I came to Vienna, the capital of Austria on the invitation of HE Faisal bin Abdul Rahman bin al-Muaammar, Secretary General of the King Abdullah International Centre for Interfaith and Dialogue (KAICIID) in November 2012 and attended the Symposium and Workshop on 26 November and also joined in the opening ceremony of the Centre at the Hobsburg Palace Vienna in the evening.

I had the opportunity to meet many important dignitaries and renowned international personalities on the occasion. Some of the delegates were asking why Saudi Arabia has chosen or selected, out of so many countries in the world, Vienna, capital of Austria to establish King Abdullah International Centre for Interfaith and Dialogue. This question led me to go deep into the background of the presence of Islam and the role of Muslims in Austria vis-a-vis the role of the Government of Austria.

During the Symposium and Workshop session the Best Practice Symposium was held during the day, from morning to afternoon, on 26th of November at the Hilton Hotel, Vienna, Austria. One of the presentations was on the Centre for Christian-Islamic Encounter, presented by Ms Agnes Tuna, who is working as associate adviser to the Islamic Religious Authority of Austria. She graduated at the University of Vienna in 2006 in German Literature and Political Sciences. She gave a brief introduction about the Muslim community in Austria. Ms. Tuna mentioned both the positive side and other sides of the picture. She said there is regular dialogue and exchange through regular imam conferences.

I had the opportunity to interview Ms. Agnes Tuna, Consultant, Official Austrian Representative of Muslims and also a Muslim Imam who is from Bosnia-Herzegovina. The following write-up on Islam and Muslims in Austria is based on that presentation at the Symposium and my interview with Ms. Tuna and my research on the topic.

In 2010, Muslim population in Austria was estimated to be around 400,000 to 500,000 or about 6 per cent of the total population. Most Muslims came to Austria during the 1960s as migrant workers from Turkey and Bosnia-Herzegovina. There are also communities of Arab and Pakistani origin. The presence of Muslims in Austria has a long history.

Historically, Muslims came into contact with Austria at different points of time. They first came into contact when Ottoman Empire tried to expand into Europe in the 16th and 17th century. Later on the Muslim population in the empire declined, until 1912 when the Emperor Joseph I annexed Bosnia - Herzegovina into his empire.

Islam in Modern Austria

In modern times, immigration to Austria, especially from Turkey and Eastern European countries increased after the 1878 Berlin Conference. The new arrivals were welcomed by the Austrian authorities which gave them a maximum of religious freedom.

Since that time, Islam influenced Austrian culture significantly, and numerous conversions to Islam took place.

Muslims enrolled in the Austrian Army also. After the Second World War, new waves of Muslim immigrants arrived in Austria from Turkey as guest workers to help in the reconstruction work.

1960-70
After 1964, 'the guest workers' came in particular from Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, as well as, though less in numbers, from Arab countries and Pakistan. During the 1970s, immigration increased as a result of the economic boom.

Ms. Tuna said, “Unfortunately, Austria did not recognise these people stay in this country; they thought they are supposed to go back to their countries”.

Migration in 1990s
The last wave of Muslim immigrants arrived in the early 1990s from Yugoslavia. Ms. Tuna said, “Then of course during the former Yugoslavian war in the 1990s another wave of migrants came into Austria.”

Muslim Population
Islam is now the largest religious minority in Austria with 4.2% of the population according to the 2001 census. In 2010, after the Catholics (73.6%), irreligious (12%) and Protestants (4.7%). There are approximately 338,988 Muslims in Austria.

Status of Islam in Austria
Islam was recognised constitutionally as a religion after the Parliamentary approval in the Upper Chamber and Lower House in 1912. The Islam Law, issued by Emperor Franz Joseph I, concerned the acknowledgement of Islam's followers within the Austrian half of the Empire. Ms. Tuna said, “In 1912, Islam was declared as an officially recognised religion of Austria.

In 1979, this Law of 1912 became the basis for the recognition of Islam under Public Law, on which also the proclamation of constitution of the Islamic Religious Body and the establishment of the first Viennese Islamic Religion Community was announced. According to Article 1 of the Constitution all Muslims in Austria belong to the Religious Body.

