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Swedish contact with the Muslim world dates back to the 7th–10th centuries, when theVikings traded with Muslims during theIslamic Golden Age. Since the late 1960s and more recently, Muslimimmigration from theMiddle East,Balkans andHorn of Africa has impacted the demographics of religion in Sweden, and has been the main driver of the spread of Islam in the country.[2]Islam in Sweden increased at most as a result of high refugee influxes, notably during theYugoslav Wars and theSomali Civil War in the 1990s,Iraq War in the 2000s andSyrian civil war in the 2010s.[3][4]
The Muslim community in Sweden hails from numerous countries, making it a complex and heterogeneous population.[5] According to a 2019 report from theSwedish Agency for Support to Faith Communities, there were 200,445 Muslims in Sweden who practiced their religion regularly; this count came from those registered with Islamic congregations.[6] The USDepartment of State'sSweden 2014 International Religious Freedom Report set the 2014 figure of Muslims in Sweden at around 600,000 people, 6% of the total Swedish population.[7] There are no official statistics on how the Swedish population identifies religiously, so it is not possible to know how many people actually identify as Muslims. Estimates suggest that around 8% of the population—approximately 800,000 people—have a Muslim background in Sweden as of 2017. However, this figure has not been verified, and the source, the Pew Research Center (an American think tank), has been shown to be inaccurate in the past.[8]
Pre-IslamicArabic coins originating from theMiddle East have been found atIron Age burial sites.[9] Archaeological findings have also shown Viking contact with Islam dating back to the 7th–10th centuries, when theVikings seem to have been trading with themedieval Islamic world, among others.
The Swedish census in 1930 listed 15 people as belonging to the group "Muslims and other Asian faiths". Although the number of Muslims themselves are not known, one estimate suggests a maximum of 11 but could have been as low as 2.[10]
In modern Sweden, the first registered Muslim groups wereFinnish Tatars who emigrated fromFinland andEstonia in the 1940s. Islam began to have a noticeable presence in Sweden withimmigration from theMiddle East andTurkey beginning in the 1970s.[11] Further waves of immigrants came to Sweden from the former Yugoslav republics, and more recently from Somalia and Syria.
Sweden has a number of mosques providing the Muslim communities in Sweden places of worship.[12] The first mosque in Sweden was theNasir Mosque [sq;sv], built in 1976 in Gothenburg by theAhmadiyya. It was followed by theMalmö Mosque, 1984, and later, theUppsala Mosque in 1995. More mosques were built during the 2000s, including theStockholm Mosque (2000) and theFittja Mosque (completed 2007), among others. The governments ofSaudi Arabia andLibya have financially supported the constructions of some of the largest Mosques in Sweden.[13][14]
The first meeting between Muslim youth organizations across Europe first took place in Sweden in 1995, in which the Foreign Ministry of Sweden worked withSveriges Unga Muslimer to hold an international conference titled "Islam in Europe." This led to the creation of the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organizations (FEMYSO).[15]
As of the year 2000, an estimated 300,000 to 350,000 people of Muslim background lived in Sweden, or 3.5% of total population;[16] thereby included is anyone who fits the broad definition of someone who "belongs to a Muslim people by birth, has Muslim origin, has a name that belongs in the Muslim tradition, etc." regardless of personal religious convictions,[17] of whom about 100,000 were second-generation immigrants (born in Sweden or immigrated as children).[18] In Sweden registration by personal belief is not common and is normally against the law, thus only figures of practising Muslims belonging to an Islamic community can be reported. In 2009, theMuslim Council of Sweden reported 106,327 registered members.[7]
In December 2008,riots broke out in Malmö in the Herrgården section ofRosengård, when the landlord did not renew the contract for the premises of a local mosque. Angry youths occupied the premises for three weeks, at the end of which police coming to evict the occupiers were confronted by about 30 occupiers, including radical Muslims and activists affiliated with the radical leftistAntifaschistische Aktion.[19] The occupiers attacked police withpipe bombs androcks and the incident rapidly escalated, with protestors arriving from other cities and officials calling in riot police.[20][19] Rioters set fire to cars, wagons, kiosks, building sheds, recycling stations, and bicycle sheds.[21] After two nights of rioting, 200 adult Malmö residents organized by the Islamiska kulturföreningen (“Islamic Cultural Forum”) moved into the streets to mediate, causing the youthful rioters to desist.[20]
In September 2018, the mosque inAlby, Botkyrka via itsGreen Party member Ali Khali delivered an offer to theModerate Party where the 3000 votes of the worshippers would be given to the Moderate Party in exchange forplanning permission to build a new mosque. The Green Party forced Khalil to leave the party after the finding was made public by Swedish Television.[22]
In September 2018, the Social Democratic Party inKarlshamn revoked the membership of a Muslim politician after translations fromArabic showed that the politician had campaigned for the supremacy of Islam over Swedish customs, against vulnerable children being taken care of by social services and that women with Arabic heritage should wear the Islamic veil. The statements were verified with interpreters.[23]
