Which backgrounds do Muslims in Greece come from and are there many Greek reverts? Do you have any website we can visit to learn more?
Answer
Most of the Muslims in Greece come from Egypt, Syria, and Palestine. then, they come from Pakistan, Bangledesh, Africa; then from other Muslim countries except from the countries of the Gulf.
As a matter of fact, those Muslims we talk about here are those who have permenantly settled in Greece. This does not include those who pass by Greece as a transitional country to reach their main destination. Our speech include those Muslim immigrants who live, study, work, raise families here.
There are a lot of Greek reverts. They are spread all over Greece and there are many Greek Muslims all over the world as well, as Greeks are also a migrative nation.
We have very strong bonds, we are trying to unite all Greek Muslims together.
I believe that the Greek Muslims are the future of Islam in Greece. They are the ones who will lead and we will support this. I long for that day. this is the day when i can breathe easily and relax a bit.
The website you can visit is www.greeksrethink.com.
Name
someone
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Question
We would like to know why there is a kind of separation or differention between Muslims in Greece; this is according to what you have just said "Muslim Minority of NE Greece Thrace area have a totally diffenent status".
Answer
The reason is political and has very old roots between Greece & Turkey.
There is the Muslim minority of North-Eastern Greece, region of Thrace, where the population was excluded of the obligatory exchange of populations between Greece & Turkey that followed the Lausanne Covention VI, 1923. The origin of Muslims who live there comes from Turks (45% of the Muslim population), Pomacs (36%) & Rom (18%). All are Greek citizens with full rights, and they maintain their languages: Turkish, Pomacic (Slavic-root oral language) & Romani (oral language).
On the religious level, they have their own muftis, imams, mosques, cemeteries, and even schools. They have strong connections with Turkey, they go to Turkish universities, and they also immigrate to Turkey for work and for other purposes.
Their population is about 130.000 people.
The other group comes from the immigrants who came to Greece during the last 40 years mainly form the Arab countries and other Muslim countries. They live everywhere in Greece, in the cities, on the islands, in the main land and they occupy all kinds of professions.
Not only they have jobs as workers-- who represent 90% (most of the times the immigrants have bachelor degrees but find a job as workers in low professions)-- but also as doctors, scientists, professors, entrepreneurs, businessmen, importers, university students.
The main body is located in Athens, about 700.000 Muslims. They have no official mosque, no cemetery, and no school (except one small private Greek-Libyan), they perform their prayers in some underground halls, stores, garages, which are all inappropriate places for the act of worship.
They live in harmony with the Greek society, they learn the Greek language through schools & programmes and their children attend normally the Greek schools.
There is no serious connection between those 2 large communities, due to the diffenece of their legal status, difference of language of the sermons. For example at Thrace the hutba (Friday Sermony) is given in Turkish language.
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nermeen
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Profession
student
Question
Is there a chance for any Muslim lady in Greece to be an Imam like what happened in other European communities? if so, are there any Muslim women effecient enough for such job in Greece?
Answer
This is not going to happen as I estimate; but if our religion allows it, I would be glad. I prefer the women to teach women & children on Islamic classes. But I want to say that there is no efficient person in Greece to be an imam, i mean to issue a fatwa, or not yet.
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S.Gazzar
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Profession
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Most of the Muslims in Europe are lacking a united community, or a united umbrella organization... what is the role of imams in unifying those Muslims, and helping them integrate in the Greek society while keeping the Muslim Identity?
Answer
Unfortunately in Greece we did not approach such level because the Imams are not educated, they just know a little more about Islam than other Muslims here. And to clarify that, I do not speak for the Muslim minority of Norht East of Greece, namely Thrace area. Those have a totally diffenent status.
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Nina
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Profession
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What is the real status of imams in Greece, i mean, are they effecient to perform the imam's job?
Answer
At least they are trying, they are not authorized nor educated properly for this job, they are people who know more religius lessons than others.
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Muslimah
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Assalaamu alaikum.
May Allah reward you for all the good work you are doing in Greece. I know that there are many Muslims migrating to Greece in the last 10 years or so. How does the mainstream population view this change in their society? And what can be done to make it easier for immigrants to feel accepted?
Answer
Gazak Allahu Khairan.
