Muslims in Sweden enjoy rosy relations with government

Muslims in Sweden enjoy rosy relations with government

By Santi W.E. Soekanto

STOCKHOLM (JP): Sweden, often claimed to be among the world's
most open and equal societies, has long been a safe haven for
foreigners fleeing turmoil in their countries. Many of the
approximately 500,000 Muslims here are exiles or refugees from
former or currently turbulent societies such as Iran, who now
thrive as Swedish nationals.

Indeed, one tenth of the Swedish population of 8.9 million has
roots overseas. While Pakistanis, Indians and Bangladeshis are
usually the faces that grace countless small shop counters in the
United Kingdom, in Sweden it's Iranians.

Racism cases crop up here and there from time to time,
including one in recent years when a neo-Nazi youth known as the
skinheads killed a Muslim youth, but Muslims interviewed for this
article painted a rosy picture of relations between Islam and the
state.

Eritrean-born Yasin Ahmed made a sweeping gesture at the
expanse of the Great Mosque of Stockholm, unabashedly proud of
the newly officiated and beautiful house of worship in the center
of the capital.

Originally the electricity company building constructed in
1903, the premises has now been expanded and renovated into a
modern facility that took more than SEK 60 million to build.
There's wall-to-wall thick carpeting, blue and green window
frames, a spacious basement gym and a comfortable restaurant that
serves halal food.

Even the shortest flight of stairs in the four-story building
is fitted with a lift for the disabled. The prayer rooms are
clean and sweet smelling, while the washrooms and places for
ablution gleam with chrome-plated taps with potable cold and hot
water.

"During Friday prayers, hundreds attend, and we have even
bigger turnouts during the Eid celebrations," said Yasin, who now
leads the young Muslim wing of the Islamic Council of Sweden.

Mostafa Kharraki, a Moroccan who has been in Sweden for more
than 25 years and is now chairman of the Islamic Council of
Sweden, said it took the Muslims in Stockholm 17 years before
they could finally open the mosque late last year.

"It was difficult to attain the property, we had to work on it
for 17 years in constant contact with the municipality of
Stockholm," Kharraki said in an interview in mid-May. He was
reluctant to describe the difficulties encountered, apart from
saying there was some resistance from locals, especially
concerning the mosque's location, right in the middle of the
city.

But in general, "most of our rights (to practice the religion)
are protected here," Kharraki said. "The state of Sweden does not
recognize Islam as an official religion, but recognizes the
Muslim people. That way, the state can aid the Muslims," he said.

One of the first tasks facing the Muslims, Kharraki said, is
to make them part of society, while retaining their own identity.
"One of the ways we have achieved this is by cooperating with the
Swedish government on subjects such as legislation, especially
those that concern many of us who are foreigners, and concern our
rights as a minority."

"Muslims also participate in many state committees, as well as
municipal institutions," he said, adding that the political
participation ranges widely, from local matters to those having
an international interest.

For example, one of the committees in the Sveriges Riksdag
(Swedish parliament) last month discussed the immigration law
while another committee discussed legislation on civil defense.
The Islamic council took part in the deliberations. "This is
important for many Muslims here -- because one of the laws will
affect, for instance, my plan to bring my parents into this
country," Kharraki said.

The Muslim community in Sweden is fully aware of issues such
as gender and people equality that are tackled by yet another
committee -- because they all affect them. "In fact, we don't
want the Swedish laws to change because they're good to us,"
Kharraki explained, laughing. "But of course, there are other
countries such as France that don't agree with how the state of
Sweden is treating (migrant Muslims)."

Da'wa movement

Yasin agreed the good relations with the government helps
Muslims spread the teaching through their da'wa (propagation)
activities. He lifted from the table a thick, green-covered copy
of the Koran while saying proudly, "It has been translated into
the Swedish language by Muhammad Knut Bergrstrom. It was
published two years ago."

Bergstrom is a former Swedish ambassador to Algeria and
Morocco who converted to Islam and studied the Koran and spent 10
years to complete the translation of the holy book into his
native language. He named the book "Koranens budskap", or the
message of the Koran.

"Bergstrom is native Swedish, he's white," said Yasin, who is
dark-skinned. Dressed in dark turtle-neck jumper and coat, he is
attractive and his smile is warm.

Over the past year, 30 Swedish have converted to Islam, thanks
to the propagation activities, but da'wa for those already
professing to be Muslims is no less important. This is why the
mosque holds a series of regular activities, including extending
aid to disaster and war-stricken regions such as Chechnya, Sudan,
Bosnia and Eritrea.

For the young people they hold the qiyyamul lail (night
prayer) -- this is a program for boys and girls where they spend
the weekend at the mosque praying, studying the Koran together
and having gym sessions in the basement of the building. Some 160
children will take part in the session planned for June.

There is also the need to spread the teaching among reluctant
Muslims, according to Harraki.

"I am a Muslim but I don't go to the mosque because I don't
want to hear people talking about fundamentalism," said Asghar, a
father of two in his early 50s, who owns a "Seven Eleven"
convenience store on a busy main street in Stockholm. The
Iranian-born man who has been in Sweden for 27 years, said he
hated "Khomeini, Rafsanjani, Khatami...(but) I still long for my
country, as I don't feel that I completely belong here."

"I can never go back unless Iran changes," he said. "I used to
dislike (deposed) Shah Reza Pahlevi, but after Khomeini came into
power and forced Islam(ic sharia) on people like me, I have
decided that I preferred the Shah. Maybe some day his son, Prince
Reza, will again rule the country."

Mehdi Rahimzadeh runs a bookshop that sells copies of the
Koran, religious, philosophical and cultural books, many in
Persian language, on yet another busy street of Stockholm. He
also owns a design consulting firm, and sometimes helps his
Iranian friends run their cafe.

He does not know where the mosque is situated and he sells
alcohol drinks when serving at the cafe.

Politics

Islam is now the second largest religion in Sweden after
Christianity, and is increasing in its political clout. The
Islamic Council of Sweden itself is an umbrella of 115 local
Muslim organizations across Sweden, whose members come from all
parts of the world: Pakistan, Morocco, Turkey, Bosnia, Iran,
Indonesia.

A cosmopolitan picture of the Muslim world, so to speak. It
has not only women's and youth wings, but also a political
lobbying wing. Activists believe that regardless of the
government's vow of equality for all social groups, Muslims have
from time to time to faced obstacles in practicing their faith.

Farhad Udin Ahmed, a 54-year-old Bangladeshi Swede, believes
political activism is needed to further the Muslim cause. The
secretary of the Islamic Council of Sweden, who also chairs the
Political Islamic Union, pointed to cases where Muslim women were
denied employment because they wore religious headscarves.

Political lobbying is needed for parents wishing to have their
children exempted from eating pork in school cafeterias or
bathing together after physical exercises. It is also needed when
parents want their children to be exempted from Lucia, the annual
religious rite in school, or from being exposed to certain music,
according to Ahmed.

The Swedish government has an ombudsman dealing with
discrimination who hears cases of discrimination against Muslims
in the workplace, for instance. "If your name is Farhad, for
example, you are vulnerable to discriminatory acts in the
workplace," Ahmed said.

Ahmed acknowledged, however, that the government is trying to
stop discrimination because, again, the Muslim community has good
relations with the state and wishes to be part and parcel of
Sweden.