A R C H I V E S
Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Salaam from Eastern Europe |
|---|
| HK |
| 07/27/02 at 12:19:07 |
| [color=Green][/color] [slm] Before I start I'd just like to say how great this site is, I only discovered it a few hours ago and I'm hooked already :) Well, my name is Sadiq and I live in Eastern Europe, Czech republic to be precise. I've lived there for two years now, before that I lived in UK. The main reason I'm writing is to just let my fellow muslims know about the condition of Islam in this country. For a start, there are very few muslims, approximately 2000 amongst a population of 10 million. In the town I inhabit, there are barely any muslims, I'd say 20 in total. Before I migrated to czech republic I had been trying to learn more about Islam, I grew up in a muslim family and did not really appreciate this remarkable deen. It was not my parent's fault, they brought me up Alhamdulillah, in a good way and I did know the basics. Like most other muslims born and raised in UK I wanted to belong to the society and I felt my parents ways were foreign and were not compatible with life in england. Fortunately, Allah had other ideas and gave me the hediyaa and taufeeq to come back to him. As a result, my imaan grew stronger again and I had no fears about going to live in czech republic, a quite hostile environment, particularly for muslims. I left UK in Sep 2000 and I had ;-) and I felt it would not be a problem. The first few months were fine, I learnt to accept the stares and horrified looks from czech people, espcially czech kids :) However, my imaan was being sapped because I was not doing enough amaals, such as reading Qur'an, zikr etc. I felt alone and without anyone to turn to for guidance. There is one mosque in the whole town and four in the whole country, but it was only open on Fridays for Jumaah. Even worse was that I could not talk about islam to my fellow muslims who were not interested and the main viewpoint is to just conform to czech ways and not even mention Allah's name or to even talk about wanting to be a good, practising muslim :( To cut a long story short, I started to slip and one by one I stopped EVERYTHING!!! I indulged in "wrong" because I stupidly thought that if all the other muslims were doing it then I could to. However, help came from an unexpected corner. I was "misbehaving" but at the same time I kept pleading to Allah to help me!! This help came from two friends of mine, a hindu and a christian. They'd seen me through my various stages and in fact they were the only people I could discuss Islam with. The turning point came when they told me they liked the "good" muslim that I once was, rather than the "bad" one now. I was talking to my friend one evening and he interrupted me saying "I have to pray now, I'll call you later." I was gob-smacked, because in that moment it suddenly hit me that he, a hindu was going to pray Maghrib and I, the muslim, had not planned to. Jazakallah-khair to Allah for giving me a friend such as he. My journey back to the right path resumed and Kannan and I would pray together and we'd do some learning and teaching nearly every day. Alhamdulillah, I'm finding my way again and one of the simplest things I value is being able to walk around and remember Allah's name. It's very soothing and comforting to know that every piece of earth on which Allah's worship is done will testify in one's favour ;D The lesson I learnt from this experience is that I am NOT ALONE Allah is with me everywhere I go no matter how isolated the place is. Also, I learnt how important it is to keep good company, because obviously we are shaped by the company we keep. My duas are with you all....... [wlm] ;-) |
| Re: Salaam from Eastern Europe |
|---|
| sabri |
| 07/27/02 at 13:48:33 |
| [slm] Welcome to the board and enjoy yourself here insha allah. ;-) [wlm] |
| Re: Salaam from Eastern Europe |
|---|
| Aadam |
| 07/27/02 at 14:02:31 |
| [slm] Humble Knight Welcome to Madina. I'm sure you'll like it alot. Thanks for the details about Czech Republic. I assumed that many more muslims live there though. Aadam |
| Re: Salaam from Eastern Europe |
|---|
| Kathy |
| 07/28/02 at 22:22:49 |
| [slm] My mothers family is from Czech... the "slovak" side. Have you met any Hudaks? I always wondered if Islam had an ifluence in that area... Huda/Hudak? |
| Re: Salaam from Eastern Europe |
|---|
| HK |
| 07/29/02 at 07:23:23 |
