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Fischer joined Muslims in
celebrating the silver Jubilee of the Islamic Religious Authority in
Austria.
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By Tamer Abul Einein & Ahmed Al-Matboli, IOL
Correspondents
VIENNA, January 4 (IslamOnline.net) � The Muslim
community in Austria shined in 2004, showing great ability to integrate
smoothly into the Austrian society, making use of the official recognition
of Islam as a the second state religion, allowing Muslims to defend their
rights, in addition to being staunch supporters of Arab and Islamic
causes.
The year 2004 started on a promising note for Austrian
Muslims, with official estimates showing their number had doubled to hit
300,000, making up 4% of the 8 million population.
In 1991, the Austrian Muslim community made only 2% of
the total population.
The 2004 statistics showed Muslims highly concentrated
in the western Austrian city of Freiburg, making up 8.4% of the total
population in the area. The capital Vienna came second, with Muslims
making up to 7.8% of its population.
Islam, which was officially acknowledged in Austria in
1912, is considered the second religion in the country after Catholicism.
Good Relations
The year 2004 also ended on two good notes for the
Muslim community in Austria, manifested in two meetings with the Austrian
President Heinz Fischer that highlighted the privileges Austrian Muslims
enjoy, compared to other Muslim communities in Europe.
Since he was elected President in 2004, Fischer has
taken several good gestures toward the Muslim community in Austria.
He invited representatives of the Muslim community to
an iftar banquet in the presidential palace during the holy fasting
month of Ramadan.
Fischer also joined the Austrian Muslims in
celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Islamic Religious Authority (IRA)
in Austria. The celebrations were also attended by a cohort of senior
government officials.
Addressing the ceremony, the Austrian leader greeted
the Austrian Muslims by saying �Viva the Muslim community in Austria�, the
first such greeting by any an EU leader.
Established in 1979, the IRA functions as the
religious and spiritual representative of Muslims in Austria.
Vienna mayor Michael Haupl also hailed the successful
Muslim integration into the Austrian society, stressing Muslims are part
and parcel of Austria's social fabric.
Staunch Supporter
In addition to being an example of social integration,
the Austrian Muslim community was no less active in the support of Arab
and Islamic issues, primarily the Palestinian and Iraqi causes.
In this respect, several peaceful marches were
organized by the Muslim community to highlight support for the two Arab
nations under occupation.
On March 20, thousands of Austrians took part in a
rally in central Vienna to condemn the �imperialistic campaigns� in
Palestine and Iraq, calling for establishing peace around the globe.
The Muslim community in Austria also condemned the
Israeli assassination of Islam spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed
Yassin.
Condemnation
The general atmosphere of peaceful integration
manifested itself in how the Austrian community dealt with the wave of
Islamophobia ripping through other EU countries.
Austrian Muslims and imams have been loudly
criticizing of any resorting to violence in solving disputes. That was
clear in their condemnation of the killing of anti-Islam Dutch filmmaker
Theo van Gogh.
That kind of attitude was extremely hailed by the
Austrian press.
The Austrian Der Standard applauded a Friday
sermon by the Muslim imam Sheikh Adnan Ibrahim who highlighted the fact
that Austria provided Muslims with safety and good living conditions,
requiring Muslims to answer with gratitude.
The Austrian Muslims have also been strongly present
as far as international crises were concerned, especially the
quake-triggered tsunamis which hit Asian countries.
Responding to the crisis, the IRA opened a banking
account to receive donations to help the tsunami-hit peoples.
Muslim imams also urged all Muslim people to do their
utmost efforts to bring help to the Asian peoples, regardless of their
faiths.
Women
Credit for a successful and a fruitful year does not
only go to Muslim men in Austria. Muslim women have, in fact, weighed
heavily in that regard.
Joining men in drawing a bright picture of the Muslim
community in Austria, women also held meetings with senior officials to
discuss issues of concern to the Muslim community in the European country.
A female Muslim delegation met senior government
officials last year.
The delegation stressed that Islam enshrined
inalienable rights for women and cleared stereotypes circulated by
right-wing media.
Racist Practices
The picture was not all that rosy though. The Muslim
community did face incidents of racist practices from rightist parties in
the country, chiefly Austrian bishop Court Kreen who accused Muslims with
brutality and terrorism, warning against flooding Europe with Muslim
immigrants.
Responding to the remarks, the IRA urged the Austrian
bishop to respect the Vatican decisions on good relations with Islam and
Muslims.
The Catholic church in Austria actually was swift in
rejecting Kreen�s claims, adding it was unacceptable to associate Islam
with brutality.
Copying an anti-hijab drive in some European
countries, a school in the Austrian city of Leinz banned Muslim students
from wearing hijab.
In response, the IRA urged the Austrian education
minister to guarantee the right of Muslim students to wear hijab at
schools.
France has triggered a controversy by adopting a bill
banning hijab and religious insignia in public schools.
The US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) dismissed the
French move as �discriminatory�.