In 2018, preschools inBiskopsgården district were reprimanded by theMunicipality of Gothenburg afterGöteborgs-Posten newspaper had found out that 4 out of 5 kindergartens stated they were willing to force girls in their care to wear the Islamichijab if the parents requested it.[24] The newspaper found a willingness by preschools to force at 27 of the 40 investigated institutions in Malmö, Gothenburg and Stockholm.[24]
In April and May 2019, five senior members of the Swedish Muslim community were detained by the Swedish Migration Agency by orders of the Säpo security police.[25]
In December 2019, themunicipality of Skurup banned Islamic veils in educational institutions. Earlier, in May 2019, themunicipality of Staffanstorp approved a similar ban.[26] On 17 November 2020, the Administrative Courts inMalmö andLund determined that both municipalities' decisions to prohibit headscarves, niqabs, and burqas in preschools and primary schools violated theconstitutional right tofreedom of religion and theEuropean Convention on Human Rights.[27] Both municipalities appealed, but on 23 June 2021, the Administrative Court of Appeal inGothenburg upheld the initial rulings on the same grounds.[28] On 8 December 2022, theSupreme Administrative Court overturned both bans, with Justice Ulrik von Essen stating that "in order for the restriction to be permissible, it must be supported by law" and that "legal support is lacking in national law and therefore the municipalities' decisions should be overturned".[29][30][31]
On 12 October 2025,Christian Democrats (KD) leader andDeputy Prime MinisterEbba Busch proposed a nationwide ban on burqas and niqabs in public places such as streets, squares, shopping centres, and healthcare facilities.[32]Education andIntegration Minister andLeader of the LiberalsSimona Mohamsson expressed support for stronger measures against religious oppression, including forced veiling, but did not explicitly endorse Busch’s proposal,[33] and neither did any other party in theTidö Government.[34]
Although there are no official statistics of Muslims in Sweden, estimates vary at different points:
In 1978 there was around 22,000-37,000.[35] In 1989 this had risen to around an estimated 50,000 and 100,000 and in 1993 130,000.[35][36]
In 2000, there was around 300,000—350,000 people of Muslim background.[16] (i.e. anyone who fits the broad definition of someone who "belongs to a Muslim people by birth, has Muslim origin, has a name that belongs in the Muslim tradition, etc."[17]), roughly estimated close to 100,000 of which are second-generation.[18] Of the first-generation Muslims, 255,000 are thought to beSunni,[failed verification] 5,000Shi'ites,[failed verification] no more than 1,000Ahmadiya,Alevi and other groups and probably no more than 5,000 converts – mainly women married to Muslim men.[37] In 2009 a US report stated that there are 450,000 to 500,000 Muslims in Sweden, around 5% of the total population, and that the Muslim Council of Sweden reported 106,327 officially registered members.[38] Swedish estimates are rather 350,000, including nominal Muslims and people from a Muslim background.[citation needed]
Such numbers do not imply religious beliefs or participation;Åke Sander [sv] claimed in 1992 that at most 40–50% of the people of Muslim background in Sweden "could reasonably be considered to be religious",[39] and in 2004, based on discussions and interviews with Muslim leaders, concerning second-generation Muslims born and raised in Sweden that "it does not seem that the percentage they consider to be religious Muslims in a more qualified sense exceeds fifteen percent, or perhaps even less".[40] Sander re-stated in 2004 that "we do not think it unreasonable to put the figure of religious Muslims in Sweden at the time of writing at close to 150,000".[41] Professor Mohammad Fazlhashemi atUmeå University estimates "a good 100,000".[42] About 25,000 are regarded as devout Muslims, visiting Friday prayers and practising daily prayers.
Muslims in Sweden most often originate fromIraq,Iran,Bosnia-Herzegovina,Sandžak andKosovo, the Iraqis being by far the largest group in 2015.[43] Most Iranians and Iraqis fled as refugees to Sweden during theIran–Iraq War from 1980 to 1988. The second-largest Muslim group consists of immigrants or refugees fromEastern Europe, particularly fromformer Yugoslavian countries, most of them beingBosniaks, who number 12,000. There is also a sizeable community ofSomalis, who numbered 40,165 in 2011.[citation needed] They are followed by Muslim refugees fromSyria andSomalia, two very rapidly growing groups. Two other groups, residing in Sweden for a decade longer, are people fromTurkey andLebanon.
There are no official statistics on the exact number of Swedish converts to Islam, butAnne Sofie Roald [no], a historian of religions atMalmö University College, estimates the number of converts from theChurch 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 byIranians, but also byArabs andPakistanis.[45]
The first known convert to Islam was the famous painterIvan Aguéli who was initiated into theShadhiliyya order inEgypt in 1909. It was Aguéli who introduced the French metaphysicianRené Guénon toSufism. Aguéli is more known among Sufis by his Muslim name Abdul-Hadi al-Maghribi. Other well-known Swedish converts to Islam areTage Lindbom,Kurt Almqvist,Mohammed Knut Bernström andTord Olsson. Lindbom, Almqvist and Olsson are also initiates into various Sufi orders. Bernström translated theQuran into Swedish in 1998.
