Muslims and Islam in Sweden

Sweden is a country in the Scandinavian region of Western Europe. The largest city and capital of Sweden is Stockholm. Sweden is bordered by Finland to the northeast, Norway to the west and the Oresund Bridge to the southwest. 295 square kilometers. It is the third largest country in Europe. Sweden is one of the least populous regions in Europe.According to a 2017 report from the Swedish Agency for Support to Faith Communities, there were 170,915 Muslims in Sweden who practiced their religion regularly; This count came from those registered with Islamic congregations. The immigration has been the main driver of spreading Islam in Sweden since the late 1960s. Population increases between 2004-2012 have been attributed to immigrants from Iraq, Somalia, and Afghanistan. The US Department of State sets the figure at around 6% (almost 600,000) of the total Swedish population. The population density is 20.6 people per square kilometer.

According to the Central Intelligence Agency's 2011 figures, the total population of Sweden is between four and a half million and five million. In 1997, Muslims made up 3.21 percent of Sweden's population. But by 2014, that number had almost doubled. A 2017 Pew Research report documents Muslim population at 8.1% of the total population of Sweden of 10 million (approximately 810,000). In order to estimate the number of Muslims in Sweden in the year 2050, they looked at three scenarios: zero migration, medium migration, and high migration. In the year 2050 the number of Muslims in Sweden would be 1,130,000 (or 11.1% of the population) under the zero migration scenario, 2,470,000 (or 20.5% of the population) under the medium migration scenario, and 4,450,000 (or 30.6% of the population) under the high migration scenario. That is about one-third of the population. Despite various obstacles, including Islamophobia, others are being attracted to Islam because of the fascinating behavior of Muslims. According to a survey conducted by the State Statistics Organization of Sweden, 24 percent of the country's population is about 10 million immigrants. In June 2016, a survey conducted by the Swedish State Statistics Organization found that 24 percent of the country's 10 million people are immigrants. Experts believe that the number of Muslims in Sweden is increasing because of these. On the other hand, according to the US State Department (2011), there are currently around five lakh Muslims living in Sweden.

There are no official statistics on the exact number of Swedish converts to Islam, but Anne Sofie Roald, a historian of religions at Malmö University College, estimates the number of converts from the Church of Sweden to Islam to be 3,500 people since the 1960s. Roald further states that conversions are also occurring from Islam to the Church of Sweden, most noticeably by Iranians, but also by Arabs and Pakistanis. The first known convert to Islam was the famous painter Ivan Aguéli who was initiated into the Shadhiliyya order. in Egypt in 1909. It was Aguéli who introduced the French metaphysician René Guénon to Sufism. Aguéli is more known among Sufis by his Muslim name Abdul-Hadi al-Maghribi. Other well-known Swedish converts to Islam are Tage Lindbom, Kurt Almqvist, Mohammed Knut Bernström and Tord Olsson. Lindbom, Almqvist and Olsson are also initiates into various Sufi orders. Muhammad Nut Bernstrom, In 1986, he translated the Holy Quran into Swedish.The Swedish parliament now has seven Muslim members. Five of them are female members. They won the elections held in the country on September 9, 2016. They are Sara Seppala of the Sweden Democrats, Gulan Afgi of the Liberal Party, Aminah Kakabave of the Leftist Party, Rosa Goklo Hayedin, Sarkan Kosa of the Social Democrats, Laoin Reeder and Qadir Kasirka.

About 75% of Sweden's population lives in urban and southern cities. Since the nineteenth century, Sweden has maintained its position as a peaceful country and refrained from engaging in any form of war.Sweden has long had trade and political relations with Muslim-majority countries. Sweden had deep ties with the Ottoman rulers in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Ottoman Empire was very strong in Europe. The Swedish kings appointed their ambassadors to Turkey at that time to gain their favor. Since then, Sweden has become acquainted with Muslim culture. However, the presence of Muslims in Sweden in recent decades. In modern Sweden, the first registered Muslim groups were Finnish Tatars who emigrated from Finland and Estonia in the 1940s. Sweden's Muslims are a mixed population. They have come here from more than forty countries. The first group came in 1970. Muslims in Sweden most often originate from Iraq, Iran, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo, the Iraqis being by far the largest group in 2015. Most Iranians and Iraqis fled as Sweden during the Iran – Iraq War from 1980 to 1988. The second-largest Muslim group consists of immigrants or refugees from Eastern Europe, particularly from former Yugoslavian countries, most of them being Bosniaks, who number 12,000 . There is also a sizeable community of Somalis, who numbered 40,165 in 2011.They are followed by Muslim refugees from Syria and Somalia, two very rapidly growing groups. Two other groups, residing in Sweden for a decade longer, are people from Turkey and Lebanon. Although they did not want to stay in Sweden, many of them stayed. Later, in the 1970s and 1980s, their families started coming. They feel the need for formal education to keep religion and culture intact. As a result, some Muslim schools were established. By the 1980s, the number of Muslim immigrants was on the rise.The number of Turkish Muslims has lost its majority. Most come from Iraq, Iran, Somalia, the Balkans and From Pakistan. Besides, many Muslims from Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar started going to Sweden after the 80's.Due to the growing number of Muslims, Islam is now recognized as the second official religion. Most Swedish Muslims live in three major cities Ñ Stockholm, Malm and Gothenburg. Many of them live in the suburbs again. They have homes in Rinkby, Tenesta, Kharholmann in Stockholm and Hummerkullen and Yalbo in Gothenburg and Rosengaard in Malm. Sweden's first Islamic organization was FIFS (Förenade Islamiska Församlingar i Sverige) which started in 1973-1974. In 1972 and 1986, the organization split into two because of internal conflicts, cultural differences, personal conflicts, and funding problems. The other national organizations are BHIRF (Bosnien-Hercegovinas Islamiska riksförbund), founded by Bosnian refugees in 1995, IRFS (Islamiska Riksförbundet), founded in 1995, and Ambassador Muhammad Nut Bernstrom founded a future Islamic university in 2000. Svenska Islamiska Akademin), the SIA has been publishing a periodical called Minaret since February 2001. There are also a few other local small organizations that are primarily made up of certain groups of people. Among these is SMUF, now known as SUM (Sveriges Unga Muslimer). It is the largest organization of Muslim youth, founded in 1965. The women's organization is IKF (Islamiska Kvinnoförbund i Sverige), as well as the IUF (Islamiska Ungdomförbundet i Sverige) and the Imams' SIR (Sveriges Imamråd). Recently, a branch of the Islamic Forum of Europe was opened in Sweden, so that the only Islamic organization formed by the Bengalis started operating in Sweden. Gradually its range is increasing. There are about 250 mosques, large and small, in Sweden. However, most mosques consist of one or two rooms in the basement of the building. There are 6 mosques built in total. Of these, five Sunni mosques are located in Stockholm, Uppsala, Malmo and Vastaras, a Shia mosque in Trollhattan and an Ahmadiyya mosque in Gothenburg. The major Sunni mosques are the Malmo Mosque (1984), the Stockholm Mosque (2000), and the Uppsala (1995).