Muslim Religious Community
Austria is unique among Western European countries in so far as it has granted Muslims the status of a recognised religious community. This dates back to the times following the Austri-o-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878. Austria has regulated the religious freedom of the Muslim community with the so-called Act of Recognition. This Law was reactivated, as mentioned earlier, in 1979 when the Muslim Religious Community was founded. This organisation is established to give lessons of religious education in the state.

Mosques
The first mosque was built in Vienna in 1887 with the Government's assistance to service, Muslims enlisted in the Austrian Army.

There are four major purpose-built mosques in Austria with minarets and other features. According to Ms. Tuna. In the 1990s there were around 80 Mosque communities or Islamic associations in Austria. But by the turn of the century, there were more than 200 Mosque Communities for about 340,000 Muslims. According to Ms. Tuna, about 250 Muslim communities offer prayer rooms. Muslim organisations generally have prayer room, a leisure club and a shop. There are some kind of Muslim associations, each community have their own associations, for example, Bosnians, Egyptians Turkish have very small communities associations and they offer prayer rooms.

Education/Islamic educational
The Austrian government provides funding in all state-recognised religions at public schools; instruction in Islam has been offered at public schools since 1983. Some 37,000 children participate in such classes at 2700 schools across the country, taught by 350 teachers and the number continues to rise. Muslim pupils at public schools do not have to attend lessons on Muslim holidays. Students in public institutions too are permitted to wear veil and Muslims gained the right to study Islam in state schools. In the 1980s, about fifty teachers gave Islamic religious education (about half of them taught in Vienna. About 200 lady teachers give Islamic religious education. “About 60,000 pupils attend Islamic religious education at public schools. The Austrian government is offering funding and other facilities to help this religious education,” said Ms. Tuna.

The Islamic religion lady teachers act according to a uniform curriculum, and teach in German language. The religious education at public schools, which is based on a uniform nationally approved curriculum, is the guarantee for the state that Islamic religious education is not given outside the school.

There are some private institutions offering Islamic kindergartens, Islamic private schools, There are also private Islamic schools Only two out of the 1,552 private schools, recognised in 2005-06 by the government as running in compliance with the Private School Law, are Islamic schools. Other Islamic education institutions include the Islamic Academy in Vienna, founded in 1998, and the Al-Azhar Institution in Vienna, founded in 2000. Since 1999, a private Islamic Religious Academy has been training religious teachers of Islam in Vienna. Among some recent measures taken are the establishment of the Islamic Religious Academy and the appointment of a commission to develop a new curriculum for instruction in Islam, which will offer teachers “practical and detailed guidance”.

Establishment of Cemetery
Recently, a 34,000 sq. Muslim cemetery has also been built in Vienna.

Islamic Centre
The first Islamic Centre was built in 1968. Its Trustee Council was formed under the chairmanship of Hasan Al-Tuhamiy, Egypt's Ambassador to Austria at the time, who later became Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC). The Centre was inaugurated in November 1977 and has been playing an important role in religious teaching in Austria. Another key organisation is the Islamic Religious Academy, as mentioned earlier, founded in 1979, which functions as the religious and spiritual representative of Muslims in the country in the same way as Austria's key Christian and Jewish bodies do for their communities.

Muslim political participation
For a long time it did not appear that any Muslims had been elected to the national or European legislatures. There were only very few numbers of Muslims active in regional parliaments throughout the main three parties (Social Democrats, Conservatives, Green Party). Islamic community recently made efforts to play a role in the country's political life and several Islamic figures qualified themselves to assume distinguished positions inside parties and government bodies. A major turning point was the election of the Vienna Municipal Parliament in 2001. One of the most famous Muslim politicians in Austria is Amr Al-Rawi, A Muslim Parliament member for the Social Democrat Party of Austria. A-Rawi was born in Iraq and searched for his voters consciously in Mosques and Islamic community centres. Al-Rawi entered the municipal parliament in 2002. In the following national parliament elections, he received 3151 votes. Other parties had recognised the potential of Muslim votes. The Green Party had already had Muslim candidates.

There is a Shoura Council which consists of 64 members, according to Ms. Tuna who also added, “There is one woman in the Austrian Parliament representing Turkish community. But in Austria we have a separation between Religion and Politics. We do not have any religious representative. We have very few, one or two, in the parliament”.

Back