History
The first registered Muslim groups in Sweden were Finnish Tatars who immigrated from Finland and Estonia in the 1940s. But Islam began to have a noticeable presence in Sweden with immigration from the Middle East beginning in the 1970s.
Most Muslims in Sweden are either immigrants or descendants of those immigrants. The majority of them are from the Middle East, especially Iraq and Iran. However, 5 out of 6 Iranians in Sweden do not consider themselves Muslim, but secular, and against the Islamic republic. The second largest Muslim group consists of immigrants or refugees from former Yugoslavia, most of them are Bosniaks, gathering 12000 in their Islamic fellowship. There is also a sizeable community of Somalis, who constitute the largest immigrant group during recent years, 40 165 altogether until 2011.
Sweden has a few mosques built by Muslims in Sweden, the mosques are generally used for prayers and gatherings. The Malmö Mosque, built in 1984, followed by the Uppsala Mosque in 1995. More mosques were built during the 2000s, including the Stockholm Mosque (2000), the Umeå Mosque (2006) and the Fittja Mosque (completed 2007), besides others. The authoritarian governments of Saudi Arabia and Libya have financially supported the constructions of some of the largest Mosques in Sweden.
As of the year 2000, an estimated 300,000 to 350,000 "ethnic Muslims" lived in Sweden, or 3.5% of total population; the term "ethnic Muslim" denoting 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.), of whom about 100,000 were second-generation immigrants (born in Sweden or immigrated as children). 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, the Muslim Council of Sweden reported 106,327 registered members.
Read more about this topic: Islam In Sweden
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