corridors of government.

The indifference and hatred to Islam and Muslims is despite the fact that the Article 24 of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic clearly states:

• (1) Freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief shall be guaranteed. This right shall include the right to change religion or belief and the right to refrain from a religious affiliation. Everyone shall have the right to express his or her mind publicly.
• (2) Everyone shall have the right to manifest freely his or her religion or belief either alone or in association with others, privately or publicly, in worship, religious acts, maintaining ceremonies or to participate in teaching.

Slovak Muslim women walk their children from the school in Topoľčany, Slovakia. They converted to Islam five years ago. (photo source: Vladimír Šimíček/Denník N)

Eva Purgatová, High school history teacher in Slovakia in Central Europe writes: There are about 5,000 Muslims in Slovakia, living mostly in cities such as Bratislava, Košice, Martin, Nitra, and Levice. They are practically invisible and they just want to be left alone. There is no Islamic terrorist threat in Slovakia whatsoever to justify even the slightest political action against Muslims in Slovakia. [2]

“Every normal European – Christian or atheist – should fear this satanic-pedophile creation of the devil, which is the religion of Islam” said Stanislav Mizik, another People’s Party MP.Islamic Center of Cordoba (Kultúrne Centrum Córdoba), located down the Obchodná street, Bratislava, is the only place of Muslim worship in the country under Islamic foundation in Slovakia. Even though it’s an unofficial Mosque, it is open every day of the year for all daily prayers except the Fajr prayer. Friday sermon is held in Arabic, English and Slovak language and starts Friday on 13:00 am. The mosque is not very big, but it is enough to hold congregation prayers of about 80 to 100 people. The Kultúrne Centrum Córdoba has tried to attain an official mosque permit from the government, but had its proposal rejected.

In the eyes of those who fear Islamisation is a threat to Christianity and European values this video may get a different perspective:

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: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |

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Life of Muslims in Non Muslim Countries: Ukraine

While scanning through the sources of places from where people see my blog, I was surprised to see a sizable number from Ukraine. Thinking them to be Muslims, I decided to find out about Islam in Ukraine and share with my readers.

In a country dominated by the Orthodox and Uniate Christians, Islam is the fourth largest religion in Ukraine, representing almost 1% of the total population of the country. Among the Muslims, the Sunni Islam of the Hanafi schools dominates the other branches / schools of thought of Islam, and and their mufti is regarded as the highest religious figure. The majority of the Muslims are the Crimean Tartars. In 2012 an estimated 500,000 Muslims lived in Ukraine, including 300,000 Crimean Tatars. However, Said Ismagilov, the mufti of Ummah, boats one million Muslims in Ukraine.

Historically, Crimea was the center of the spread of Islam in Ukraine. The presence of Islam in Ukraine is associated with the Crimean Tatars, the Turkic speaking descendants of Turkic and non-Turkic peoples who had settled in Eastern Europe as early as the 7th century. In the 15th century, a Crimean Khanate was established in southern Ukraine. However, after the rise of the Ottoman Empire, the Khanate lost its sovereignty and fell under the influence of the Ottoman Empire. 

The Khanate finally ended after growing Russian influence led to its annexation into the Russian Empire after the Russo-Turkish Wars in the late 18th century. At the time of annexation of the Khanate, its capital of Bakhchysarai had at least 18 mosques. However, the Russian Empire began persecuting the Muslim population, and nearly 160,000 Tatars were forced to leave Crimea.

The oldest masque in Ukraine is the The Tahtali-Jami Mosque located in Bakhchisaray, Crimea.  It was built in 1707 by by Khan Sultan Beck. Since the it was originally constructed with wooden planks which were later closed in by stone blocks and masonry walls. The roof of the mosque is covered with clay tiles, it is called Tahtalı Cami means "wooden mosque" in Crimean Tatar. [3]

At the time of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Muslims constituted one-third of Crimea's population and nearly all major cities in Crimea had significant Muslim population. However, under the Soviet rule, Crimean Muslims were subjected to mass deportation and in 1944 Joseph Stalin accused them of collaborating with Nazi Germany and more than 200,000 Crimean Tatars were deported to Central Asia, primarily the Uzbek SSR. It is estimated that more than 100,000 deportees died of starvation or disease due to the deportation. Although a 1967 Soviet decree removed the wartime collaboration charges against Crimean Tatars, the Soviet government did nothing to facilitate their resettlement in Crimea, and the repatriation of Crimean Tatars to their homeland only began in 1989. 

