Finnish-Islamic Congregation

The Finnish-Islamic Congregation (Finnish: Suomen Islam-seurakunta, Tatar: Finlandiya İslam Cemaati) is an Islamic congregation of the Tatar people in Finland. It was founded in 1925 as the first Islamic congregation in Finland. The congregation has activity in Helsinki, Järvenpää, Kotka and Turku. Its headquarters is located in Helsinki.

The Imam of the congregation since 2004 is Doctor of Philosophy, Ramil Belyaev. He was born in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast.

Many international politicians have visited the congregation. These include the head of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, and the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The first Muslim people in Finland were Tatars. They arrived between the late 1800s and early 1900s as merchants from the Russian Empire. They were mainly Mishar Tatars, but some other Turkic peoples came as well, such as Bashkirs and Kazakhs. They blended in quickly because the first generation tended to identify themselves mostly through their religion (möselman).

After settling in the country, they shortly felt the need to organize officially. The predecessor to the congregation was created in 1915, and its name was Helsingin musulmaanien hyväntekeväisyysseura (The Charity Club of Helsinki Moslems). They often held their services at the house of Weli-Ahmed Hakim, who would also become a founding member and long-time imam of the congregation.

Due to laws at the time, these Muslim merchants could not establish an actual congregation in the beginning, but after the freedom of religion law was passed in 1922, it was possible. The congregation was officially registered in 1925.

The name of the congregation was at first Suomen muhamettilainen seurakunta (The Finnish Mohammedan Congregation). It was changed in 1963 to its current version. The first administration consisted of following people; Weli Ahmed Hakim, Ymär Abdrahim, Nur-Muhammed Ali, Ismael Arifulla and Imad Samaletdin. Imam-Hakim also became the first chairman of the congregation. He has later been named an honorary member.

During those times, the congregation was not yet officially only for Tatars, but back then, there were almost no other Muslims in the country.