Abstract

 
 
 The article discusses the historical growth and development of the Muslim population and its contemporary situation in Finland. Finland was annexed as a grand duchy by the Russian Empire in 1809, which led to the presence of Muslim military personnel on Finnish territory and later enabled the settlement of Tatar Muslims from central parts of Russia. These Tatars were for a long time the only organized Muslim community in Finland. They maintained their cultural and linguistic traditions, while being very much at home in their Finnish civic identity. During the 1980s and especially since the 1990s Finland has received many Muslim immigrants, including international students, spouses, refugees, and asylum seekers. The article addresses several complexities in Muslim organizations’ ethnic, national, and sectarian varieties, and takes on board the change in official policies towards Muslims over the years. It also examines the media debates and public attitudes to Islam. The historical Tatar minority’s role has in many respects been important for more recent Muslim immigrants, and though little remarked in public debate, remains very important in seeking a relationship between Islam and north-western Europe.
 
 
Highlights
The article discusses the historical growth and development of the Muslim population and its contemporary situation in Finland
The soldiers may have been sojourners of a kind, but a more stable presence of civilian settlers collectively came to be known as the Tatar Muslims, to whom we shall return (Leitzinger 2006)
There were already smaller numbers of non-Tatar Muslims in post-Second World War Finland, including international students and the occasional spouse or professional, a more sizeable presence first emerged in the 1990s, when Finland began to accept UNHCR refugees from Muslimdominated areas of the Middle East at the same time as independent asylum seekers were arriving
Summary
Finland was annexed as a grand duchy of the Russian Empire in 1809, resulting in the arrival of Russian troops. Most Finnish Tatars do not originate from Tatarstan, it remains a source of inspiration through which contemporary Tatar ethno-nationalism has found its way into Finland Even their relationship with newly arrived Muslims influences Tatar identification: they emphasize their own ethnic (Tatar), linguistic (Mishar Tatar), and religious (Islam) identity as a unique ( exclusive) blend, while simultaneously defining themselves within a historical cultural minority position in Finland and as Finns (Sakaranaho 2002). Higher numbers can be suggested, especially if the descendants of Muslim immigrants are considered The difficulty with such estimates stems from the fact that a person is registered as an adherent of a particular religion in Finland if they join an existing religious association as a registered member. Over the last thirty years, new Muslims have been able to create an extensive religious infrastructure of mosques, associations, and other operations that support their religious identities and cultural activities
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