Islam is the largest minority religion in Norway which consist between 2.0% and 3.4% of the population. In 2007, government statistics registered 79,068 members of Islamic congregations in Norway, about 10% more than in 2006. 56% lived in the counties of Oslo and Akershus.^[2] Scholarly estimates from 2005 regarding the number of people of Islamic background in Norway vary between 120,000 and 150,000.^[3] The vast majority have an immigrant background, with Norwegians of Pakistani descent being the most visible and well-known group. The Islamic community in Norway is highly diverse, but many mosques are organised in the umbrella organisation Islamic Council Norway (Islamsk Råd Norge).

History

Icelandic annals relate the arrival of embassies from the Muslim sultan of Tunis in Norway in the 1260s, after King Håkon Håkonsson had sent embassies to the Sultan with rich gifts. It would not be unreasonable to suppose that Muslims had visited Norway earlier than this. The population of Muslims in the country has not been noticeable until the latter half of the 20th century, however. Immigration from Muslim countries to Norway began late compared to other western-European countries, and didn't gather pace until the late 1960s. In 1975, labor immigration to Norway was halted, but rules for family reunification were relatively relaxed for several more years.

The number of Muslims in Norway was first registered in official statistics in 1980, when it was given as 1006. These statistics are based on membership in a registered congregation, and it is most likely that the low number is due to the fact that few Muslims were members of a mosque. Historian of religion Kari Vogt estimates that 10% of Norwegian Muslims were members of a mosque in 1980, a proportion which had increased to 70% by 1998. Being a member of a mosque was an alien concept to many immigrants from Muslim countries. In Norway, it is necessary for the mosques to register their members, because government grants to religious congregations outside the state church are based on the number of registered members. The number of registered members of mosques increased to 80,838 in 2004, but have since dropped to 72,023 in 2006. Part of the reason for the drop could be a new methodology in the compilation of statistics.

In the end of the 1990s, Islam passed the Roman Catholic Church and Pentecostalism to become the largest minority religion in Norway, provided Islam is seen as one united grouping. In 2004, the registered Muslims were members of 92 different congregations. 40 of these were based in Oslo or Akershus counties.

Population

Muslims in Norway are a very fragmented group, coming from many different backgrounds. Kari Vogt estimated in 2000 that there were about 500 Norwegian converts to Islam. The rest are mostly first or second generation immigrants from a number of countries. The largest immigrant communities from Muslim countries in Norway are from Pakistan, Iraq and Somalia:

An unknown, but presumably high, proportion of these immigrant populations is Muslim. In other words, the largest group of Norwegian Muslims originate in Pakistan, but no single nationality constitute as much as a quarter of the total population.

The Turkish, Pakistani and Iranian communities are quite established in Norway. 55% of Iranians have lived in Norway more than 10 years. The Iraqis are a more recent group, with 80% of the Iraqi community having arrived in the past 10 years.

In the 1990s there was a wave of asylum seekers from the Balkans. In recent years most immigrants arrive as part of family reunification.

Congregations

The mosque of The Islamic Association of Bergen (Det Islamske Forbundet i Bergen), like most Norwegian mosques situated in a regular town house.

The mosque of The Islamic Association of Bergen (Det Islamske Forbundet i Bergen), like most Norwegian mosques situated in a regular town house. The first mosque in Norway was the Islamic Cultural Centre (named in English)[6], which opened in Oslo in 1974. The initiative for the mosque came from Pakistanis who were helped by the Islamic Cultural Centre which had already opened in Copenhagen in Denmark. The new mosque adhered to the deobandi branch of Sunni Islam. Adherents of the barelwi branch, who constituted the majority of Pakistanis in Norway, soon felt the need for a mosque of their own, and opened the Central Jama'at-e Ahl-e Sunnat in 1976. This is today the largest mosque in Norway, with over 5000 members.   As the Muslim population grew, the number of mosques also multiplied quickly. As long as the total number of Muslims was low, it was natural for many different groupings to congregate in a single mosque. But as different immigrant groupings increased in number,the wish for separate mosques for people of different nationalities, languages and sects increased. The first Shia mosque, Anjuman-e hussaini, was founded in 1975, and in the early 1980s, separated Moroccan and Turkish mosques were established.

The World's northermost mosque, in a basement in Tromsø.

