Barbara,
Thank you for your very quick and interesting reply.
The Netherlands had the biggest Islamic country as a colony
for many centuries, Indonesia, called the Dutch Indies before
it became Indonesia. We have a lot of half-blood people
in the Netherlands, whom are called Indo's or Indische
Mensen (Indisch people). But most of them inherited the
Dutch culture and religions, Dutch-Reformed Calvinist,
Roman-Catholic or Evangelic christianity.
Full blood Indonesians, mostly Javan and Acehnese people
are often Sunni Muslims, and part of our Colonial troops the
Molukkan or Ambonese people where muslim too.
These people were the first muslims in the Netherlands.
In our other colonies you had and have muslims too, in
Suriname and the Dutch Antiles in the Carebian.
Javan and Lebanese people from Suriname are Muslim and
in the Dutch Antilles you have a Muslim community on
Cura�ao and Sint Maarten.
But these Muslims from our colonies are the minority of the
Muslims in the Netherlands. Most muslims are the first
generation of Turkish and Maroccan guestworkers (or
migrants) who came to work in the Netherlands in the
sixtees and seventees. After them came the second and
third generation of Dutch Turks and Maroccans.
In the eightees, ninetees and the early years of this century
waves of refugees and Asylumseekers came from Muslim
countries which were totalitarian dictatorships, engaged in
wars or civil wars and etc. You have Iranians and Iraqi's,
Palestinians, Syrians, Turkish Kurds, Iraqi Kurds, Bosnian
and Chechen refugees, Somalians, Eritreans, Nigerians,
Algerians, Lebanese and Afghan people here.
We have neighbourhoods with a foreign majority in cities,
Islamic basic schools and high schools, mosques in larger
cities and cultural buildings of Muslim communities.
Muslims are devided in ethnic lines and in several
Muslim directions. Even the Turks have three differant
Mosques. Most of the Kurds are Sunni Muslims too.
The Shia Muslims are a minority and are considered
by manny Sunni Muslims as heretics.
In my highschool in Vlissingen I had a Maroccan classmate who was
Muslim and told me a lot about Islam, Maroccan culture
and the differance between Arabs and Berbers (most
North-Africans are arabised Berbers, but many Berbers
from the mountain regions do not speak Arabic).
Later in Amsterdam and Arnhem I met and witnessed more Islamic
cultures and Muslims. In Amsterdam mostly Maroccans and here
in Arnhem more Turks and Kurds. Turks are the majority under
the minorities here. 30% of my city is not of Dutch origin.
There exists some Islamofobia and xenophobia in the Netherlands.
I am not Islamobhobe, but I don't like it when chruches become
mosques or when churches are teared down and new mosques
come instaid of them, because of secularisation (empty churches)
and the growth of Islam. Islam is one of the religions in Western
Europe, and you have moderate, orthodox and fundamentalist
ones.
I know that Poland took Chechen refugees, that it has a Tartar
Muslim community, a minority of Muslims comming from Arab
states, Turkey and Iran.
Pieter
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Last edited by Redhead; 12/29/08 06:53 PM.