With the independence of Ukraine from the USSR in 1991, not only the majority Orthodox Christians took a sigh of relief from a Communist domination, the Muslims too felt relieved too, and the return of Crimean Tatars to Crimea has increased compared to the Soviet era. There has also been a proportionally small settlement of Muslim Chechen refugees in Crimea and other parts of Ukraine.

However, due to the 2014 Russia`s annexation of Crimea and the hostilities in eastern Ukraine have kept some 750,000 of Muslims, including a half-million Crimean Tatars, trapped in the occupied territories and unable to maintain ties with others who share their faith in Ukraine. [1]

Comparing the life of Muslims under USSR and present day free Ukraine, Said (mufti of Religious Administration of Muslims of Ukraine "Ummah") Ismagilov says:

“In Russia there is no freedom of speech and thought – every religious community, including Muslims, is controlled by the state and serves Kremlin’s policy. In Ukraine, Crimean Tatars had freedom. They were not told which books to read. They were in charge of choosing their own religious leaders. Everything was democratic.” 

While breathing in a rather free air and  not confronted with problems in their daily lives, and that Muslims have started from the beginning to learn about their religion, Said adds: [2]

"Muslims in smaller cities with smaller communities face more problems as they do not even have places of worship or access to halal food," and "that there are not enough cemeteries for Muslims and that Muslim women had to remove their hijab for their passport pictures." Calling on international Muslim organizations for support in building mosques and Islamic centers in the country, Ismagilov said that it would be essential "for the future of Islam in Ukraine".

Muslim women of Ukraine [Photo]

Speaking as a newly reverted Muslim, Olga Fryndak, presently Deputy head of the Ukrainian Muslimahs League and chief editor in the Information Department of the Islamic Center of Ukraine, describes Ukrainians as “tolerant”, and that she had not faced “big problems” in Ukraine as a Muslim. as for her embracing Islam, she says: [2]

“Islam I knew from my elder sister. At the time she was studying at the university in Kiev and had some Muslim friends. She was the first who gave me the basic information about Islam as a religion. At the time there weren't any Islamic books in Russian.”

Commenting on life as a Muslim Olga Fryndak says::

“Ukrainian people are tolerant in general. We have mosques and Islamic cultural centers in big cities, we have halal meat and products, we can work and pray, we have Muslim organizations and volunteers.” 

"there are also Islamic grammar schools in Kiev and Kharkov, adding that Islamic literature can be published in Ukrainian and Russian."

Said Ismagilov [Photo]

The 37 years old Ismagilov is also a supporter of the idea that Muslims should integrate in the society they live in, and he criticizes Muslims who come to Europe to live in closed communities. Such behavior limits social ambitions, and as a result some young people are easy targets for various terrorist groups, who lure them by promising money and better social prospects, Ismagilov says. They could have had that if they had been well integrated in the societies of their host countries, the mufti says.[1]

As of today, Muslims on Ukrainian territory enjoy all freedoms, as Islamic cultural centers are being opened around Ukraine. The newest one opened its doors in Dnipropetrovsk recently.

Now watch a video clip of Muslims in Ukraine celebrating the Islamic festival of Eid ul Adha (and I was glad to see some Pakistanis, wearing shalwar kameez, the traditional dress of Pakistan men, in Ukraine celebrating Eid with their Ukrainian Muslims)

Are you a Ukranian Muslim reading this post? Do give your feedback on life of Muslims in Ukraine in our comment box.

Photo | Source: Wikipedia | References: | 1 | 2 | 3 |

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, 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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