April 10, 2007...1:39 pm
Muslim in Sweden
I live in an average sized Swedish city since my family came here as refugees during the war in the 90’s and I thought it might be interesting to share my experiences of what it’s like to live here as a Muslim.
First of all, I am 17 years old (turning 18 on Friday insha’Allah) and I go to school during the days. I live in an apartment with my father and sister where I have my room complete with the “Adhan clock”, a photo of the Ka’bah besides my bed and a small Islamic library (a lot of books from Dar-us-Salam). If you’ve ever been to Riyadh (which I, by the way, haven’t) maybe you’ve seen a water tower. This water tower is a replica of the one we have over here in my city, and I live only a stone’s throw away from it.
I go to a gymnasium school and I’m not exactly the only Muslim. There are a lot of Somalians and Bosnians here. Last year, for instance, there were a couple of Muslims in my class; myself, an Arab brother, a Somali brother and a Bulgarian brother.
There are also a lot of Muslims in the city. There is actually a particular block close to the center of the city which I have been told is called “Harlem” by others because it has a Masjid, an Islamic store and a few Muslim/Immigrant owned shops.
As for the activities the Muslim communtiy has to offer, there isn’t really much to brag about. There have been halaqat and various activites, but its kinda on ice right now except for a weekly ders by a brother that studied in Medina (a Swedish convert). Myself and another convert also have regular Arabic classes. Last month when Khalid Yasin was here, however, the auditorium was packed with Muslim youth masha’Allah.
As for Islamophobia, what I notice is that most of the people that I have come into contact with are pretty ignorant about Islam and don’t really have an opinion at all. But since there are a lot of Muslims here they will usually get to know one in school for instance and so they will for the most part think well of their Muslim class mates and friends and will see that they aren’t potential terrorists or something (as some people want them to think). There are, however, some people that do hate Muslims which I have experienced myself and I’ve also seen hate letters that the masjid has recieved but it’s not as bad as in other places in Sweden (for instance, one masjid in another Swedish city has repeatedly been attacked).
I try to make da’wah to Swedish people I meet in school but to be honest, even though I grew up here, I have really only had immigrant, not necesseraly but mostly Muslim, friends that I regularly hang out with and the only Swedish friends I’ve had have been Muslim converts. But of course I do have regular contact with my Swedish class mates and teachers, so I’m not completely isolated from the society.
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