Islam in Austria

History

Historian Smail Balić states that the first evidence of Muslims in Austria dates back to nomadic tribes from Asia that entered the region in 895. Following the Ottoman conquest of the Medieval kingdom of Hungary in the 16th century, more Muslims moved into the territory that makes up modern-day Austria. Muslims were expelled after the Habsburg Empire took control of the region once again in the late 17th century but a few were allowed to remain after the signing of the Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718. The Recognition Act in 1874 gave Christian and non-Christian communities including Muslims legal framework to be recognized as Religionsgesellschaften (religious societies). The largest number of Muslims came under Austrian control after the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878. One estimate places the number of Muslims in Austria in 1892 at 500,000.

In 1904 Bosnian Muslim students in Vienna established the first Muslim association in Austria, the Islamitisch akademischer Verein „Zvijezda" (Islamite Academic Association "Zvijezda"). In 1907 some of its members split from it and established the second Muslim association in Vienna, the Verein der fortschrittlichen islamitischen akademischen Jugend „Svijest" (Association of Progressive Islamite Academic Youth "Svijest"). After the Annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in October 1908 "Svijest" organized an action committee for gaining recognition of Islam in Austria (Aktionskomitee zur Erlangung der Anerkennung des Islam in Österreich). Austria recognized Muslims ("of the hanafite rite") as a religious society and regulated their religious freedoms with the so-called Islamgesetz (Islam Law) in 1912.

After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire following World War I, only a few Muslims remained in the border of the new First Austrian Republic. In addition, Muslims from Arab and Asian countries came to Austria to study at its then renowned universities. These Muslims gathered for prayers and religious celebrations and founded Muslim faith and interfaith associations. In 1931, Mohammed Ali Binni established the intercultural and interfaith association, the Orientbund, which also had a Moslemische Sektion, that organised religious gatherings. The most significant Muslim faith association of the interwar period was the Islamischer Kulturbund, which was set up by the Egyptian-born doctor and activist Dr Zaki Ali, the pan-Arabic activist and businessman Mohammed Ali Binni and convert to Islam Baron Omar Rolf von Ehrenfels, its first president, to organize remaining and new Muslims in the country. However, the organization was promptly dissolved in 1939 following the Anschluss. Ehrenfels, being an outspoken critic of the Nazi Party, fled Austria.

In late 1942 Muslims in Vienna headed by the student Muhidin Hećimović established a religious organization called Islamische Gemeinde zu Wien (Islamic Parish in Vienna), but which due to frictions with the local Nazi authorities was rather registered as a private association under the modified name Islamische Gemeinschaft zu Wien (Islamic Community in Vienna) in 1943. In late 1943 Salih Hadžialić, an employee of the Croatian embassy in Berlin, was installed as its president due to political pressure. Although the organization was formally dissolved as a private association in Vienna in 1948, it continued its activity in Salzburg and the American zone in general as of 1945. There it was reestablished under the name Moslemische religiöse Gemeinschaft Salzburg (Moslem Religious Community Salzburg) under the protection of the U.S. Military Administration in Austria, where it was responsible for the religious care of about 1000 Muslim displaced persons.

Substantive Muslim immigration to Austria began in the 1960s when Gastarbeiter from Yugoslavia and Turkey moved to the country. The Islamische Glaubensgemeinschaft in Österreich (Community of Muslim believers in Austria) was organized in accordance to the Islamgesetz in 1979. Many Muslim refugees of the Yugoslav Wars also moved to Austria during the 1990s.

In 2013, Austria granted the status of a recognized religious community to Alevism.

In February 2015, a new Islamgesetz was passed by the Austrian parliament, criminalising foreign funding of mosques and paying salaries of imams. Contrary to reports in the media, the law does not regulate the version of the Koran that may be used in Austria, but central tenets of the religion must be presented to the authorities in German. It also gives Muslims additional rights, such as the rights to halal food and pastoral care in the military. The minister for Foreign Affairs, Sebastian Kurz, said the changes were intended to "clearly combat" the influence of Islamic extremism in Austria. The leader of Central Council of Muslims in Germany, Aiman Mazyek, called the law "positive and productive (befruchtend) for the discussion in Germany".

In October 2017, the Austrian government passed a law named the "Prohibition on the Covering of the Face." The law was introduced by the center-left Chancellor Christian Kern. Anyone wearing clothes that obscure their face in public is liable to a fine of €150 and must remove the offending garment "on the spot" if ordered by police. Many activists and experts labeled the law Islamophobic arguing that it discriminated against Muslim women who wore religious face veils. Among the opponents of the law were President Alexander Van der Bellen, Georgetown University senior research fellow Farid Hafez, and Austrian Islamic Religious Authority spokeswoman Carla Amina Baghajati. Face veils in Austria are rare, with about 100-150 Muslim women wearing some type of face covering. Prior to the passing of the ban, thousands of people protested in Vienna in January 2017 to express opposition to the law. However, in European countries, that have introduced similar laws, the bans were upheld by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

In 2018, chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced that Austria would close seven mosques and deport 40 imams paid by Turkey through the Diyanet organisation as measures to thwart political Islam. In the announcement parallel societies, Islamism and radicalisation were stated to have no place in Austrian society.

In October 2018, Austria banned headscarves for children in kindergarten. The ban was motivated by protecting children from family pressure to wear the headscarf. According to an Austrian teachers' union, a ban for pupils aged up to 14 years should be considered as that is the religious legal age (German: religionsmündig).

In March 2019, the cabinet announced that it aims to create a new institution, which should from 2020 monitor and document activities regarding political Islam in the country. Citing studies which show that a significant number of Austrian Muslims hold anti-western and antisemitic views, Kurz said that it would be necessary to monitor mosques, clubs, ideology and social media contributions in context with fundamental Islam in order to protect the liberal, democratic and secular society. The organisation should get a similar role on Islamic extremism as the Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance (DÖW) has on right-wing extremism, according to the cabinet. Leading figures from the DÖW have principally welcomed the government's plan and confirmed that there is a need to take a closer look at the dangers of political Islam.

Population by year