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Severalmosques have been built in Sweden since the 1980s, with notable ones inMalmö (1984) andStockholm (2000). TheBellevue Mosque and theBrandbergen Mosque in the 2000s came to public attention as recruitment and propaganda centers forIslamist terrorism.[46][47]
In recent years, Islamic places of worship have increasingly been subject to vandalism. Swedish historian Mattias Gardell from Uppsala University sent a survey to 173 mosques, with 106 responding. 59% reported being subject to some sort of physical attack.[48]
The following are some of the places of Islamic worship that can be found today in Sweden.
| Name | Municipality | Year | Organization & sponsorship | Sect | Imam | Worship language |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metropolitan Stockholm | ||||||
| Stockholm Mosque | Stockholm,Medborgarplatsen | 2000 | Islamiska Förbundet i Stockholm [sv], sponsored byUnited Arab Emirates[49] | Sunni | Abu Mahmoud | Arabic,Swedish |
| Bangladesh Jame Masjid | 23 Kocksgatan,MedborgarplatsenStockholm | SunniHanafi | Bengali,Arabic | |||
| Fittja Mosque | Stockholm,Fittja | 2007 | Botkyrka Turkiska Islamiska Förening, sponsored byTurkey viaDiyanet.[50] | SunniHanafi | Arabic,Turkish | |
| Brandbergen Mosque | Haninge (SouthStockholm) | Haninge Islamiskt Kultur Center | Wahhabi/Salafi | Karim Laallam | Arabic | |
| Imam Ali Mosque | Järfälla (WestStockholm) | 1996 | Ahl Al Bayt Assembly, sponsored byIran[49] | Shi'ite | Arabic,Persian,Swedish | |
| Skogås Mosque,Skogås,Stockholm | Sunni | |||||
| Central Sweden | ||||||
| Gävle Mosque | Gävle | Run by "Al-Rashideen foundation", financed by aQatari organisation. At the time the board of foundation had imam Riyad Al-Duhan among its members, today he calls himself Abo Raad. The Qatari organisation was founded by Abd al-Rahman bin Umayr al-Nuaymi, one of the majoral-Qaeda financiers according to a researcher at Uppsala University.[51] | Salafist[52] | Riyad Al-Duhan aka Abo Raad | ||
| Uppsala | Uppsala, Kvarngärdet | 1995 | Sunni | |||
| Västernorrland Islamisk Förening | Örnsköldsvik, domsjö | 2014 | Sunni | |||
| Örebro | Örebro, Vivalla | 2008 | Sponsored byQatar[49] In December 2017, the building was afire when firefighters arrived and it burned to the ground in December 2017.[53] | |||
| Metropolitan Gothenburg | ||||||
| Bellevue Mosque | Gothenburg,Bellevue | Islamic Sunni Centre, sponsored by Saudi Arabia[49] | Wahhabi/Salafi | |||
| Turkish Mosque 1 | Gothenburg,Hisingen | SunniHanafi | ||||
| Masjid Guraba | Gothenburg,Hisingen | Sunni | ||||
| Bosnian Mosque | Gothenburg,Hisingen | General | ||||
| Nasir Mosque [sq;sv] | Gothenburg,Högsbo | 1976 | AhmadiyyaMuslim Jama'at, sponsored byPakistan[49] | Ahmadiyya | Yahya Khan | Arabic,Swedish,Urdu |
| Angered Mosque | Gothenburg,Angered | |||||
| Trollhättan Mosque[54] | Trollhättan | 1985 | Sponsored bySaudi Arabia,Kuwait,Oman andUAE[49] | General | ||
| Southern Sweden | ||||||
| Mahmood Mosque | Malmö | 2016 | ||||
| Malmö Mosque | Malmö | 1984 | ||||
| Muslimska församlingen i Malmö | Malmö | 1972 | Muslimska församlingen i Malmö (translation: Muslim congregation in Malmö) is aTurkish congregation connected to theTurkish directorate of Religious Affairs, Diyanet. According to its own records, it has 2200 members and is located on Sallerupsvägen. The imam was trained and sent by Diyanet. According to theSwedish Agency for Support to Faith Communities, the mosque has good relations to the MalmöMillî Görüş chapter.[55] In 2011, after decades of collecting donations from its members, it bought a property to use as a mosque for 8 millionSEK. In 2017, the congregation donated its property toSvenska Islam stiftelsen (Turkish: Isveç Diyanet Vakfı) which is part of Diyanet.[50] | |||
The beginning of nationwide Islamic (Sunni) institutions in Sweden dates back to the creation ofFIFS (Förenade Islamiska Församlingar i Sverige) in 1973–1974. In 1982 and 1984 two splits, due to internal rivalries, cultural differences, personal conflicts and funding, brought to the creation ofSMF (Svenska Muslimska Förbundet) and ICUS, today IKUS (Islamska Kulturcenterunionen i Sverige). Others national institutions are BHIRF (Bosnien-Hercegovinas Islamiska riksförbund), founded in 1995 byBosnian refugees, IRFS (Islamiska Riksförbundet), also since 1995, and SIA (Svenska Islamiska Akademin), founded in 2000 by the former ambassadorMohammed Knut Bernström, with the task of establishing in the future an Islamic university in Sweden, charged with imam education. SIA also publishes since February 2001 the periodicalMinaret in Swedish.
