Overview of the role and impact of Islam in Finland
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Finland is Christian majority country, with Islam being a minority faith. The constitution of Finland ensures freedom of religion and Muslims are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country.
The first Muslims were Tatars who immigrated mainly between 1870 and 1920.[2] Since the late 20th century the number of Muslims in Finland has increased due to immigration. Nowadays, there are dozens of Islamic communities in Finland, but only a minority of Muslims have joined them. According to the Finland official census (2021), there are 20,876 people in Finland belonging to registered Muslim communities, representing 0.37% of the total population.[3] However, majority of Muslims in Finland do not belong to any registered communities. It is estimated that there are between 120,000 and 130,000 Muslims in Finland (2.3%).[4]
Baltic Tatars
The Baltic Tatars arrived in Finland as merchants and soldiers at the end of the 19th century. They were adherents of Sunni Islam and spoke one of the Turkic languages. They were later joined by other family members and formed the first Islamic congregation, the Finnish Islamic Association (Finnish: Suomen Islam-seurakunta), which was founded in 1925, after Finland declared its full independence (1917). The year 1922 was when a law on religious freedom was passed. In practice, this society only accepts people from Tatar origin, or Turkic origin in general, as members, excluding non-Turkic speaking Muslims. The Finnish Tatars's Islamic congregations have a total of about 1,000 members these days.[5][6] By and large, Tatars remained the only Muslims in Finland until the start of the 1960s.[6]
Modern immigration
By the early 1980s, several hundred Muslims predominantly from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) had immigrated as students, laborers and spouses. In 1987 they formed the Suomen islamilainen yhdyskunta [fi] association.[6]
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 and there were 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]
Table 1: Largest Islamic Societies in Finland 2009[9]
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]
Helsinki Islamic cemetery
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]
Islam portal