| [slm] Jazakallah-khair for the replies, it's wonderful to belong to this community ;-) Everything's fairly quiet in czech republic right now, most muslim students have gone back to their home countries for the summer vacation. By the way sr Kathy, there is no town called Huda in either the Slovak republic or Czech republic :) As far as islamic influence is concerned, I'd say Prague is the city which is drawing more czech reverts. Alhamdulillah there is good dawah work there and because Prague is more cosmopolitan the czechs are not so wary of foreigners. Also, islam is not portrayed in a favourable light, it's very biased actually. In these past two years I've not seen a single positive news item about muslims. Fortunately, there are some people who are interested, if only from a cultural point of view. The country is 70% aethiest, you must remember that they only gained freedom from communism in 1989 so there hasn't been such a huge interest in any particiular religion. Slovakia is different, they're 80-90% catholic and I've found that my slovak friends are more keen to discuss and listen about Islam, it's quite shocking what they teach them about Islam in their schools. For example, one day my flat-mate asked me why muslims believe only men have souls and I smiled and corrected him. It's not all bad though, in my town we have two czech reverts, a husband and wife and Alhamdulillah, they are learning fast. Only Allah knows if islam will flourish in this country and I think the main duty of the muslims who have gone there is to just practise. For centuries and centuries this part of the earth did not have anyone to worship Allah, we muslims who were sent there are fortunate indeed to have that chance to worship Allah there. Do you know of any czech or slovak muslims in your part of the world?? I know that there is a large community of czechs in Florida :) Oh yes, do you know of any good vegetarian czechoslovak dishes, I know of only Brinza Halushky, it'd be nice to try something else apart from dumplings :) [wlm] ;-) |
| Re: Salaam from Eastern Europe |
|---|
| Kathy |
| 07/29/02 at 08:37:43 |
| [wlm] Hudak is the family name! No- I have never met a Slovak Muslim. However, in the suberbs of Chicago there is a masjid in which mostly Eastern Europeans, and Yugo/Bosnian Muslims go. I regret that I never made it out there when i lived in Chicago. If you need slovak recipies- ask in the Kabab folder. I have everything from Mushroom Soup, to Halupki's to Kolachki's...and don't forget the Paska and Pierogis! If you ever come across the Islamic influence in the area in past history- let me know! |
| 07/29/02 at 08:39:05 |
| Kathy |
| Re: Salaam from Eastern Europe |
|---|
| HK |
| 07/29/02 at 09:22:42 |
| [slm] Hey, I must be blind or stupid, I can't seem to find the kabab folder, but I am interested in learning those recipes :D I did some research into the history of the region and actually there has never been any strong muslim influence in that area. Czech republic and Slovakia were part of the Austo-Hungarian empire and they were always predominantly christian. I know that muslims have ben around in Bosnia and Kosovo and to be honest I don't think the muslim empire spread any further than that. The only muslims in that area were a few individuals who stumbled across muslims once they'd managed to leave. Our neighbour, Germany has thousands of muslims, I think they number 2million. Nearly all are of turkish origin, turkish people have lived there for decades. I read some individual testimonies of czech and slovak people who found Islam by travelling to germany and USA. You know one quality which I really like about czechs and slovaks is their curiosity about other people, cultures and lifestyles. [wlm] P.S. My favourite cake is the one made with poppy seed ;D |
| Re: Salaam from Eastern Europe |
|---|
| mustafas_baba |
| 07/29/02 at 16:56:40 |
| HK [slm] Welcome to this board. You will enjoy your visits here. :) Where in Czeska do you live? I visited Prava(praha, whatever you wanna call it ;) ) about 3 months back in April. We stayed in the center of the old town. It was really beautiful, almost fairytale like. We were actually visiting Austria and decided to go to Prague for 3 days. We really had a good time there. Ofcourse, I didnt run into any muslims, but that place did seem devoid of any real faith!! Hope life gets better for Muslims there. However, Austria had quite a bit muslims there(I believe 9% of pop is Muslim) and there was a mosque close to our hotel. I wish we had 'met' online before I visite Praha and we could have gotten together for lunch ;D Have you been to Hotel Prince right next to the old church in the center of the city? It has some awesome food(some of the best fish entree' I've had). And the cost wasnt bad either. :) Ali |
| Re: Salaam from Eastern Europe |
|---|
| HK |
| 07/29/02 at 18:08:21 |
| [slm] Bro Ali Wow, I didn't know Austria had so many muslims, I must pay it a visit sometime :) I live in Olomouc which is south-east of Prague, 3hours by train. By the way, if you're ever in Prague again, try the arab restuarant in the old square, the food is halal and the kebabs are scrummy!!! ;D [wlm] ;-) |
