Thursday 09 Jul 2020
Rep: Nadia Zuraya/ Red: Nashih Nasrullah
Mahmud Moschee, Zurich. Headquarter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Switzerland
Even though Islam is the second largest religion in Switzerland, it is vulnerable to discrimination. A minaret is visible in one corner of a city in Switzerland.Photo: AP
Even though Islam is the second largest religion in Switzerland, it is vulnerable to discrimination.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, In a country directly bordering Germany, France, Italy, Liechtenstein and Austria, based on the latest census data, there are around 340 thousand Muslim citizens in Switzerland out of the country’s 7.4 million population. About 43 percent of Swiss Muslims are of Turkish descent. This number has increased when compared to official statistics released by the government in 2001 as many as 310,807 people.
The existence of Islam in Switzerland has been traced around the 9-10th century AD. Islamic teachings were brought by the Saracens, namely a group of Muslim explorers at that time. The origins and initial objectives of the group are still a mystery, but they are moving from a base in Provence, in the south of France to northern Italy. To the east they ventured as far as Chur and almost reached Saint Gallen before turning back west.
As is the case in a number of other European countries, Islam has developed widely in Switzerland through the participation of immigrants. The first Muslims arrived as workers in the 1960s, mostly from Turkey, the former Yugoslav territory and Albania. In the 1970s, these Muslim immigrants brought their families with them.
The next wave of Muslim immigrants comes from asylum seekers, some of whom are granted citizenship. According to 2000 data, more than 88.3 percent of Muslims in Switzerland are not native. Only 11.7 percent (36,481 people) have Swiss citizenship. Meanwhile, 7.7 percent are naturalized citizens and 3.9 percent are Swiss citizens by birth.
The largest concentration of Muslims is in German-speaking enclaves. The enclaves that have a Muslim population of more than five percent are Basel-Stadt (6.72 percent), Glarus (6.50 percent), St Gallen (6.13 percent), Thurgau (5.94 percent), Schaffhausen (5 .80 percent), Aargau (5.49 percent), Solothum (5.39 percent), and Zurich (5.33 percent).
Geneva is the only non-German-speaking region that has a slightly above average Muslim population of 4.35 percent. Therefore it can be said that the distribution of Muslims in Switzerland is quite even. No administrative unit has more than 8.55 percent of the Muslim population, and no town or village has more than 16.8 percent of the Muslim population. The lowest percentage of Muslims in a Muslim enclave is 1.82 percent, in Ticino, an Italian-speaking region.
Being in second place after Christianity, apparently does not necessarily make Islam acceptable to the majority of Swiss society. Various issues surrounding the anti-Islam campaign in this Central European country have often graced the news in a number of international media, especially those from Muslim countries. In fact, in 2009, Muslims in Switzerland experienced difficulties when they had to build a mosque, because the minaret was considered contrary to the symbol of Western democracy.
Not only the issue of minarets, several other policies from the Swiss Government are also felt to be curbing the freedom of Muslims there in carrying out Islamic teachings. One clear example is the rule regarding animal slaughter.
Under Swiss law, the slaughter of animals without notification is prohibited. Because there are rules like this, Swiss Muslims are forced to celebrate Eid al-Adha without any sacrificial animals. Instead, they choose to donate money or import sacrificial animals that have been slaughtered from their neighboring country, France.
Categories: Ahmadis, Ahmadiyyat: True Islam, Europe, Europe and Australia, Muslims, Switzerland