The main problem the society is facing now is the one that you mentioned, and the solutions are very hard with the financial crisis making things more difficult. This assures the idea that the religious education is necessary for the Muslims relief by the right lessons and preachings, because as you may know Greece is the no. 1 destination for the illegal immigrants heading Europe. This is very difficult for all, but eduaction is above our strength as the Muslim countries are not contributing, they may have not realized the current situation in Greece, but we are trying at a government level to start contact between the Greek state and the Muslim states to allow Islamic education to be a subject taught at schools.
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Saad el-faresy
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Profession
Question
Salam Brother ..
Don't you receive imams from Al-Azhar or Saudi Arabia who are qualified to be imams?
However, I do see that even after having islamically qualified imams they should go through an integration course or an orientation course for them to get acquainted with the Greek culture..
What do you think??
Answer
We host from time to time very famous Imams for a few days, but for permanent residence, actually we do not have the ablity to do so.
We are now trying with al-Azhar to contribute in this issue and we ask them to bear the responsibility for the huge Egyptian-Muslim population in Greece as well as other Greek and non-Greek Muslims allover Greece.
As for the integration, you are right, what we do is when a famous imam visits Greece, we give him a kind of small seminar describing the real status of Muslims in Greece to be updated before he gives his speeches, sermons, and lectures. All the sessions held were very successful al hamdulillah.
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mohamed
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What is your role as the president of the Greek Muslim Association? What are the association efforts to help improve Muslims' lives in Greece?
Answer
My role is to unite all Muslims who live in Greece from all nationalities, ideologies and to try to solve the matters that affect their everyday lives as Muslims. Also the association is at constant cooperation with the State in order to demand our rights (mosque, cemetery, Islamic education, etc)and to be on equal foot with other communities in the Greek society.
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mariam
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Profession
Question
How do the Islamic organizations around the world help you in achieving a good Muslim community, and what are their contributions to the Muslims in Greece?
Answer
We have no help from any Islamic organization abroad, we have independant ideology, we are followers of the Holly Qur'an & Sunna. Greece is not a place suitable for various religious groups. Thus, the organizations that have the strength and potentiality help their own groups and members only. We are based on our own hands and this is the reason behind our success.
Name
kamil
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Profession
teaching
Question
Please Sir, How does a worshipper attain al- khushu'u in his solat (prayer),so as to be qualified as one of the believers described in Qur'an, 23 verse 2?
Answer
It is very difficult today at this era, not only in Greece but in every place else, what we need is trust to Allah, to know that our fate is written by Allah, we only need to try hard.
Editor's Note: Dear Kamil,
Please note that this question is not in the framework of our guest specialization, you can refer to Sharia'h section for more detailed answer. Thanks you for submitting your question
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Muslima
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Profession
writer
Question
What are the problems that face the officials in Greece to enhance the Islamic culture?
Answer
The state was surprised to find us (Muslims in Greece) here, and they were not prepared for us all, meaning that before 1970 there were no Muslim immigrants. Greece as an Orthodox country considered the co-existence of another religion not very pleasant, but our main concern as Muslims is to be very moderate, avoid conflicts. We are very patient and we work hard for this, but now they acknowledge that we Muslims are the 2nd religion after Orthodoxy, and from now on we shall start to discuss our demands seriously. Something official, on behalf of the state for the tax paying Muslims, has not happaned yet, but this is one of our coming goals.
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Amr
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Profession
Question
Is the Imam in Greece effecient enough to give fatwas (Islamic consultations)?
Answer
In Greece, we have none that had specialized Islamic studies to be an imam. There is no imam on salary, all are volunteers, that work in Greece as lower workers and leave an hour earlier from their jobs to give the Friday speech.
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Zakariaa
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Profession
professor
Question
What is the role of the mosque in Greece, do you have large mosques like those in the Arab countries which stand as universities?
Answer
Greece is a country with two different Muslim communities, one is formed by the Muslim immigrants and the reverts from all over Greece. The other is located in the North East of Greece, particularly Thrace area where there are Greek Muslims, mainly speaking Turkish. They are under a specific legal status and they have their mosques and imams. They are about 120.000.
We, the larger Muslim community, are exceeding 700.000 only at Athens the capital, but we have no official mosque, just unofficial places to pray. We are fighting hard to have our own official Athens mosque and cemetery and en sha Allah we will succeed. It is essential for us to have a mosque.
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Editor
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Profession
Answer
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