Over 1200 Muslims in Iceland will be observing the Islamic month of Ramadan today. Many Muslims in Iceland will be fasting from dawn to sunset, which in Iceland will be nearly 16 hours a day. The sun in Iceland rises at around 3 or 4 in the morning and sets around 9 or 10 at night.
In Iceland there are about 300 Muslims who are native Icelandic and 1200 in total who are either immigrants from Muslim nations or foreign converts in Iceland. Either way, the Muslim community is very international and mostly based in Reykjavik, the capital city. There is a local mosque in Armuli which hosts Friday prayers as well as Taraweeh (Ramadan night prayers). It is also opened daily during morning and evening prayers. Guests are invited during Friday prayers to ask questions.
(Photo/Reykjavik Mosque provided by Muslim Association in Iceland)
I was wondering about the fasting times in Iceland for people who adhere to ramadan, because of a conversation with a friend living near the equator. Apparently the scholars found a solution to this: above the 65th parallel the times of the 45th parallel can be observed. (That’s in the north of france). And btw, reading some of the comments here … I appreciate Iceland a lot because of the deep-rooted sense of personal freedom and being firmly established secular state. I have visited. In such an open society peoples particular beliefs are of no particular interest to the state….
I think that both “sides” need to learn much. It´s not only the muslims which don´t “fit in” the society, its also the small knowledge of the domestic people. Education is needed on both sides!
[…] Menurut informasi dari pengelola masjid ini, total komunitas muslim di Iceland berjumlah sekitar 1.200 orang, 300 di antaranya merupakan penduduk asli Iceland, sedangkan sisanya kebanyakan imigran atau warga asing yang jadi mualaf. Sebuah foto lain yang juga memperlihatkan sebuah masjid di kota Reykjavik namun tidak ada informasi detail mengenai masjid ini: SEKRETARIAT DKM AN-NUUR REYKJAVIK DAN KOMUNITAS MUSLIM ICELAND: Alamat: […]
I know that Icelanders are lovely and tolerant people but you must listen. Islam is a poisonous cult which wishes to establish a world Caliphate.
Please do not join the EU, or you will be inviting these people to overpopulate and demand constant ‘concessions’.
Look what they are doing to the rest of Europe.
Incidentally, there is NO SUCH THING AS ISLAMOPHOBIA, a phobia is an irrational fear.
Islam is a religion of PEACE!
As the majority of Sunni Muslims are!
Its just a shame that a few/minority(Wahabi)sects in Islam do not understand what Islam really is all about and what the Prophet(PBUH) thought,these(wahabi sects) take their religion from recent misguided scholars and NOT from the companions(Sahabas) of the Prophet(PBUH) as people are led to believe?
These minority sects take “Jihad” to a totally different absurd level?
The problem is with with these minority extreme sects with their own radical ideology made at home and not the teachings of Islam!
Hi every body and alsalam ala man etabaa alhoda , islam is international religion, and is not just for middle east or Arabic countries, and i want from every body to learn more about islam before making any judge, and i don’t want to say more but let we more open about each other,
Baldur,
As editor of this website, I can assure you we are not in the business of lying or deleting comments without good cause. I did not delete your comment personally; but cannot say with absolute certainty that one of my colleagues did not.
Apologies for the misunderstanding.
Thanks for reading IceNews
Alex, editor
Hagstofa Íslands is facts.
There are just 400 Muslims in Iceland.
Why you guys have the need to lie about this I dont understand…
These 800 Muslims dont wont to register as Muslim because of what??? They dont want a Mosque?
If you delete this comment again, I will make you a known lier to all!
I am a Malaysian Muslim(Suni) I am 60 yr old strog and healthy Insaalah,I speak English and my wife is 59 yr old is a strong muslim lady,she speak English and teachs Al Quran to children ang to the beginers,and it is our deams to help new brothers and sisters in Islam to study more about Islam espacilly in Nothern Hamespire(Iceland).Iceland is a beutiful Country.
I do not think that Islam is peaceful religion at all in any form -not in the Koran and not the sub-groups who developed through history.
Terror and conquering others is the heart of Islam.
I do not understand why Europeans let this very strange element in europe become influential. Because in the end it might destroy the european civilization.
Yes, enlightment will be replaced with middle-age mentality.
I am speaking about the ideology of Islam not the people.
Because of course there are very nice and kind and well educated moslem individuals.
I think secularism with respect to traditions is good for all of us-whether chritians jews or moslems.
This from a point of view of a dutch-israeli citizen, who consider herself left liberal.
Well Ramadan Mubarak to all 1200 Muslims in iceland. I will be visiting your country soon and it is nice to know that iwon’t be alone in my fast. During this period I try to be disciplined and thoughtful. Greed bought Iceland the misery it revels in so maybe you should learn something from your 1200 countrymen.
Joi,
I find it quite puzzling that on the one hand you are posing as a tolerant , open person and on the other hand you are labelling anybody who is critical of islam as ignorant/racist.
Who is the real Joi?
There are plenty of people with a lot of knowledge who are critical of islam.
As for powerful friends in the middle east:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdLpxmN9SRo
Funny, but the only person who used “I hate” and “racist” words is …. Joi, our peaceful muslim friend :-)
He also has no idea about raid of muslim pirates over Iceland.
To Joi. Feel free to write anything about any religion or race. This is free country. But you still incapable to understand this simple fact, strong man.
PS. You were so occupied with hate and forgot to mention any friend of Iceland in the Middle East.
I am very disappointed. Religion is NOT what Iceland needs right now in time of crisis.
