Finnish-Islamic Congregation


The Finnish-Islamic Congregation is an Islamic congregation of the Tatar people in Finland. It was founded in 1925 as the first Islamic congregation in Finland. The congregation has activity in Helsinki, Järvenpää, Kotka and Turku. Its headquarters is located in Helsinki.
The Imam of the congregation since 2004 is Doctor of Philosophy, Ramil Belyaev. He was born in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast.
Many international politicians have visited the congregation. These include the head of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, and the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

History

The first Muslim people in Finland were Tatars. They arrived between the late 1800s and early 1900s as merchants from the Russian Empire. They were mainly Mishar Tatars, but some other Turkic peoples came as well, such as Bashkirs and Kazakhs. They blended in quickly because the first generation tended to identify themselves mostly through their religion.
After settling in the country, they shortly felt the need to organize officially. The predecessor to the congregation was created in 1915, and its name was Helsingin musulmaanien hyväntekeväisyysseura. They often held their services at the house of Weli-Ahmed Hakim, who would also become a founding member and long-time imam of the congregation.
Due to laws at the time, these Muslim merchants could not establish an actual congregation in the beginning, but after the freedom of religion law was passed in 1922, it was possible. The congregation was officially registered in 1925.
The name of the congregation was at first Suomen muhamettilainen seurakunta. It was changed in 1963 to its current version. The first administration consisted of following people; Weli Ahmed Hakim, Ymär Abdrahim, Nur-Muhammed Ali, Ismael Arifulla and Imad Samaletdin. Imam-Hakim also became the first chairman of the congregation. He has later been named an honorary member.
During those times, the congregation was not yet officially only for Tatars, but back then, there were almost no other Muslims in the country.

Facilities

At first, In 1941, the congregation acquired a house from the Helsinki street Fredrikinkatu. In 1948, it bought a wooden house located on the same street. In its place the current building was built between 1958 and 1961, designed by a Finnish man, Armas Lahtinen. The cost was 170 million Finnish Marks, and it was funded with loans and donations. The congregation received five million marks from Pakistan and Turkey, and 600,000 marks from Morocco. The congregation owns the entire building, though only a couple of floors are in use and the rest is rented. The Finnish Islamic Congregation is fairly wealthy and therefore does not require taxes from its members.
In addition to the main building in Helsinki, the congregation owns the Järvenpää Mosque and also chapels in Turku and Kotka. The Tatars in Tampere have their own congregation. The Finnish-Islamic Congregation has cemeteries in Hietaniemi and Turku. Before losing the area, Viipuri also had a space for the deceased Muslims.

Orientation

The Tatar people practice Hanafi Sunni Islam. Many of the younger generation of Tatars are secularized, while the older generations are more devout. The congregation is heavily tied to the Tatar ethnic identity; it does not try to convert others and only accepts Tatars and their spouses as its members. Other Muslims can however come and pray during services.

List of chairmen

  • Gölten Bedretdin
  • Atik Ali
  • Okan Daher
  • Abdullah Ali
  • Osman Ali
  • Zuhur Tahir
  • Ismail Arifulla
  • Kemal Baibulat
  • Weli-Ahmed Hakim

    List of imams

  • Ramil Belyaev
  • Enver Yıldırım
  • Abdurrahman Kaya
  • Ahmet Naim Atasever
  • Weli-Ahmed Hakim
Yıldırım, Kaya and Atasever were from Turkey.