Islam in Denmark

[3] The figure has been increasing for the last several decades due to multiple immigration waves involving economic migrants and asylum seekers.

One of the first Danish converts to Islam was Knud Holmboe, a journalist and writer of Desert Encounter, in which he detailed his first-hand account of the Libyan Genocide.

[10] Due to the expansion of Denmark's post-war economy and increase in industrialization in the 1950-1960s, a large number of immigrants migrated to the country from the highly-Muslim populated nations of Yugoslavia, Turkey, Pakistan, and North Africa.

It was found that there were about 30 imams on work visas active in Denmark from abroad and most of these were sent by the Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) agency.

[19] In August 2017, two imams, one of which is the head of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Australia, were added to the Danish list of hate preachers, which meant they could not enter Denmark, bringing the total to ten.

[24] A protest numbering 300-400 people was held in the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen, organised by the Socialist Youth Front, Kvinder i Dialog and Party Rebels.

The possible cause of the trend, according to sociologist Brian Arly Jacobsen at Copenhagen University, was the construction of 20-30 new mosques in the intervening 10 years.

[27] In April 2019, riots broke out in Nørrebro in Copenhagen, Denmark, after Islam critic Rasmus Paludan staged a demonstration in the district.

[41] According to a 2008 survey of immigrants to Denmark from Muslim-majority countries by IntegrationsStatus, 45% were Sunni, 11% were Shia, and 23% belonged to another branch of Islam (such as Hanafi, Salafi, Shafai Humbli, etc.).

[46][47][48] In 2020, a group of former Muslims in Denmark formed a Scandinavian chapter of Central Council of Ex-Muslims, an organization which started in Germany where people who had left the religion could support each other.

[45] In September 2017, the Danish bureau Unique Models became the first and only fashion agency in the country to include a Muslim woman who wears a hijab when they hired the 21-year-old Amina Adan.

[52] Several Muslim youth organizations work to make contact with Danish society as a whole by inviting locals to mosques and representing Islam in a positive light.

It has an equal number of Muslims and Christians as board members and strives to build positive relations between citizens of both religions.

A report titled Conversation Promotes Understanding published by the Church of Denmark in 2000 put an emphasis on increasing dialogue with Muslims.

[57] Advertisements by the Danish People's Party, which promote anti-mosque legislation, contend that Iran and Saudi Arabia are sources of funding.

The Government criticized the incidents and investigated several, but it brought few cases to trial specifically on charges of racial discrimination or hate crimes.

[61] In 2014, regional police authorities (Danish: Østjyllands Politi) found that of the 27 individuals who had travelled from the Gellerup area to participate in the war in Syria and Iraq, 22 had been visitors to Grimhøj mosque.

[63] In 2016 journalists visited the Grimhøj mosque with a hidden camera and imam Abu Bilal preached that women who were unfaithful to their husbands should be stoned to death or whipped and infidels (who did not take part in Ramadan fasting) should be killed.

[65] In 2007, a hijab-wearing Muslim woman named Asmaa Abdol-Hamid attempted to run for Folketing, gaining the candidacy for a Copenhagen seat for the Red-Green Alliance.

[66] Danish People's Party MP Søren Krarup compared Abdol-Hamid's headscarf to a Nazi swastika, saying they were both symbols of totalitarianism.

[66] In 2014, three Muslim brothers formed the National Party to focus on what they saw as an attack on traditional Danish values of tolerance and openness.

[69] A poll by the Danish Ministry of Justice in 2020 showed that 76% of Muslim immigrants and their descendants from Turkey, Lebanon, Pakistan and Somalia agreed that criticising Islam should be outlawed, compared to 18% of the total population.

The school's building was sold in June 2017 to the investor Ali Laibi Jabbar from shia Almuntadar congregation in Malmö.

[76] In Iqra Privatskole in Copenhagen immigrant-dominated district of Nørrebro it was discovered that vice principal and imam Shahid Mehdi for years had run a web page where he discouraged Muslim youth from having non-Muslim friends.

[78] In 2005, the Supreme Court of Denmark upheld a law allowing businesses to ban women from wearing headscarves as part of a uniform.

[84] In May 2018, Parliament officially passed a law banning the wear of any garment that covers the face, effectively prohibiting burqas and niqabs.

[85] Justice Minister Soren Pape Poulsen defended the law, arguing that the Muslim dress violated Danish values.

[100] According to the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET), c. 125 people have left the country since 2011 to travel to the Syria/Iraq war zone where the majority joined the Islamic State.

The study concluded that while both minority groups have been seen as alien, Jews were often seen as biologically and racially different whereas Muslims are seen having a culture incompatible with Danish society.

The protesters marched from the National Art Museum to The Little Mermaid, and were opposed along the way in Nørrebro by anti-racist counter-demonstrators holding signs reading "Refugees and Muslims are welcome."