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Anti-Muslim Prejudice: Past and Present. Ed. Maleiha Malik. -Abingdon: Routledge, 2010. Pp. viii + 222. Hbk. ISBN 978-0-415-54987-5. £85.00. It is not clear whether this volume is the product of a seminar or conference, or rather a specially compiled collection of papers, but either way it represents a significant contribution to the study of anti-Muslim prejudice, which overlaps with but is nevertheless significantly different from Islamophobia. It does so through ten chapters, some more historical and some more …

See also Ireland in 2008 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021. 1 Muslim Populations Ireland’s most recent census, carried out in 2006, showed that there were 32,539 Muslims in Ireland, which was a massive 69% increase on the 2002 census.1 However, in 2008 Imam Hussein Halawa, Chairman of the Irish Council of Imams, has put the figure at closer to 45,000, made up of 50 nationalities.2 Unlike the UK and France, where the Muslim communities are linked to their former colonies, there is no dominant national or ethnic background within…

See also Turkey in 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021. Introduction 2017 passed under the influence of the aftershock of one of the greatest political earthquakes of contemporary history for the Republic of Turkey: the 15 July 2016 coup d’état attempt. The main aim of the coup attempt was to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the ruling Justice and Development Party ( Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi–akp). All the investigations, detentions and trials revolved around one Sunni Islamic group: the Gülen movement, and its le…

See also Estonia in 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2021. Introduction1 From January to March 2020, Estonian Muslims continued their religious activities in a regular manner, as in previous years. On 13 March 2020, the Government of the Republic declared an emergency situation due to the spread of a coronavirus causing covid-19. The emergency situation prohibited public gatherings, including public religious gatherings, though places of worship remained open for private religious practices. Although the emergency…

The presence of Muslims in Europe has attracted increasing attention over the last two decades. Researchers started devoting attention to the subject during the mid- and late 1980s. During the following decade it attracted growing political attention, sparked especially by the ‘affairs’ of 1989—Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses in Britain and the foulards (headscarves) in France—and sustained by the critical geopolitical focuses on Islam and Muslims through crises in the former Yugoslavia and Chechnya added to existing ones—Palestine, Sudan, Ka…

See also Ukraine in 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021. Introduction During 2018, three Ukrainian Muslim institutions organised their general meetings, electing or extending the term of the muftis and planning activities for the forthcoming years. These were the Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol ( Духовне управління мусульман Республіки Крим і міста Севастопіль–samrccs), the Spiritual Administration of Ukrainian Muslims ( Духовне управління мусульман України), the Spiritual Admin…

See also Hungary in 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021. 1 Muslim Populations Muslims have never formed a significant part of the Hungarian population. In the 9th and 10th centuries, there were a few Muslims, particularly the so-called Kaliz people, who originated from Khorezm and joined the wandering Hungarians with the Kabar Muslims. Buzurman or “Böszörmény” was the comprehensive name for the Muslims in the early Middle Ages and these terms survive in place names. In the e…

See also Lithuania in 2008 | 2009 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021. 1 Muslim Populations The most recent official census, in 2001, included a question on religious identity and gave the following figures: 2,860 Sunni Muslims (no data on Shi’is are available), or 0.1% of the total population, of whom 1,679 (or 58.7%) were ethnic Tatars, 362 (12.6%) Azeris, 185 Lithuanians and 74 Russians. Tatars have been living in Lithuania (especially the eastern part of today’s Republic of Lithuani…

Young, British and Muslim.. By Philip Lewis. London: Continuum, 2007. Pp. 160. ISBN 978-0-8264-9730-7 (pbk), 978-0-8264-9729-1 (hbk). £12.99 (pbk), £55.00 (hbk). Young British Muslim Voices.. By Anshuman A. Mondal. Oxford: Greenwood World Publishing, 2008. Hbk. Pp. 198. ISBN 978-1-84645-019-8. $49.95. £19.95. In the wake of the London bombings in July 2005, there has been a torrent of books and articles about young Muslims in Britain, a group upon which the media spotlight has been relentless and the reporting often unfair or inaccurat…