I am sorry if someone got the impression that I was saying that all Islam is about ‘pirates’ – it was just a historical example of the rather more complex history of Iceland and Islam than perhaps some previous generalisations allowed. Far from it, I think that Alevi Muslims are just about the best kind of religious people there are and I have a lot of time for Ibn Tufayl… but that is beside the point. Islamic culture and history, like any human product, is as rich as anything else. It is a shame though when essentialist, homogenizing pictures of Islam are presented in the media – Icelandic and other.
I meant racist because you are anti Islam, I guess the better word would be Islamophobic. Btw most of the mosques in Russia are in Republics that Russian imperialism has conquered.
For your relevence comment above I want to point out this:
http://www.mbl.is/mm/frettir/innlent/2009/08/22/islenskir_muslimar_hefja_fostumanud/
This article from MBL, the largest news source in Iceland, translated this IceNews article over to Icelandic and quoted this article. Relevence I ask again?
As for Alexander, I know much about Islam, and I also know there are some bad people in the world who give Islam a bad name. But to classify us all as these bad acts, I would have to say you are a Nazi because you are Christian. Or if you were Jewish, should I say you are Zionist? I am not a racist, I do not hate entire races or cultures for one bad thing they done. I hate Putin for what he did to Chechnya, but I do not hate the Russian people. I hate the Danish government for their racism against Muslims and foreigners, but not Danish people. So you should hate terrorists and pirates, not all Muslims.
To tell the truth, I dont like those Pirates either. :) They disgust me.Are you Christian Alexander? I will be sure to write some offensive comments to you when we have articles related to Christmas…oh I forgot, I don’t do that, because I am open to all religion and respect all religions. :) Guess that makes me a bigger man Alexander. If you honestly think all of Islam is about pirates, terrorism, slavery… then you really do not know anything at all.
Thanks for the Ramadan wishes to some of the commentors! :)
Why is it the ones wanting to destroy a native culture a supplant their own are the ones who call other ‘racist’. By the way, ‘When did islam become a race???’ In my not so humble opinion this ‘cult’ , as well as the other world cults should be hidden/left unseen and taxed and treated like any other business.
Joi. Either you don’t know what “racist” means or..you are a racists :-)
I haven’t mentioned any race. I’m talking about Islam. And Islam is a religion. A belief of people of white, black and yellow races :-)
Open? I would say “naive”…Like kids who likes everything new and unusual – cars, TVs, belly dances, beliefs.
BTW, are you an Islam fellow? Then you should know Islam is not about friendship. Islam is about obedience.
Pirate raid, slavery – any bell in your head?
Name one. Most of muslims BTW live not in the Middle East.
well, that’s nice. This means that there is nothing to worry about (and discuss) in Iceland…
Or maybe it’s “better” to talk about Ramadan than about some sheikh and his buddies at Kaupthing?
There are tens of millions muslims living in Russia. And having catholic kirkja, orthodox church, mosque and sinagogue all together at central square of a Russian town is nothing special but common thing. Check ” moscow mosque ” in Google images.
In some parts of the country it’s almost 100% muslim territory.
So maybe you don’t know much about the world? Then there is a question – what do you know about Islam?
And yes, I have much bad to say about Islam. In fact different “islams” have much bad to say about each other. At least they blow each other on regular basis in Iraq now.
It would be fair enough to say that I don’t have good words for other religions as well, sorry. After all I was born and raised in communist country. But at least I’m not naive ;-)
Indeed, Joi
>As I said, anyone who has something bad to say about Islam doesn’t know much about Islam at all.
A strong statement. So you think that there’s nothing wrong with anything Islamic (and not just your version of Islam)?
BTW, pretty disappointed to see my Antarctic comment went. There was a valid point there about the absurdities that can occur when taking a custom that evolved in a certain area and transplanting it to another.
I am glad that Iceland has a healthy tolerance for all kinds of religions (though it is usually thought to be the country with just about the least interest in religion that has existed in human history). Nonetheless, it is a bit much to claim that someone who doesn’t like some aspect of a religion doesn’t know about it. Like anything humans do, all religions have downsides too – and noting those isn’t necessarily a sign of prejudice but honesty – a virtue in most religions. There is ignorance of Islam but, to be honest, there is a great deal more ignorance of Hinduism or Jainism etc.
And as for Iceland not having a problem with Islam – well, what about the Tyrkjaránið? They have a cultural significance in Icelandic culture of, say, the Potato Famine in Ireland. Of course, they weren’t the result of a religion, though they did have a religious aspect to them.
Happy fasting for Muslim in Iceland. May we have a peaceful and blessed Ramadan.
In my experience Icelanders tend to be pretentious about spirituality; in this sense i agree with Alexander. The point is making was that a article on the impact and reception of Islam in Iceland might be more relevant than the above articlw which clearly a filler.
“Something unusual” .. no, Alexander, again you are such a racist. It is great that Icelanders are so open to all religion, making them a true friend of Islam. Iceland has never had a problem with Muslims, and Iceland is just a wonderful country with open ties and many powerful friends in the Middle East.
Also, I was just watching Stöð2 Fréttir (for those foreigners who don’t bother learning Icelandic, thats our news broadcast on tv), and they just were talking about Ramadan. Relevence? As I said, Iceland is open minded nation, not like maybe your (alexander) communist Russia or other countries. As I said, anyone who has something bad to say about Islam doesn’t know much about Islam at all.
1,200 people is not that small number in Iceland. It’s like 1,200,000 in US.
What surprised me the most – number of native Icelanders who want to play “something unusual”.
What relevance does this actually have? A small minority of Icelanders are making a personal religous adherence which occurs every year etc. Why does this need an article.
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