On October 5th and 6th, an event under the title ‘Islam in the North’ took place in Sweden. The event was a collaboration between IslamAkademin and Norboda, a new publishing house whose objective is to translate classical and modern Islamic texts into Swedish.

The first day of the event, Friday 5th, took place at the headquarters of IslamAkademin in Malmo, where several Qásidas were recited (poems in Arabic praising Allah and asking for blessings upon the Prophet, peace be upon him) and Shaykh Abdalhaqq Bewley, from England,  and Shaij Salahuddinn Barkat, addressed some of the attendees, recalling the importance of being a positive influence on society and speaking about the different manifestations of Islam in the many cultures in which it has taken root, a sign that Islam itself is not a culture and how this is something that will also in Europe.

The second day of the event started in the morning and continued during the entire day. Abu Bakar Rieger, president of EMU (European Muslim Union), was the first speaker gave a talk about the work of this organization whose objective is to answer many of the questions of European Muslims, such as what it means to be Muslim and European.

This talk was followed by a meal and coffee and after that Luqman Nieto, vice president of the Seville Mosque Foundation, gave a talk under the title ‘The Muslim and its relationship with society’. The talk dealt with how the Muslim should relate to society, Muslims and non-Muslims, in countries where the Muslim population is in a minority.

Finally, there was a panel in which Shaij Abdalhaqq Bewley, Shaikh Salahuddin Barakat and Luqman Nieto participated and which was moderated by Abu Bakar Rieger. During the panel the attendees had the opportunity to address their questions to the speakers, and an interesting conversation ensued.

After the Maghrib prayer of the same day there was an evening of Dhikr -remembrance of Allah, which culminated with some words by Shaykh Abdalhaqq Bewley on the importance of doing dhikra constantly and how this is something we are called to in the Qur’an and in the Sunnah.

The event had a very good acceptance and the public was composed by Muslim and non-Muslim. We hope that this event helps to strengthen the presence of Islam in Sweden, not as something foreign to the country, but as something indigenous taken by native people of the country and acquiring the color and flavor of the Swedish culture, becoming a place where Muslims and Non-Muslims can live in harmony.