| Re: Salaam from Eastern Europe |
|---|
| stap |
| 08/04/02 at 01:06:15 |
| US State Dept report on religious freedom in the Czech Rep. regarding Muslims for those interested. The report was published Oct 2001: "Leaders of the local Muslim community estimate that there are 20,000 to 30,000 Muslims, although Islam has not been registered as an officially recognized religion since the Communist takeover in 1948. There is a mosque in Brno and another in Prague." "Registration of Islam has been discussed with the Department of Churches, but there has been no formal application. To register a religious group must have at least 10,000 adult members permanently residing in the country" "Unregistered religious groups, such as the small Muslim minority, may not own community property legally, but often form civic-interest associations for the purpose of managing their property and other holdings until they are able to meet the qualifications for registration. The Government does not interfere with or prevent this type of interim solution. Unregistered religious groups otherwise are free to assemble and worship in the manner of their choice." "Local Muslims reported that there were no incidents of religious intolerance toward their community during the period covered by this report." -------- Personally, Sadiq, I would urge you to actively take part in any Da'wa activity and if there is no activity going on, you should be the one to start something. I think you will find that it will aid you to practice the Deen more if you are also trying to help someone else learn about it. Anyways, best of luck and may Allah guide all of us and strengthen our Iman. |
| Re: Salaam from Eastern Europe |
|---|
| HK |
| 08/04/02 at 10:17:22 |
| [slm] I was quite amazed by those statistics because I do not see any muslims there, mind you it's hard to tell a czech muslim from an ordinary czech non-muslim, except the women that is, who do cover their heads and wear long dresses. With regards to incidents, I only know about the muslim community in my town. There is no recorded incident because we do not like to draw attention to ourselves. The czech police are absolutely useless and the times when we have tried to report or make a complaint nothing is done. There's a large skinhead movement in czech republic and because we're obviously out-numbered we try to stay as low as possible. Once a muslim brother was attacked by several skinhead and in the fight he stabbed one of them. Needless to say the muslim was arrested and was about to serve a 5year prison sentence but Allah stepped and sent a flood to the town and all the evidence against him was "lost." The czech guys got off scot-free and in fact there were several attacks on muslims to get revenge. With regards to dawah, my priority is to practise as much as possible, it is the most effective I think, some of my czech friends like to listen and only Allah knows if islam will flourish in this land. The brothers in Prague and Brno are doing a good job Alhamdulillah. I'm using this time back in England to "top-up" my imaan so that I'm ready to face another year in czech republic. If you have any more facts about czech republic I'd like to know :) [wlm] ;-) |
| Re: Salaam from Eastern Europe |
|---|
| eleanor |
| 08/04/02 at 10:25:53 |
| [quote author=HK link=board=bebzi;num=1027786747;start=0#10 date=08/04/02 at 10:17:22] Needless to say the muslim was arrested and was about to serve a 5year prison sentence but Allah stepped and sent a flood to the town and all the evidence against him was "lost." [wlm] ;-)[/quote] Subhan Allah!!! Welcome to the board HK!! I live in Germany which is just across the border from you! In fact my brother in law lives only 13 miles from the Czech border. He lives near Dresden. I was in Prague about 6 years ago. I thought it was beautiful and was completely bowled over by the lovely atmosphere there. But those were different days and I was a different person. I was most impressed by the cheap beer in Prague. (Astafirullah). Anyways, looking forward to your posts! By the way, what is your origin? You're not english are you? wasalaam eleanor |
| Guten Tach..!!! |
|---|
| HK |
| 08/04/02 at 20:00:19 |
| [slm] Yes, I know Dresden, my coach passed by as I travelled to Muenster, didn't get a chance to see the delights of that town but I'm sure Olomouc is prettier ;D I'm not anglo-saxon if that is what you meant ;D but I was born and raised in England, I've only lived in Czech republic for 2years. Which part of Germany do you live in?? How long have you lived there?? Is it easy to practise islam in your town?? One thing I loved about Dortmund and Muenster was "real" apple strudel and lots of halal meat....Mmmm...delicious ;D [wlm] ;-) |
Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board |