Islam in Romania - Demographics and Organization

Demographics and Organization

According to the 2002 census, 67,566 people, approx. 0.3% of the total population, indicated that their religion was Islam. The vast majority of Romania's believers in Islam are Sunnis who adhere to the Hanafi school. Ethnically, they are mostly Tatars (Crimean Tatars and a number of Nogais), followed by Turks, as well as Muslim Roma (as much as 15,000 people in one estimate), Albanians (as many as 3,000), and groups of Middle Eastern immigrants. Members of the Muslim community inside the Roma minority are colloquially known as "Turkish Romani". Traditionally, they are less religious than people belonging to other Islamic communities, and their culture mixes Islamic customs with Roma social norms.

Ninety-seven percent of the Romanian Muslims are residents of the two counties forming Northern Dobruja: eighty-five percent live in Constanţa County, and twelve percent in Tulcea County. The rest mainly inhabit urban centers such as Bucharest, Brăila, Călăraşi, Galaţi, Giurgiu, and Drobeta-Turnu Severin.

In all, Romania has as many as eighty mosques, or, according to records kept by the Romanian Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, seventy-seven. The city of Constanţa, with its Carol I Mosque and the location of the Muftiyat, is the center of Romanian Islam; Mangalia, near Constanţa, is the site of a monumental mosque, built in 1525 (see Mangalia Mosque). The two mosques are state-recognized historical monuments, as are the ones in Hârşova, Amzacea, Babadag and Tulcea, together with the Babadag tombs of two popularly revered Sufi sheikhs—the supposed tomb of dervish Sari Saltik and that of Gazi Ali Paşa. There are also 108 Islamic cemeteries in Romania.

The nation-wide Islamic community is internally divided into 50 local groups of Muslims, each of whom elects its own leadership committee. Members provide funding for the religious institution, which is supplemented by state donations and subsidies, as well by assistance from international Islamic organizations.

The Muslim clergy in Romania includes imams, imam-hatips, and muezzins. As of 2008, the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs recognizes 35 imams. The Constanţa Mufti, who is the community's main representative, is elected by a secret ballot from among the imams. He is assisted by a synodal body, the Sura Islam, which comprises 23 members and offers advice on matters of administration and discipline. The current Mufti is Murat Iusuf.