Islam in Finland
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The first
Baltic Tatars
The
Modern immigration
By the early 1980s, several hundred Muslims predominantly from the
Due to the number of immigrants and refugees, the number of Muslims in Finland rose considerably in the early 1990s, predominantly they were from the aforementioned MENA countries as well as Somalia and the Balkans. Soon new immigrants established their own mosques and societies. In 1996 these groups came together to form a cooperative organ - the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Finland. It is estimated that approximately 1,000 Finns have converted to Islam. The vast majority of these are women who have married Muslim men.[5][6]
By 2003, the number of Muslims had increased to 20,000, up from just 2,700 in 1990. There were also about 30 mosques. The majority of Muslims were Sunni as well as some Shia refugees from Iraq.[6]
Like most countries in Western Europe, Muslims tend to live in the larger cities of Finland like Helsinki, Tampere, Oulu and Turku.[6]
Hundreds of Muslim asylum seekers and refugees from Iraq and Afghanistan convert to Christianity after having had their first asylum application rejected by the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri), in order to re-apply for asylum on the grounds of religious persecution.[7]
In 2018, the
Islamic societies
Name | Registered | Home | Members |
---|---|---|---|
Finnish Islamic Association | 1925 | Helsinki | 567 |
Islamic Society of Finland | 1987 | Helsinki | 1 097 |
Helsinki Islamic Center | 1995 | Helsinki | 1 817 |
Tampere Islamic Society | 1998 | Tampere | 837 |
Islamic Rahma Center in Finland | 1998 | Helsinki | 575 |
Islamic Society of Northern Finland | 2000 | Oulu | 361 |
Resalat islamilainen yhdyskunta | 2001 | Vantaa | 486 |
There are dozens of independent Islamic societies in Finland. The oldest one is Finnish Islamic Association which was established in 1925. It has about 700 members of whom all are Tatars. The society has mosques in Helsinki, Tampere and Lahti. The only building established only as mosque in Finland is Järvenpää Mosque.[citation needed]
The Islamic Society of Finland was established in 1987. Its members are mainly Arabs, but also Finnish converts. The society has a mosque and Koran school in Helsinki. The Helsinki Islamic Center is currently the biggest society with almost 2,000 members. Furthermore, there are a dozen other Islamic societies in Helsinki region, some of them are not officially registered.[citation needed]
Most of mosques are multilingual, but the most commonly used languages are usually English and Finnish. Religious services are held in Arabic.[citation needed]
Demographics
The population of Muslims in Finland from 2008 to 2020, according to the Statistics Finland:[10][failed verification]
Year | Population |
---|---|
2008 | 40,000 |
2010 | 45,000 |
2012 | 50,000 |
2014 | 60,237 |
2016 | 110,000 |
2018 | 136,000 |
2020 | 151,000 |
Muslim majority ethnic groups by language
Numbers are based on the Statistics Finland (language, 2019).[11]
- Arabic language(30,467)
- Somali language (20,997)
- Kurdish language (14,327)
- Persian language (12,090)
- Albanian language (10,391)
- Turkish language (7,739)
- Bengali language (3,599)
- Urdu language(2,983)
- Bosnian language (2,322)
- Punjabi language (1,028)
- Chechen language (636)
- Uzbek language (604)
- Indonesian language (589)
- Azerbaijani language (467)
- Turkmen language (447)
Total: 102,696
Terrorism and radicalisation
The
The first terrorist attack in Finland was the
Islamic militants constituted the majority of those under surveillance by the
Gallery
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6 Islamic, 15 English, and 76 German coins, latest coin dates from 1006 to 1029 - National Museum of Finland
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Main building ofthe Finnish-Islamic Congregation in Helsinki.
See also
- Turks in Finland
- Finnish Islamic Party
- History of Islam in the Arctic and Subarctic regions
- Islam in Sweden
References
- ^ "Religious Composition by Country, 2010-2050". Pew Research Center. 12 April 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ISBN 978-1-137-52605-2.
- ^ "Finland: individuals in Muslim communities 2021". Statista. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
- ^ "Muslimien määrä Suomessa herättää tunteita" (in Finnish). 30 July 2022. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
- ^ a b The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland: Other Churches and Religions in Finland Archived 2010-10-05 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d e f "Sök - Uppslagsverket Finland". uppslagsverket.fi. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
- ^ "Stort finländskt fenomen - hundratals muslimer blir kristna". 4 October 2017. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018.
- ^ "Justice Minister: "No room in Finland for Sharia law"". News. 2018-05-22. Retrieved 2021-12-03.
- ^ Uskonnot.fi (In Finnish) Keyword "islam". 16.8.2010
- ^ "Finland: Individuals in Muslim communities 2010-2020".
- ^ [1][permanent dead link]
- ^ "The Foreign Fighters Phenomenon in the European Union". The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism - The Hague (ICCT). April 2016. p. 44. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
- ^ Rosendahl, Jussi (2018-06-15). "Knife attacker sentenced to life by a Finnish court". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
- ^ "Terrorhotbedömning". Skyddspolisens årsbok (in Swedish). Retrieved 2021-04-04.
- ^ "Den radikala islamistiska terrorismen efter kalifatet". Skyddspolisens årsbok (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 2021-04-24. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
External links
- Report on Islam: Finnish Islam arises slowly (in Finnish).
- Finnish Islamic Congregation Archived 2014-03-06 at the Wayback Machine (in Finnish).
- Some of the mosques in Finland (map)