Rosy Muslim-state relations in Sweden

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 Pahlavi, 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.