Irreligious Estonians fascinated by the Koran
Release Date: Wed 14th May 08
In December 2007 three thousand copies of the Koran were printed in Estonia, one of the Baltic States. This is a surprisingly high print run for a country with a population of only 1.3 million. The Koran, Islam’s sacred book, has now been reprinted and has remained a best seller for months, appearing in the top 10 for the last six months, according to a report in The Baltic Times (‘Islam makes inroads in Estonia’, 9th April, 2008).
Estonians are curious about Islamic beliefs as a result of the events that have happened in the world in the past few years. The publisher of the book, Aivar Lestsinki, said that people appear interested in Islamic culture and seem keen to broaden their general knowledge of Islam rather than convert to the religion.
Islam tends to be seen as a non-European religion, with its own culture, social and moral norms. For these reasons the entry of Turkey into the EU is still controversial in Estonia, despite the fact that a minority of Estonians see themselves as religious. This is quite a contrast with Estonia’s near neighbours, Poland and Lithuania, where the notion of “Christian Europe” is considered a value to protect. In fact a small Islamic community was first registered in Estonia in 1928. During the Soviet Era, Estonia’s Islamic population increased significantly as a result of the many Tartars and other Islamic people who were relocated there from the central Asian Republics of the former USSR. More recently a few isolated cases of Estonian women marrying North African Muslims have been making the press headlines. There are currently an estimated 20,000 Muslims in Estonia.
The Islamic community has been asking since 1994 for a building to practice their faith. Two attempts have been made to build a mosque in Tallin. The first location was considered inappropriate and the second attempt was turned down by city authorities on the grounds that it would change the city skyline. According to Timur Seifullen, chairman of the Estonian Islamic Community, every European is free to be a Christian therefore every Muslim in Estonia should be free to practice Islam. Critics of the scheme point to the fact that the proposals contained plans for a regional Islamic centre for northern Europe. After the attacks in New York, London, and Madrid, the plans for a regional retreat and pilgrimage centre were viewed with concern.
Freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Estonian constitution and the well organized Jewish community in Estonia, despite numbering only a few thousand, has a relatively new synagogue in central Tallinn. The Islamic community, several times larger, seems to be less effective at organising and mobilising Muslims from a variety of ethnic and national backgrounds.
The new freedom of people to migrate within Europe, and the continuous migration of people into Europe, some of them Muslims, is a stimulus to rethinking mission not only in Estonia, but also in the rest of Europe. The challenge of sharing the Gospel in the Baltic countries requires Western churches and mission organisations to take a closer look at their own European door-step against the background of a traditional focus on other continents.