The

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s in

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

are ethnically mostly

Bosniaks The Bosniaks (, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia (region), Bosnia, today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who sha ...

and

ethnic Muslims Muslims (Serbo-Croatian Latin and , Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic and ) are an ethnoreligious group of Serbo-Croatian-speaking Muslims, inhabiting mostly the territory of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The term Muslims became wi ...

. In 2014, there were 48,266 Muslims in Slovenia, making up about 2 percent of the total population. The Muslim community of Slovenia is headed by . There are also a few Muslim migrant workers from

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

; however, they are not counted in the census, because they are not citizens of Slovenia.

Demographics

Demographics of Muslims In Slovenia by ethnicity in 2002

Muslim buildings in Slovenia

There was a mosque in

Log pod Mangartom Log pod Mangartom (; sometimes ''Log pod Mangrtom''; ; ), is a settlement in the Municipality of Bovec in the Littoral region of Slovenia. It comprises the former villages of Gorenji Log and Spodnji Log as well as the hamlets of Loška Koritnica ...

, a village now in the extreme northwest of Slovenia, Log pod Mangartom Mosque, built by the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Infantry Regiment No. 4 during World War I and probably demolished soon after the war. In 2013, works begun to build a mosque in Ljubljana, to be completed in 2016.

Ljubljana Mosque

In September 2013 the foundation stone was laid for a mosque to be 70% funded by

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

44 years after the a petition was filed to build a mosque. The mosque will include a cultural centre at a cost of US$16 million to be completed in 2016 with construction commencing in November. The groundbreaking was attended by Prime Minister

Alenka Bratušek Alenka Bratušek (; born 31 March 1970) is a Slovenian politician, who was the Prime Minister of Slovenia from March 2013 until May 2014 as the first woman in Slovenia to hold this position. She was president ''pro tempore'' of the Positive Slove ...

who said the building would be a "symbolic victory against all forms of religious intolerance" and that Europe would not be as culturally rich without Islam. There were about 10,000 others in attendance including Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Jankovic and an unnamed government minister from Qatar. Slovenia's highest Islamic authority Mufti Nedzad Grabus said: "We are happy to be starting this civic project in Ljubljana, which will thus become a better-known and a more pluralistic city." The ceremony was also attended by the Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bakir Izetbegović Bakir Izetbegović (; born 28 June 1956) is a Bosnian politician who served as the 6th Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2010 to 2018. He is the current president of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA). Born in S ...

. Other attendees were former President of Slovenia

Danilo Turk Danilo is a given name found in Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Serbian. Notable people with the name Danilo include: Athletes Footballers * Danilo (footballer, born 1979), Brazilian footballer Danilo de Andrade * Danilo (footballer, born 198 ...

and Mufti of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Husein Kavazović Husein ef. Kavazović (born 3 July 1964) is a Bosnian Islamic cleric serving as Grand Mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina since November 2012. He was previously the Mufti of Tuzla. Biography Son of Hasan and Saima Kavazović, Husein attended prima ...

. The project had faced administrative hurdles and was a political risk in a majority Roman Catholic country. It also faced a possible referendum on the matter in 2004 with 12,000 signatures for it; however, the

Constitutional Court of Slovenia The Constitutional Court of Slovenia (in Slovenian language, Slovene: ''Ustavno sodišče Republike Slovenije, US RS'') is a special court established by the Constitution of Slovenia, Slovenian Constitution. Since its inception, the Court has be ...

rejected the petition on the grounds of

freedom of religion Freedom of religion or religious liberty, also known as freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice ...

. It was also controversial due to the financial crisis afflicting the country. At the ceremony, there was also a rare sight of women in headscarves.

References

{{Islam in Europe

Demographics

Muslim buildings in Slovenia

Ljubljana Mosque

See also

References