There exist also the women association IKF (Islamiska Kvinnoförbund i Sverige), the youth association IUF (Islamiska Ungdomförbundet i Sverige) and the imam association SIR (Sveriges Imamråd). IIF (Islamiska Informationföreningen) is a member association of FIFS aiming at providing information about Islam in Sweden; 1986–2000 it publishedSalaam, whose editorial board has always been dominated by women, mainly Swedish converts.
National and target organization have also created umbrella organizations in order to simplify their relationships to the state. FIFS and SMF have created in 1990SMR (Sveriges Muslimska Råd), of which SUM is also member. The IKUS umbrella organization is named IRIS (Islamiska Rådet i Sverige) and includes also IKF, IUF and SIR. Above all, IS (Islamiska samarbetsrådet) deals with financial issues with the commission for state grants to religious communities (SST); it includes FIFS, SMF, IKUS, ISS and SIF.
TheIslamic Association in Sweden (Arabic: الرابطة الأسلامية في السويد; Swedish:Islamiska förbundet i Sverige, IFiS) was formed according to the records of the Swedish Tax Agency, the protocol of the constituent meeting of The Islamic Association in Sweden (IFiS) on January 27–28, 1995 in the presence of Ahmed Ghanem, Mostafa Kharraki, Mahmoud Aldebe, Zoheir Berrahmoune, Mahmoud Kalim and Sami al-Sarif.[56] The initiator is the Stockholm organisationIslamiska Förbundet i Stockholm, which runsStockholm mosque and was found 1987.[57] IFiS headquarters are located at Stockholm Mosque.[58] According to the IFiS charter, it is a founding member in theMuslim Brotherhood-associated umbrella organisationFederation of Islamic Organisations in Europe whose guidelines it follows.[58][59] It has started the following organisations, either alone or together with others:[60]
Omar Mustafa is chairman of IFiS since 2011. On 7 April 2013 he was elected to the party committee of theSwedish Social Democratic Party, which was noted by anti-racist magazineExpo as Mustafa, as chairman of IFiS, had invitedSalah Sultan and Ragheb Al-Serjany both of whom had spreadantisemitic views inal Jazeera interviews and that he also "likes" Egyptian imamYousef Al-Qaradawi on Facebook.[64] During the Easter of 2013, IFiS invitedYvonne Ridley andAzzam Tamimi to a seminar to a conference it organised together with Ibn Rushd andSveriges Unga Muslimer.[64] As a result of the discoveries, Mustafa left the Social Democratic Partycommittee and party.
IFiS is an umbrella organization.[65]
| Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| IFiS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Muslim Council of Sweden | Stockholm mosque | Gothenburg Mosque | Islamic Relief | Sveriges Unga Muslimer | Ibn Rushd | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Muslim Council of Sweden (Swedish:Sveriges muslimska råd, SMR) is anumbrella organisation ofIslamic organisations inSweden. It was founded in 1990 by representatives of theFörenade islamiska församlingar i Sverige [sv] (FIFS), and theMuslim Association of Sweden (Swedish:Sveriges Muslimska Förbund, SMuF). The former chairwoman of the organisation isHelena Hummasten,[66] who succeededMostafa Kharraki.
According to islamologist Sameh Egyptson at Lund University, several people in leadership positions of the council are Islamists and support theMuslim Brotherhood.[67][68] The council organised a demonstration to protest whenMohamed Morsi was removed from office in Egypt.
