One of the mosques in the Czech Republic

PRAGUE, March 13 (IslamOnline.net) – In their search for spirituality, many Czechs are reverting to Islam, forming a new small but vibrant Muslim community in one of the least religious countries in Europe, according to an online report.

Radio Free Europe said Friday, March 12, that Islam was introduced to Czechs by immigrants from Muslim countries who come to live and study in this Central European country.

Vladimir Sanka, the head of the Islamic Center, based in the Czech capital, Prague, is one of several hundred new reverts to Islam throughout the country and one of some 20,000 Muslims nationwide.

The long ago predominantly atheist and Roman Catholic country came in touch with Islam only 15 years ago after the end of communist rule, the Radio said.

Sanka, 40, was born into an atheistic family and received, like all Czechs, an atheistic education at school and in university.

Nine years ago, he reverted to Islam. In 1995, Sanka became the head of the Islamic Center and an imam in Prague's only mosque.

Sanka related his spiritual journey to Islam as a long and painful one to find Allah in a materially-oriented society.

"Everything was oriented here in our society to [material things] and activities. I was missing spiritual, something spiritual. I found God. I believe that God exists. He created the universe and is above everything and brings justice and so on. People who do something bad, it doesn't mean that there will be no punishment," Sanka said.

Why Islam?

Sanka concluded saying that he found out that only Islam fits his vision as it does not reject the messages of Judaism and Christianity but is a "continuation" of them.

"For me, Islam is very simple, very clear, practical and presents a logical way for daily life," Sanka added to the Radio.

Ondrej Mashatov, a 26-year-old Czech, reverted to Islam in 1998 after a long spiritual quest.

"I was atheist almost all my life, but when I reached the age of 17, I started to look for some, maybe, spiritual way of my life. And through many, many experiences - I spent several years in a very strict Catholic monastery in France -- [found it]. So, I am coming from this background. And then I visited Egypt, and Arabic culture started to be somehow more clear [to me]," Mashatov said.

Mashatov says his spiritual journey was a shallow one until he met an Arab woman, who later became his wife.

"On my way through these spiritual experiments, I met my wife, a girl from the Arab world, and I reverted to Islam," says Mashatov.

He says that now his life is balanced, but says he prefers not to openly express his religious beliefs.

"You can show it by acting in life. You don't need to say that, 'I am a Muslim. I am a Christian.' You can just act like this and nobody doesn't need to know who you are. The important [thing] is acting, how you deal with people, how you deal with yourself to God, how you deal with spirituality," Mashatov said.

Both Mashatov and Sanka say they feel safe as Muslims in the Czech Republic.

Last year, a discussion on role of Islam in Western society was held in Prague to talk on the status of Islam in contemporary society at Prague's Charles University.

The discussion was organized by Czech Association for International Affairs, an academic discussion group, which discussed the fast growing Muslim community in Czech.