Islam in Switzerland
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According to the Confederate census of 2001, a total number of 310,807 Muslims were living in Switzerland which made up 4.26% of the total population[1].
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[edit] Location
The largest concentration of Muslim population is in the German speaking Swiss plateau. The cantons with more than 5% Muslim population are:
- 6.72% Basel-Stadt
- 6.50% Glarus
- 6.13% St. Gallen
- 5.94% Thurgau
- 5.80% Schaffhausen
- 5.49% Aargau
- 5.39% Solothurn
- 5.33% Zürich
Geneva is the only non-German-speaking canton where the Muslim population is slightly above the average (4,35). Another remarkable demographic feature in comparison to other European countries is the relatively equal distribution throughout the country[2] (compare Islam in the United Kingdom). No administrative unit has more than 8.55% of Muslim population, and no town or village more than 16.8%. The lowest percentage of Muslims in a canton is 1.82% (the Italian-speaking Ticino).
[edit] Origin
Most (88.3% as of 2000) Muslims in Switzerland are not Swiss citizens. Of the 11.7% (36, 481 people) with Swiss citizenship (0.5% of the total population), 7.7% are naturalized and 3.9% had Swiss citizenship from birth.
Most Muslims in Switzerland are from former Yugoslavia (56.4%; especially Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, the Republic of Macedonia and the Sandžak region) and Turkey (20.2%)[3].
The leading figure of the called "Euro-Islam", Tariq Ramadan currently resides in Geneva.
[edit] History
In the 10th century, Arabs and Berbers from Mediterranean Fraxinet base for a few decades settled in the Valais[4] They occupied the Great St. Bernard Pass and even managed to reached as far as St. Gallen to the north and Raetia in the east.
In the confused conditions of the 9-10th centuries, parts of what is now Switzerland were threatened by "Saracens," Muslim colonists. Their precise origin and initial purpose remains a mystery, but they moved from a base in Provence, in southern France, towards northern Italy, seizing the western Alpine passes. In the east they went as far as Chur and almost reached St Gallen, before withdrawing west again.
[edit] Mosques
There are two mosques in the country, one in Geneva and one in Zurich. There are also about 120 prayer rooms around the country, and about 100 additional "non-official" prayer rooms.[5]
In 2007 the Bern city council rejected plans to build one of the largest Islamic cultural centers in Europe.[6]
A current political initiative wants to ban the building of minarets on future mosques.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ Switzerland: CIA World Factbook[1]
- ^ Islam in Switzerland[2]
- ^ Islam & Muslims in Europe[3]
- ^ Manfred, W: "International Journal of Middle East Studies", pages 59-79, Vol. 12, No. 1. Middle East Studies Association of North America, Aug 1980.
- ^ International Religious Freedom Report 2006 Switzerland
- ^ Bern city says no to Islamic cultural centre, Swissinfo, June 1, 2007
- ^ Rightwingers want nationwide vote on minarets, Swissinfo, May 3, 2007
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Euro-Islam breaking news on Islam in Europe (legislation, security, opinion polls) including profiles of Islam by country
- Statistics of Muslims in Switzerland
- Link Directory Islam in Western Europe: Switzerland
- Demographic tables regarding Muslims in Switzerland
- Swiss Exile: European Muslim Congress, 1935 by Martin Kramer.
- Islam in Switzerland