See also Turkey in 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021. 1 Muslim Populations The census conducted by the Turkish Statistics Institution (TÜİK) on 31 December 2008 recorded the population of Turkey as 71,517,100.1  Following the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1924, the nation-building process envisaged a thoroughly homogeneous population in religious and ethnic terms. The extreme sensitivity of the state elites has led to the ethnic and religious affiliations of the population being excl…

See also Iceland in 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021. 1 Muslim Populations1 According to available historical records and folklore traditions, the first contact Iceland had with Muslims goes back to the summer of 1627, when a group of so-called ‘Turkish pirates’, who had actually travelled from North Africa, raided settlements on the south-west coast, the Westman Islands and the eastern fjords. This episode is of no importance for the composition of the Muslim community in Iceland today…

See also Norway in 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2020 | 2021. Introduction Throughout 2019, topics such as the growing Islamophobia in Norwegian society, freedom of religion vs. freedom of speech, gender equality and representation in Norwegian mosques, sexuality, and the challenges of negative social control, have engaged and sparked debate among Norway’s Muslim communities. On the one hand these topics signify a broadening of the internal debate taking place among the country’…

See also Slovakia in 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021. 1 Muslim Populations Accurate data on the number of Muslims in Slovakia are not known. At the latest census of the population in May 2011, the Muslims in Slovakia, as well as members of other religious groups which are not registered by the state as recognised religious communities, had the opportunity to claim allegiance to their religion by ticking the box “other” and adding their religion into the empty line in the…

See also Russia in 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021. Introduction Following developments in 2016, Muslims in Russia continued to focus on both their internal affairs and international diplomacy in 2017. At the beginning of the year, the activities of the Soviet Muftiyev Rossii (Russian Council of Muftis–rcm), the most influential Islamic establishment in Russia, were centred on the issues related to the restrictions on the Muslim head scarf. Following a supplementary chapter to the Law on Education No. 273 FZ from 29 December 2012–which stipu…

See also Lithuania in 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021. Introduction In 2015, when in the wake of the increased migration to Europe, Lithuania accepted the European Commission quota of 1,105 displaced persons from Syria, Iraq, and Eritrea to be resettled on its territory as refugees over a two-year period, the country started living in anticipation of an imminent increase of Muslims in the country. As the number of Muslims in Lithuania, following the latest census, was …

See also Slovakia in 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020. Introduction1 Life for Muslims in Slovakia in 2021 was not significantly different from the previous year, 2020. The status of one of the smallest Muslim communities in Europe remained unchanged.2 Even in 2022, Islam is not a registered religion in Slovakia. Officially, it is possible to claim to be Islamic in Slovakia–to practise Islam–but Muslims do not have the same rights as State-registered Churches and religious communities.3 During 2021, we did not see any significant manif…

See also Spain in 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021. 1 Muslim Populations For Spanish society, the memory of the splendour of the culture and civilisation of Al-Andalus is acting to some extent as a burden and an interference with the present. There is no connection between the past (although it is officially claimed as part of Spanish identity), and the present of the new Muslim immigration. The new Islamic presence is recovering the image of a historical cultural otherne…

See also Ukraine in 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020. Introduction1 The activities of the main Islamic organisations in Ukraine in 2021 were restricted to some extent due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but public Friday prayers and religious festivals have mostly resumed in the mosques. The major Islamic organisations in Ukraine were expanding their presence in the Ukrainian regions in 2021, by opening new mosques and centres. They were also engaged in various educational and outreach activities, including the fi…

See also Kosovo in 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019. Introduction1 The covid-19 pandemic has greatly affected the lives of the people of Kosovo.2 Mosques across the country were closed for two and a half months, Bayram prayers were cancelled, funeral ceremonies reduced to family members only, and teaching of religion in mosques suspended. The Islamic Community of Kosovo ( Bashkesia Islame e Kosoves–ick), the institution that represents the Sunni Muslim community, has shown great cooperation with the health institutions to prevent the massive spread of c…

See also Romania in 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2021. Introduction1 In the first months of 2020 the debate among Muslims revolved around the upcoming elections for the position of Mufti,2 the religious leader of Muslims in Romania. From March 2020, it began to focus on measures to adapt the Islamic religious rituals to the measures imposed by the authorities to combat the covid-19 pandemic.3 In September 2020, the Tatar community became the focus of political alliances that offered new hope to the community and its politic…