European Muslim Network

There were 945,000 Muslims living in the Netherlands on 1 January this year, double the amount in 1990. The number is expected to reach 1 million in 2006.

The “Turkish” and “Moroccan” Muslims jointly represent two thirds of the total number of Islamic people living in the Netherlands. There are 328,000 “Turkish” Muslims in the Netherlands, followed by 295,000 “Moroccans”.

The Islamic community made up 5.8 percent of the Dutch population on 1 January 2004 and its numbers will swell in coming years.

Meanwhile, the CBS said more than 95 percent of Muslims in the Netherlands are non-western, which means they originate from Turkey, Africa, Latin America and Asia, with the exception of Japan and Indonesia.

The CBS also said 54 percent of non-western immigrants in the Netherlands are Islamic.

The increase in the number of Muslims is due to both Immigration and natural population growth, 38 percent of the non-western Muslims is second generation immigrants. This percentage has increased in the past six years.

Most Muslims live in the Amsterdam region, with 13 percent of the population Islamic. This is followed by The Hague (11.4) and Rotterdam (10.2), while in Friesland and Drenthe, the Islamic community makes up less than 2 percent of the population.

There are now two national organizations of Muslims which are officially recognized as advisory bodies:

• CMO (contactgroep moslims en overheid) including the main turkisch organizations (Milli Gorus, Diyanet) the union of Moroccan mosques and the Surinam world Islamic mission.
• CGI including a small Surinam organization and Ahmadiya.

More than 500 mosques. mainly housed in old churches, houses. Few mosques are new buildings with an oriental architecture and minarets.

There are a growing number of bookshops – at least fifty exist now and are listed, but the actual number may be much higher.

Many other businesses, especially restaurants and convenience shops, exist which are owned by Muslims. See below (economy) for more.

The Netherlands does not have a system of ‘recognition’ of religion as found in some other EU states such as Germany, Spain or Belgium.

Newspapers: there is no professional newspaper dedicated on Islam in the Netherlands.

Publishing houses: there a couple of publishing houses , the most active one is AnNour which manage to publish a couple of new books every year;

Radio/TV: NMO (nederlandse moslim omroep), dutch media organization

A growing number of internet sites.

Religious education is state funded.

Over 42 primary schools.

Two colleges.

Two not yet recognized Islamic universities.

There are some private institutions which are certifying halal meat, and also a couple of companies producing halal meat.