In 1999,Mahmoud Aldebe was chairman of the council.[69]
In 1999, the organisation was part of an alliance with theReligious Social Democrats (Swedish:Tro och Solidaritet) faction of theSocial Democratic Party, where the council was to gain influence inSwedish politics via quotas for the number of Muslim politicians on election lists for council, region andRiksdag elections. Tro och Solidaritet was to further Islamic interests such as legislation and contracts concerning Muslim holidays, instituting a tax-financed training for imams via theNational Agency for Higher Education and rules in working places for theJumu'ah (Friday prayer). According to Religious Social Democrats chairman Peter Weiderud in 2014, the Religious Social Democrats were still in contact with SMR.[69]
The organisationMuslim Youth of Sweden (Swedish:Sveriges Unga Muslimer, SUM) with its headquarters atStockholm Mosque receivedstate aid from theSwedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society (Swedish acronym: MUCF) in the years 2011–2015.[70] SUM had to pay back the government funds for 2016 and 2017 due to the organisation failing to respect the ideals ofdemocracy.[71][72] A report outlined how sympathisers and activists for extremist movements had leading positions of local chapters of SUM.[71][73]
A number of Swedish academics member ofAntirasistiska Akademin (ArA), among themEdda Manga and Maimuna Abdullahi (also ofMMRK) criticized the decision of MUCF to withhold further state aid to the organization.[74]
SUM has a branch in Malmö, namedMalmö Unga Muslimer.[55]
In 2019, theadministrative court of appeal upheld the decision to deny state aid to the organisation on the grounds that its representatives on occasion had made remarks incompatible with democracy and was ordered to repay 1.4 million SEK.[75]
Islamic Relief in Sweden was founded in 1992 and is part of the international Muslim aid charityIslamic Relief which was founded in the UK.[55]
IR in Sweden receives and channels tax funding primarily from government agenciesSwedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) andForumCiv [sv]. In 2019 IR Sweden received 167 million SEK and 139 million SEK in tax funding.[76]
The Muslim Association of Sweden (Swedish:Sveriges muslimska förbund, SMF) isSweden's largestMuslim organisation, which represents around 70,000 Muslims in Sweden, which receives state aid fromSwedish Agency for Support to Faith Communities.[77] The organization claims to be separate from the Muslim Brotherhood, but does claim to be inspired by its values. For example, one of the representatives of the organization, Mahmoud Aldebe, sent a letter in April 2006 to different Swedish political parties asking to exempt Muslims from Swedish divorce law.[78]
Muslimska Mänskliga Rättighetskommittén (MMRK) (loosely translated: "Muslim human rights committee") an organization modeled after the UK-based organisationCageprisoner. MMRK consider the criminalisation of travelling to commit terror abroad to be a form of racial laws directed towards Muslims. MMRK also claim that returning Foreign Terrorist Fighters do not constitute a security threat.[79] Spokesperson Maimuna Abdullahi also criticized suggestions that travelling to conflict zones should be criminalized in a letter published bySwedish Television.[80]
In May 2010,Munir Awad was invited to speak at a seminar criticizing the anti-terrorism laws of Sweden organized by MMRK.[81] Awad was arrested in December 2010 for the2010 Copenhagen terror plot for which he was later convicted and sentenced to jail.[81]
MMRK invited the Cageprisoners foundersMoazzam Begg andAsim Qureshi to a seminar.[79]
According to Dagens Nyheter in 2017, nine mosques in Sweden have imams sent and paid for by the Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet). Along with their religious duties, the imams are also tasked with reporting on critics of theTurkish government. According to Dagens Nyheter, propaganda for presidentErdogan is openly presented in the mosques.[50]
The Diyanet director of the Swedish branch is Fatih Mehmet Karaca. In November 2016 Karaca forced the finance officer (Swedish: kassör) ofMuslimska församlingen i Malmö mosque (listed above) to resign as the finance officer had expressed views critical of the AKP party which is intolerable according to Diyanet ideology.[50]
The Swedish Muslims for Peace and Justice is a self-described peace organization. It was founded in 2008 by a group including the Swedish ParliamentarianMehmet Kaplan. Kaplan was forced to resign from the Swedish Cabinet due to his association with advocates of violent attacks on Armenians and connections to Islamist militants in Turkey.[82][83] In 2018 it was headed by formerGreen Party politicianYasri Khan.[84] Khan was forced to leave the Green Party after he was nominated to the party committee while refusing to shake hands with women on religious grounds.[85]
In 2012, investigating magazineExpo wrote that the anti-democratic and antisemitic Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir had started to establish itself in Sweden. In October 2012 Hizb ut-Tahrir situated its annual "calpiphate conference" in Stockholm.[86] The group at the time had a section for all ofScandinavia which was primarily active inDenmark.[86] The group does not recognize the caliphate as established by ISIL.[87]
In the2014 and2018 Swedish general elections, the group campaigned in the Stockholm area for Muslims not to vote.[88][89]
According to Sayed Jalabi in 2018, the organisation aims to organise a not necessarily violentcoup d'état to overthrow theGovernment of Sweden and instead create acaliphate.[90]
According to a Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesperson for Scandinavia, the organization does not strive to change the political system in Western countries.The Quilliam Foundation, composed of defectors from extremist organizations, Hizb ut-Tahrir does not believe in democratic and open societies and that they hide their intention to abolish democracy in the West.[88]
