Islam in Sweden: Institutionalization, public debates and discursive paradoxes

Abstract

The Muslim presence in Sweden in modern times is a fairly new phenomenon and therefore is distinct from many other European countries with a colonial past. The first Muslim congregation was established in 1949 in Stockholm by refugees coming from Estonia and belonging to the ethnic group of Tartars. The establishment of a Muslim congregation signaled the first non-Christian group (after the Jewish) to establish a religious community in Swedish society. The establishment of a permanent Muslim presence in Swedish society did not attract a lot of attention from the Swedish state or the political parties in parliament and therefore developed outside of the public eye. In addition, the Muslim population was so small that it was ignored in a large government investigation about the relationship between the Swedish state and the Church of Sweden conducted in 1963, which also included a survey of all, at that time known religious congregations in Sweden.