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State-funded Muslim schools have since the 1980s emerged
in Europe. In several countries, there among the Nordic ones, there has
been considerable debate about these schools. In Norway, the only
Muslim school closed down in 2004 after a couple of years, but at least
two schools that have received permission to start in 2012. In Denmark,
who has the longest tradition of Muslim schools among the Nordic
countries, there has been considerable attention given to these schools
and acquisitions of extremist teaching. In Sweden, the debate about these
schools was very intense for a while. In recent years, since the National
Agency of Education has intensified the control of all religious schools,
the debate about Muslim schools has calmed down. In Finland, where
Muslims have the right to Islamic Religious Education (IRE) in public
schools, there are no Muslim schools. In this paper I describe and
compare the establishment of Muslim schools in the Nordic countries.
Since my own research concerns Muslim schools in Sweden and the
content of Islamic religious education (IRE), there will be a special
emphasis on the Swedish situation.