The mosques have been important, not just as places of prayer, but also as a meeting place for members of minority groupings. Several mosques also do different forms of social work, e.g. importantly, organising the transport of deceased members back to their countries of origin for burial. The mosques are mostly situated in regular city blocks, and are not easily visible features of the cities. By 2005, only one purpose-built mosque existed in Norway, built by the World Islamic Mission in Oslo in 1995. Minhaj-ul-Quran International established its mosque and centre in 1987. [7] In 2000, this was the first Norwegian mosque to start performing the adhan - the call to prayer. Initially, the mosque received permission from Gamle Oslo borough to perform the adhan once a week. This was appealed to county authorities by the Progress Party. The ruling of the fylkesmann (county governor) of Oslo and Akershus stated that no permission was required for performing the adhan, leaving the mosque free to perform it at their own discretion.[8] The mosque decided to limit themselves to performing the adhan once a week.

Islamic Council Norway

An umbrella organisation for Muslim congregations and organisations in Norway, Islamic Council Norway (Islamsk Råd Norge), was established in 1993. The development of Muslim congregations in Norway in the 1980s had moved towards fragmentation, as several new mosques were established for different Muslim groupings. There was no unified organisation which could represent Muslims vis-a-vis Norwegian society. The trigger for closer co-operation between congregations was an invitation from the Inter-Church Council of the Church of Norway (Mellomkirkelig råd for Den norske kirke), an organ of the Norwegian state church. The Council suggested establishing permanent contact between Christian and Muslim organisations. This suggestion was well received in the Muslim community, but there was at that time no single organisation which could represent Muslims in such a forum. The largest mosque, Central Jama'at-e Ahl-e sunnat, took the initiative to start the process which led to the formation of Islamic Council Norway on 22 October 1993, initially with five member mosques. Subsequently, the Contact Group for the Inter-Church Council of the Church of Norway and Islamic Council Norway (Kontaktgruppa for Mellomkirkelig Råd for Den norske kirke og Islamsk Råd Norge) was established. In February 2007, Islamic Council Norway had 22 member organisations, including three lower level umbrella organisations. In 1999 it was estimated that about half of all Muslims in Norway were members of mosques organised in the Islamic Council, including Albanian, Bosnian, Pakistani (barelwi and deobandi), Turkish, Somali, Arab, Iranian, and Gambian mosques. Since 1996, Islamic Council Norway has taken part in the Co-operation Council for Societies of Faith (Samarbeidsrådet for Tros- og Livssynssamfunn) which organises all major religions of Norway.

In August 2008 the council met stern protest for asking the European Fatwa Council to decide on the death penalty for homosexuality. The Minister of Children and Equality felt this to be "unacceptable", while the Speaker of the Norwegian Parliament asked to stop all financial support immediately.^[9][10][11] Homosexual and lesbian activist groups protested against the council's request.^[9][12]

Other Muslim organisations

Nor mosque at Frogner in Oslo, the mosque of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Oslo.

Other inter-congregational organisations also exist. Minhaj-ul-Quran mosque and community centre was established in Oslo in 1987.[13] In 1991, the Islamic Women's Group Norway (Islamsk Kvinnegruppe Norge) was founded, after an initiative by the Norwegian convert Nina Torgersen. In 1995, a Muslim Students' Society (Muslimsk Studentsamfunn) was established at the University of Oslo. The Islamic foundation Urtehagen was established in 1991 by the Norwegian convert Trond Ali Linstad, at first running a kindergarten and youth club. In 1993, Linstad applied for the first time to establish a Muslim private school. The Labour Party government of Gro Harlem Brundtland rejected the application in 1995, stating that it would be "detrimental to the integration of the children".

After the Labour government was replaced by the government of Kjell Magne Bondevik of the Christian People's Party in 1997, Linstad applied again, and his application was approved in 1999. In August 2001, Urtehagen School (Urtehagen friskole) opened with 75 pupils. However, internal conflicts at the school led to its closure in the spring of 2004.^[14] Plans to open a similar school in Drammen in 2006 were blocked after the new left-wing government stopped all new private schools after coming to power in 2005.^[15] As of today, no Muslim schools exist in Norway.

Issues in the Muslim community

• The wearing of the Muslim veil and niqab - The niqab had been banned from Oslo public schools and there is currently a debate as to whether to ban it from educational institutions across the country.

• Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy - the anger in the Muslim world was directed at Norway and not only at Denmark. The Norwegian embassy in Damascus, Syria was torched.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Norway