Ibn rushd is an educational organization (Swedish: studieförbund) financed by state subsidies fromFolkbildningsrådet, a government agency. Principal of the organization (Swedish: förbundsrektor) isOmar Mustafa. The organization gives courses inDawah (Islamic missionary work). Together withMuslim Youth of Sweden, Ibn Rushd organizes the annual eventMuslimska Familjedagarna(MFD) where proponents of sharia law have been invited to seminars.[91]
In 2015,Anas Altikriti was invited to hold a speech at the MFD event.[92]
In 2017,Ibn rushd received 27 million Swedish crowns in state aid for its activities and a further 4.7 million for education of asylum seekers.[93]
Al-Salamskolan is acharter school inÖrebro. It receives about 150-200 thousand Swedish crowns every month from a Saudi foundation connected to theal-Haramain Foundation. The school is run by a foundation controlled by Saudi nationals.[94][95] Music is banned at the school.[94] Boys and girls are segregated into groups along gender lines for several subjects due to religious reasons.[96] Beyond the national curriculum, the pupils receive ten hours of tuition in Islam and Arabic, which according to the former headmaster at the school was mandatory.[97] In 2017, the school received a 500 000 SEK fine from theSwedish Schools Inspectorate due to deficiencies in its teaching practises. In 2017 the school wanted to fire the chairman of Al-Risalah Scandinavian Foundation, the foundation that funds the school, due to him not being able to be present for meetings.[98]
El Dagve was a Muslimcharter school inJönköping. Headmaster Hassan Meri immatriculated children to the school and received funding from theJönköping Municipality but sent the pupils to school in their home countries instead, keeping the difference.[99] In 2004 the school was closed bySwedish Work Environment Authority.[100]
Al-Azharskolan (Al-Azhar school) is a foundation which runs charter schools with a Muslim profile. In 2019, four of members of the board of directors were convicted of aggravated fraud for having funneled school funds towards a banking project, which would have become the firstIslamic bank (which would not have charged interest) in Sweden. Starting a bank would have required around 100-150 million SEK, but existing Swedish banks did not want to facilitate the transfer of funds from investors in the Middle East to Sweden. The Al-Azhar school also caused controversy in 2016 when its school inVällingby had gender segregated gym classes for children. TheSwedish Schools Inspectorate also criticized the school for holding prayers during lesson hours, which violates educational law in Sweden. Of the seven accused, two were acquitted.[101] The verdict was upheld in theappeals court.[102]
As several of the accused also were involved in collecting funds for the construction of a mosque inRinkeby, the construction companyNCC withdrew from the project.[101]
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As religion a few decades earlier was viewed as receding phenomenon, during the decade leading up to 2016 religion was again in the mainstream discourse due to international conflicts being interpreted in religious terms. In the last SOM survey in 2016 by Gothenburg University, the perception of Islam among the public had become more negative.[103]
In 2006, a survey by the SOM Institute showed that half the Swedish population was negative towards Islam, where 7% expressed a positive attitude, 40% were undecided and 53% were negative. The poll showed that 48% were positive towards Christianity, the most positively rated religion.[104]
In 2007, a study by theIntegrationsverket government agency showed that 55% of respondents among the population of Sweden expressed reservations about moving to districts where many Muslims live.[105] This was the same as for 2005.[105]
In 2014, a poll byGävle University College found that when asked about their attitudes towards veils, in the case of theniqab and theburqa, 84% responded that the niqab was unacceptable and 81% saw the burqa in the same light, indicating a near-universal opposition to these external coverings. Thechador was deemed unacceptable by 37% and a "clear majority" found thehijab and theshayla acceptable, 65.0 and 65.2 percent respectively. The report stated that "The question seems to arouse strong feelings against oppression versus the right to wear the clothes you want." The poll showed a slight increase in acceptance for the public wearing of veils. It also stated that "a clear majority (64.4%) of the Swedish population consider Muslim women to be more oppressed than other women in Sweden.".[106] Of the respondents, 26% expressed resistance to all kinds of Islamic veils.[106]In 2017, the SwedishNational Board of Student Aid (CSN) eased its longtime grants and loans to students going toIslamic University of Madinah inSaudi Arabia, a religious school for missionariesproselytising the wahhabist variant of Islam. An investigation byDagens Nyheter found that 71 students had travelled from Sweden with CSN funding since year 2000. The ban of grants was due to that neither women nor non-Muslims in general are allowed to study at Madinah and the ban encompassed all studies at all institutions being hostile to democracy.[107]
According to a 2018 poll bySifo, 60% of the 1000 participants wanted to ban the Islamiccall to prayer using loudspeakers, while 21% responded they should be allowed and 19% were undecided.[108]
