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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]
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]
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 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, 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 Minister of Justice Antti Häkkänen ruled out the use of Islamic law in Finland. [8]
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 ]
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 |
Numbers are based on the Statistics Finland (language, 2019). [11]
Total: 102,696
The ICCT report from April 2016 showed that at least 70 individuals had left Finland to enter the conflict zone and the majority joined jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq. They started leaving in the 2012-13 time span and the male-female ratio was about 80-20%. [12]
The first terrorist attack in Finland was the 2017 Turku attack where Abderrahman Bouanane, a failed asylum seeker from Morocco, stabbed two women to death and wounded eight other people in his stabbing attack. [13]
Islamist militants constituted the majority of those under surveillance by the Finnish Security Intelligence Service (SUPO) in 2020 and Finland is portrayed as an enemy state in ISIS propaganda. The Foreign fighters in the Syrian and Iraqi Civil Wars movement has amplified transnational contacts for the Islamist movements in Finland. A number of militants have arrived from the conflict zone in Syria and the Al-Hawl refugee camp and constitute both a short and long term security threat. [14] [15]
Islam is a major religious minority in the Russian Federation, which has the largest Muslim population in Europe excluding Turkey. According to the US Department of State in 2017, Muslims in Russia numbered 14 million or roughly 10% of the total population. One of the Grand Muftis of Russia, sheikh Rawil Gaynetdin, estimated the Muslim population of Russia at 25 million in 2018.
Turkish people or Turks are the largest Turkic people who speak various dialects of the Turkish language and form a majority in Turkey and Northern Cyprus. In addition, centuries-old ethnic Turkish communities still live across other former territories of the Ottoman Empire. Article 66 of the Turkish Constitution defines a Turk as anyone who is a citizen of Turkey. While the legal use of the term Turkish as it pertains to a citizen of Turkey is different from the term's ethnic definition, the majority of the Turkish population are of Turkish ethnicity. The vast majority of Turks are Muslims and follow the Sunni faith.
Islam in Ukraine is a minority religious affiliation with Muslims representing around 5% of the total population as of 2016. The religion has a long history in Ukraine dating back to Berke Khan of the Ulug Ulus in the 13th century and the establishment of the Crimean Khanate in the 15th century.
Estonia has a small, but growing Islamic community. According to 2024 estimates, the number of people who profess Islam was 10,000 in Estonia, or 0.72% of the total population. The number of practicing Muslims is small and, in the absence of a mosque, the Estonian Islamic Center serves as a center of worship.
Islam in Denmark, being the country's largest minority religion, plays a role in shaping its social and religious landscape. According to a 2020 analysis by Danish researcher Brian Arly Jacobsen, an estimated 256,000 people in Denmark — 4.4% of the population — were Muslim in January, 2020. The figure has been increasing for the last several decades due to multiple immigration waves involving economic migrants and asylum seekers. In 1980, an estimated 30,000 Muslims lived in Denmark, amounting to 0.6% of the population.
The Finnish Tatars are a Tatar ethnic group and minority in Finland whose community has approximately 600–700 members. The community was formed between the late 1800s and the early 1900s, when Mishar Tatar merchants emigrated from the Nizhny Novgorod Governorate of the Russian Empire, and eventually settled in Finland. Tatars have the main building of their congregation in Helsinki. They have also founded cultural associations in different cities. They are the first Islamic community in Finland.
A continuous presence of Islam in Poland began in the 14th century. From this time it was primarily associated with the Lipka Tatars, many of whom settled in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth while continuing their traditions and religious beliefs. The first significant non-Tatar groups of Muslims arrived in Poland in the 1970s, though they are a very small minority.
Islam is the second largest religion in Norway after Christianity. As of 2020, the number of Muslims living in Norway was 182,607. The majority of Muslims in Norway are Sunni, with a significant Shia minority. 55 percent of Muslims in the country live in Oslo and Viken. The vast majority of Muslims have an immigrant background, and very few Norwegians are Muslim.
Islam in Romania is followed by only 0.4 percent of the population, but has 700 years of tradition in Northern Dobruja, a region on the Black Sea coast which was part of the Ottoman Empire for almost five centuries. In present-day Romania, most adherents to Islam belong to the Tatar and Turkish ethnic communities and follow the Sunni doctrine. The Islamic religion is one of the 18 rites awarded state recognition.
Immigration to Turkey is the process by which people migrate to Turkey to reside in the country. Many, but not all, become Turkish citizens. After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and following Turkish War of Independence, an exodus by the large portion of Turkish (Turkic) and Muslim peoples from the Balkans, Caucasus, Crimea, and Greece took refuge in present-day Turkey and moulded the country's fundamental features. Trends of immigration towards Turkey continue to this day, although the motives are more varied and are usually in line with the patterns of global immigration movements. Turkey's migrant crisis is a following period since the 2010s, characterized by high numbers of people arriving and settling in Turkey.
Somalis in Finland are residents and citizens of Finland of Somali ancestry. As of 2023, 25,654 Finns had a Somali-background, making it the fourth most common foreign country of origin and the largest from Africa.
Finland is a predominantly Christian nation where 65.2% of the Finnish population of 5.6 million are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (Protestant), 32.0% are unaffiliated, 1.1% are Orthodox Christians, 0.9% are other Christians and 0.8% follow other religions like Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, folk religion etc. These statistics do not include, for example, asylum seekers who have not been granted a permanent residence permit.
Immigration to Finland is the process by which people migrate to Finland to reside in the country. Some, but not all, become Finnish citizens. Immigration has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the history of Finland. The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding ethnicity, economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants, settlement patterns, impact on upward social mobility, crime, and voting behaviour.
Järvenpää Mosque is a mosque located in the Finnish town of Järvenpää. It is owned by The Finnish-Islamic Congregation, which members are Finnish Tatars. It was built in the 1940s. The Tatar community together raised the money for it.
Kurds in Finland refers to Kurds living in Finland. In 2022 there were 16,603 Kurdish speakers in Finland.
Iraqis in Finland are people with Iraqi background residing in Finland. As of 31 December 2023, they numbered 29,266, making them the second largest immigrant group in Finland after Estonians.
Islamophobia in Poland is the fear, hatred of, or prejudice against the Islamic religion or Muslims in Poland. Since the Muslim community in Poland is small the situation has been described as "Islamophobia without Muslims". According to Monika Bobako, Islamophobia is one of the main elements of the Polish nationalist discourse. Islamophobia in Poland takes the form of xenophobia and discrimination towards Muslims or those perceived as Muslim.
Gibadulla Murtasin was a teacher among the Tatar community of Tampere and Helsinki, Finland. He also contributed to their cultural life by for example organizing theater plays. Murtasin was born in Turkestan.
Weli-Ahmed Hakim was a Tatar founding member and a long-time imam of The Finnish-Islamic Congregation. Hakim also operated as imam in Tampere. Hakim was a key figure in organizing religious gatherings before a Tatar congregation was established. Hakim is also mentioned as a major contributor in helping Islamic theologians and Idel-Ural State refugees in Finland, as well as taking a part in the forming of Tatar community in Narva, Estonia.
The Finnish-Islamic Congregation is an Islamic congregation which members are local Tatars. It was founded in 1925 and was the first Islamic congregation in Finland. The congregation has activity in Helsinki, Järvenpää, Kotka and Turku.