Islam in Estonia

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The history of Islam in Estonia is one of mutual tolerance. Although Islam in the country is older than the Estonian nation-state, Muslims have never played a prominent role in Estonian history .

history

The Estonians had during the Middle Ages almost no contact with Muslims . However, today's Tallinn was first described under the name Kolovan in 1154 by the Muslim world traveler and geographer Muhammad Al-Idrisi (1110–1166). From the 16th century, especially since the beginning of the Livonian War (1558–83), Estonia and Livonia sporadically came into contact with soldiers of the Muslim faith who fought on the Russian side and defected into the Swedish army. These encounters usually have no consequences.

Estonia first came into closer contact with Islam as a denomination in the 18th century . After the Great Northern War , Estonia and Livonia became part of Russia in 1721 . In the following three centuries, a few Muslims from other parts of the tsarist empire, particularly Tatars , moved permanently to Estonia. They were mainly active as merchants or soldiers.

Organized Islam

In 1860 the small Tatar population organized itself, with its main focus in the city of Narva . As a result, Muslim cemeteries were opened in Narva, Rakvere and Tallinn . At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the Tatar community in Estonia had grown relatively rapidly. Religious celebrations were mostly held in public spaces, for example in the syringe house of the Tallinn Volunteer Fire Brigade.

At the end of the First World War and when Estonia gained independence from Russia, the number of Tatars fell from 2,000 to a few hundred. The "Muslim community of Narva" ( Narva Muhamedi Kogudus ) in 1928 officially recognized as the first Islamic community in Estonia, the "Muslim religious community of Tallinn" ( Tallinna Muhamedi Usuühing ) 1939. The Estonian government guaranteed in the interwar period , the freedom of religion and minority rights. In Narva, a house could be converted into a mosque with donations , but it was destroyed in 1944 during the Second World War .

With the occupation of Estonia by the Soviet Union , larger groups of Muslims came back into the country. Sunni Tatars from the Volga region in particular settled in Estonia, but Shiite Azerbaijanis , Kazakhs and Uzbeks also moved to Estonia. The atheistic Soviet system, however, made it difficult to practice the Islamic religion. In 1940 the two Muslim associations were banned by the Soviet occupation authorities. From then on, religious work continued largely in secret.

It was not until 1988, shortly before Estonian regained independence, that the "Tatar Cultural Society" ( Tartari kultuuri selts ) came into being, and one year later the Islamic community was re-established under the name of the "Islamic Community of Estonia" ( Eesti Islami Koguduse ). A second Islamic community has existed since 1995 under the name " Congregation of the Mohammedan Sunni Estonia" ( Eesti Muhameedlaste Sunniitide Kogudus ), but only a small number of people belong to it.

According to their own statements, both Islamic communities have a total of 1,400 people (as of January 1, 2000) who live almost exclusively in Tallinn or Narva. The Islamic Community of Estonia brings together the majority Shiites and Sunnis. The differences between the two faiths play only a very minor role in practice in Estonia. The chairman of the Estonian Islamic Community has been Timur Seifullen since 1994. The imam of the community is Ildar Muhamedshin. There is currently no mosque in Estonia . In 2001 the plan to build a mosque in Tallinn failed due to financial difficulties.

Numbers

In the last Estonian census in 2000, 1,387 people identified themselves as Muslims. Nevertheless (despite a decline in the last 20 years) there are already over 2,500 Tatars in Estonia (from over 4,000 in 1989), plus around 900 Azerbaijanis and at least 400 other ethnic Muslims from other former republics of the USSR. Controversial Muslim estimates therefore put between 10,000 and 20,000 Muslims in Estonia.

Relations with the Estonian population are characterized by tolerance and mutual respect in a largely secularized environment. Nevertheless, Islam has remained a relatively foreign cultural phenomenon in Estonia.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Estonian census
  2. ^ Joshua Project: Ethnic People Groups of Estonia (Christian information) .

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