TheSwedish Security Service estimated that there may be about 2,000 Swedish adherents of the puritanicalSalafist movement withinSunni Islam.[109][dubious –discuss] The Salafi movement is split between inward-looking purists and passivists, versus those who are militant.[110] This last group is further divided into those who advocate militant defensive jihad in defense of Muslims, and those who advocate an offensive jihad along the lines of Al-Qaeda or ISIS.[110] The majority of Salafists are passive and inward-oriented, while a small minority are oriented towards offensivejihadism - as opposed a so-called defensive jihad against outside aggression.[110] Unlike in other parts of Europe, there are no Salafi organizations which openly preach jihad in Sweden - Salafi thought is instead spread by informal networks.[110]
In Salafist circles, while topics in the main are uncontroversial, derogatory views towards women, homosexuals, non-believers, and Western governments are frequently expressed. It is also stressed that Muslims should not integrate into wider Swedish society.[111] TheSwedish Defence University concluded in its 2018 report on Salafism in Sweden that since according to Salafi doctrine only following the religious laws is allowed, Salafism is an anti-democratic movement. In contrast to non-Salafis, Salafists preach in Swedish.[112]
In the Stockholm area, non-militant Salafists are predominant in the Tensta and Rinkeby areas among Salafists, while a militant and al-Qaeda supporting movement was predominant inSkärholmen, Alby andNorsborg.[112]
According to theSwedish Defence University, since the 1970s, a number of residents of Sweden have been implicated in providing logistical and financial support to or joining various foreign-based transnational Islamic militant groups. Among these organizations areHezbollah,Hamas, theGIA,Al-Qaeda, theIslamic State,Al-Shabaab,Ansar al-Sunna andAnsar al-Islam.[113]
In the 2000s, according toEuropol, Islamists in Sweden were not primarily seeking to commit attacks in Sweden, but were rather using Sweden as a base of operations against other countries and for providing logistical support for groups abroad.[114]
In 2010, the Swedish Security Service estimated that a total of 200 individuals were involved in the Swedish violent Islamist extremist milieu. According to the Swedish Defence University, most of these militants were affiliated with the Islamic State, with around 300 people traveling to Syria and Iraq to join the group and Al-Qaeda associated outfits like Jabhat al-Nusra in the 2012-2017 period.[113]
In the Stockholm area, all networks involving jihadists are also involved in ordinary crime such as theft, burglary, and blackmail whereby they acquire income.[112] Income received from illegal narcotics trading are also used finance jihadist activity as sympathizers with an ideology which uses violence to reach a higher goal will automatically be drawn into crime.[115] In the Stockholm area, individuals who have joined jihadists in Syria and Iraq have predominantly been male, whereas in Gothenburg they have been both male and female.[112]
In 2017,Swedish Security Service director Anders Thornberg stated that the number of violent Islamic extremists residing in Sweden to number was estimated to be "thousands".[116] TheDanish Security and Intelligence Service judged the number of jihadis in Sweden to be a threat against Denmark since two terrorists arriving from Sweden had already been sentenced in the2010 Copenhagen terror plot.[117]
In March 2018, Kurdish authorities reported they had captured 41IS supporters with either Swedish citizenship or residence permit in Sweden, of which 5 had key positions in the organization and one was the head of the ISIL propaganda efforts.[118]
According to interviews with authorities in November 2018, about half of those who joined the Islamic State and other groups in theSyrian Civil War had returned to Sweden. Some of the returnees are still radicalized and constitute a security threat.[119]
Under the alias "Abu Bakr al Janabi", an individual located in Sweden translated Islamic State material. As such, he was interviewed byVice News andThe Guardian. In December 2017, 30-year-old Alftaf Yasin Tarid, aKTH Royal Institute of Technology alumn who was born in Iraq, travelled on a flight from Stockholm to Schiphol and he was later arrested when travelling in a car in Rotterdam after meeting other individuals.[120] US authorities had tipped off their Dutch colleagues that Altaf had spread Islamic State propaganda from Sweden under the alias "Abu Bakr Al-Janabi". In December 2018, the trial began which went unreported inSwedish media. In January 2019 he was sentenced to three years in jail for disseminating IS propaganda.[121][122]
In June 2019, two imams, Abo Raad active at Gävle mosque and another active in Umeå were deported due to them promoting violent extremism.[123] The son of Raad was also to be deported along with other individuals involved in the Islamist scene in Sweden bringing the total to five.[123]
Some Muslims have been victims of violence because of their religion.[129] In October 1991, Shahram Khosravi, a 25-year-old student ofIranian origin, was shot in the face outside theStockholm University byJohn Ausonius.[130] In 1993, two young Somali immigrants were stabbed and a local mosque in the city was burned down.[131] The perpetrators of the stabbing were said by police to have been motivated by racial hatred.[132]
The Imam Ali Islamic Centre inJärfälla, the largestShia mosque in Sweden, was burned down in May 2017 in what police suspect was arson.[133]
An arson attack on theMalmö Mosque took place in 2003, which damaged the mosque and totally destroyed other buildings at the Islamic Center. Another attack took place in October 2005.[134]
A series ofarson attacks took place during one week at the end of 2014 on threemosques inSweden.[135] In addition to being struck byMolotov cocktails, some mosques were vandalized with racist graffiti.[135][136]
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A government study in 2006 estimated that 5% of the total adult population and 39% of adult Muslims "harbour systematic antisemitic views".[137] The former prime ministerGöran Persson described these results as "surprising and terrifying". However, the rabbi of Stockholm's Orthodox Jewish community, Meir Horden, said, "It's not true to say that the Swedes are antisemitic. Some of them are hostile to Israel because they support the weak side, which they perceive the Palestinians to be."[138]
