Author: M. Al-Afghani
Islam in Ukraine
Islam in Ukraine has a special place in some of its regions, especially in the Crimean Peninsula. The majority of Muslims live in the Crimean Peninsula of this country. The population of Muslims in Ukraine is reported to be 393,000.
However, the Center for the Administration of Muslim Affairs of Ukraine estimates the Muslim population at around 2 million. Islam in Ukraine is diverse, and the majority of Ukrainians adhere to Christianity.
In a 2018 poll by the Razumkov Center, it shows that 71.7 percent of Muslims declared themselves to be believers. About 67.3% of the people believe in one of the categories of Christianity. 2.5% believe in Islam and 0.4% believe in Judaism; While a small percentage of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Paganism are also present in it.
Another 11 percent declared themselves to be irreligious. According to surveys conducted by Razumkov in the 2000s and early 2010s, these proportions have been relatively stable over the past decade. In the event that the proportion of believers in general has decreased from 76% in 2014 to 70% in 2016 and 72% in 2018.
There are nearly 445 Muslim communities and 160 mosques in Ukraine. In the Crimea region, Crimean Tatars make up about 12% of the population, and at least 30 of them are Muslim communities in this region of the country. Other ethnic groups include Chechens, Caucasian immigrants, and a minority of Afghans whose main languages are Tatar, Turkish, and Caucasian (such as Chechen or Avai).
But all Muslim communities are fluent in Ukrainian and Russian.
Christianity first became prominent with Byzantinism in the early 1st millennium. According to the traditions and legends, in the first century AD, Andrew the Apostle visited the place where today’s Kyiv was born.
As of 2018, 87.4% of the population of Ukraine, during a survey, declared that they believe in Christianity.
Although the majority of the people of this land believe in Christian beliefs, but the Muslims who live in this land, with unity and maintaining their religious boundaries; They play a colorful role in Ukrainian society.
The proper interaction of the Muslim people in this land has made the Islamic centers and Muslim mosques perform their duties in a regular and correct manner and move towards their goals and objectives to some extent without any restrictions.
Ukraine was considered as one of the countries where there were many immigrants in that land, its border with other countries had caused people to travel to this land.
A country where Muslims have carved a special place and role for themselves by preserving the sanctity of their religion.
World Hijab Day in Ukraine
A number of Muslim women in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, carried out a campaign to introduce this duty on World Hijab Day, and a number of women in this country voluntarily started wearing the hijab.
In the enlightening actions of Muslim women of Ukraine that were carried out on the occasion of World Hijab Day, information about hijab was presented to the women of this country and some of them voluntarily tried to wear hijab and experienced this Islamic covering.
These activities have been implemented in Kyiv and some other Ukrainian cities.
Tanzileh Issa, the spokesperson of the Muslim Union of Ukraine, said: This union has been doing activities to introduce the hijab for several years now.
The purpose of these activities is to break past prejudices about Muslim women.
The first day of February every year has been named as “World Hijab Day” and women from different countries of every religion and religion try to show their solidarity with Muslim women who are religiously discriminated because of wearing the hijab to announce.
This day was proposed by Nazme Khan, an American Muslim woman, after the Islamophobic reactions after the events of September 11.
On World Hijab Day, non-Muslim women from different religions spend a day wearing the hijab and express their experience of the hijab.
