Muslim Council of Sweden
Encyclopedia
The Muslim Council of Sweden is an umbrella organisation of Islam
ic organisations in Sweden
. It was founded in 1990 by representatives of the United Islamic Parishes in Sweden and the Muslim Association of Sweden .
The current chairperson of the organisation is Helena Benaouda, who succeeded Mostafa Kharraki.
Swedish social anthropologist
Aje Carlbom and parliamentarian Abderisak Aden, who has founded the Islamic Democratic Institute (Islamiska demokratiska institutet), have both stated that they believe that at least part of the leading members of SMR support Islamist ideologies and are influenced by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood
.
, one of the Board members of SMR, sent letters to each of the major political parties in Sweden demanding special legislation for Muslims in Sweden, including the right to specific Islamic holidays, special public financing for the building of Mosques, that all divorces between Muslim couples be approved by an Imam, and that Imams should be allowed to teach Islam to children of Muslim parents in public schools. The request was condemned by all political parties and the government and the Swedish Liberal Party requested that an investigation be started by the Office of the Exchequer into the use of public funding of SMR. A spokesperson of the Board of SMR subsequently stated that while it supported some of the contents of the letter it had not discussed other parts, such as special legislation for Muslims and did not think that the letter had been a good idea to communicate them in a list of demands.
Although the Board of SMR did not condemn Aldebe the letter has caused conflict within the organization.
SMR has also been accused of being closely allied to the Swedish Social Democrat Party (see Swedish Association of Christian Social Democrats). Which has been criticised both inside and outside the party.
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic organisations in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. It was founded in 1990 by representatives of the United Islamic Parishes in Sweden and the Muslim Association of Sweden .
The current chairperson of the organisation is Helena Benaouda, who succeeded Mostafa Kharraki.
Swedish social anthropologist
Social anthropology
Social Anthropology is one of the four or five branches of anthropology that studies how contemporary human beings behave in social groups. Practitioners of social anthropology investigate, often through long-term, intensive field studies , the social organization of a particular person: customs,...
Aje Carlbom and parliamentarian Abderisak Aden, who has founded the Islamic Democratic Institute (Islamiska demokratiska institutet), have both stated that they believe that at least part of the leading members of SMR support Islamist ideologies and are influenced by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
.
Member organizations
The Muslim Council of Sweden currently has 9 member organisations, with a total number of about 100,000 members:- Young Muslims of Sweden (Sveriges Unga Muslimer)
- United Islamic Parishes in Sweden (Förenade islamiska församlingar i Sverige)
- Muslim Association of Sweden (Sveriges Muslimska Förbund)
- Bosnian Islamic National Association in Sweden (Bosniska Islamiska Riksförbundet i Sverige)
- Islamic School Foundation (Stiftelsen Islamiska Skolan)
- Muslim Scouts of Sweden (Sveriges Muslimska Scouter)
- Islamic Information Association (Islamiska Informationsföreningen)
- Islamic ReliefIslamic ReliefIslamic Relief Worldwide is a Muslim international relief and development organization consisting of a family of 15 aid agencies that aims to alleviate the suffering of the world’s poorest people...
- PISPISPis or PIS may refer to:* Prawo i Sprawiedliwość , Polish political party* Manneken Pis, a sculpture of a urinating boy, a Brussels landmark* Poitiers - Biard Airport in France...
Controversies
SMR has been involved in several controversies. In 2006 Mahmoud AldebeMahmoud Aldebe
Mahmoud Jamil al-Debe is the chairman of the Muslim Association of Sweden . He was previously vice chairman of the Muslim Council of Sweden , an umbrella organization with the Muslim Association of Sweden as one of its members....
, one of the Board members of SMR, sent letters to each of the major political parties in Sweden demanding special legislation for Muslims in Sweden, including the right to specific Islamic holidays, special public financing for the building of Mosques, that all divorces between Muslim couples be approved by an Imam, and that Imams should be allowed to teach Islam to children of Muslim parents in public schools. The request was condemned by all political parties and the government and the Swedish Liberal Party requested that an investigation be started by the Office of the Exchequer into the use of public funding of SMR. A spokesperson of the Board of SMR subsequently stated that while it supported some of the contents of the letter it had not discussed other parts, such as special legislation for Muslims and did not think that the letter had been a good idea to communicate them in a list of demands.
Although the Board of SMR did not condemn Aldebe the letter has caused conflict within the organization.
SMR has also been accused of being closely allied to the Swedish Social Democrat Party (see Swedish Association of Christian Social Democrats). Which has been criticised both inside and outside the party.