Investigating journalists atTV4 reported that self-appointed morality police in migrant areas such asRinkeby,Tensta,Husby andHjulsta harass women for wearing skirts, owning dogs or going out alone without the company of a male.[139][140] The phenomenon has also been reported in the Brandkärr district ofNyköping according to a report by themunicipality.[141]
Swedishsocial anthropologistAje Carlbom [sv] and parliamentarianAbderisak Aden, who has founded the Islamic Democratic Institute (Islamiska demokratiska institutet), have both stated that they believe that at least part of the leading members of SMR supportIslamist ideologies and are influenced by the EgyptianMuslim Brotherhood.[142]
TheMuslim Council of Sweden (SMR), anumbrella organization for Swedish Muslim organizations, has been involved in several controversies. In 2006Mahmoud Aldebe, one of the board members of SMR, sent letters to each of the major political parties in Sweden demanding special legislation for Muslims in Sweden, including the right to specific Islamic holidays, special public financing for the building of Mosques, that all divorces between Muslim couples be approved by an Imam, and that Imams should be allowed to teach Islam to Muslim children in public schools. The request was condemned by all political parties and the government and theSwedish Liberal Party requested that an investigation be started by the Office of the Exchequer into the use of public funding of SMR. The chairman of the Board of SMR subsequently stated that it supported the demands made by Aldebe but that it did not think that the letter had been a good idea to communicate them in a list of demands.[143]
Although the Board of SMR did not condemn Aldebe the letter has caused conflict within the organization.[144] SMR has also been accused of being closely allied to theSwedish Social Democratic Party, which has been criticised both inside and outside the party.[142]
The Brandbergen Mosque has been described by theFBI terrorism consultantEvan Kohlmann as a propaganda central for theArmed Islamic Group (GIA). According to Kohlmann, people connected to the mosque also participated in the financing of GIA'sbombing campaign in France in 1995.[46]
In 2004 an Arabic-language manual, which carried the logo and address of the Brandbergen Mosque, was spread on the internet. The manual described the construction of simplechemical weapons, including how to build a chemical munition from an ordinary artillery round.[145] On December 7, 2006, the Swedish citizenMohamed Moumou, who is described by theUnited States Department of the Treasury as an "uncontested leader of an extremist group centered around the Brandbergen Mosque in Stockholm", was put on the United NationsSecurity Council Committee 1267 list of foreign terrorists.[146]
In 2012, theSVT programUppdrag granskning visited 10 mosques once with ahidden camera and once with a visible camera. When the representatives were aware of being filmed, they stated that they supported values such asgender equality; however, when two undercover journalists posed as Muslim women with difficulties in their marriage, the answers from the majority of the visited imams were different. The imams told the women that they were expected to sleep with their husbands even if they did not want to and that they were toaccept being beaten, and strongly discouraged them from going to thepolice. Since about half of the visited mosques receive state or local funding, they are expected to promote basic values of Swedish society, such as equal rights between genders and to counteractdiscrimination andviolence.[147]
In March 2014,Malmö Municipality withdrew financial support to a local association because they invited a Syrian lecturer who says that homosexuality should be punished by death to a charity event.[148] The organisers said that the lecturer would not attend and hold no speeches, but after a video recording showed him holding a lecture, the sum of money was recalled.[149]
In January 2015,Sigtuna council stopped radical Islamic preacher Haitham al-Haddad from holding a lecture at their premises.[150] He had been invited by Märsta Unga Muslimer(tr: Muslim Youth ofMärsta) but when the council was informed of the preacher'shomophobic andantisemitic views, the council cancelled the rental contract.[150]
According to criticism by British think-tankQuilliam in May 2015, Sweden is more likely than other countries to allow preachers with radical views to enter the country and spread their views.[151]
In May 2015, radical preacher Said Rageahs was invited to the mosque inGävle where he promoted the views that whoever insults Mohammed should be killed along with apostates and advocatedsegregation between Muslims and non-Muslims.[152] The local imams at Gävle mosque ran the webpage Muslim.se which espoused similar views (with the death penalty for homosexuality added) and according to IslamologistJan Hjärpe atLund University, their views are typical of theWahhabi.[153]
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)Ett annat undantag är Helena Benaouda (idag Hummasten) som var ordförande för Sveriges Muslimska Råd 2004-2014. [Another exception is Helena Benaouda (now Hummasten) who was head of the Muslim Council of Sweden 2004–2014.]
Genom statsanställda imamer har Turkiet inflytande i nio svenska moskéer. Många turksvenskar i Stockholm, Göteborg och Malmö har slutat gå till moskén av rädsla. Den alltmer auktoritära turkiska regimen skrämmer och kartlägger meningsmotståndare i Sverige.
Svaren innebär att motståndet i Sverige mot Burka och Niqab är kompakt, 84,4 respektive 81,6 procent anser att de är ganska eller helt oacceptabla. Motståndet har åter ökat något.
