The Big Issue. The Religious Dimensions in Muslims' Housing within HMA

Abstract

Multiculturalism is neither a new phenomenon nor could it be studied from a single perspective. Immigrants have different needs and preferences. Accordingly, migration has deep and demanding effects on the social, economical, political and cultural policy of the receiving societies. Finland, compared to other Europeans countries, has a relatively low percentage of immigrants. However, this is changing due to asylum seekers, as well as the incoming labor force urgently needed in the near future.

A considerable population of Muslims already exists in Finland. But new immigrants are dealt with as one package under the umbrella of multiculturalism and integration policies. In the best circumstances, immigrants are divided into ethnicities.

On the city level, this research is mainly concerned with the Helsinki Metropolitan Area (HMA), and addresses these questions: where do Muslims live within the major district of HMA, and what are the religious dimensions in Muslims' housing? The resource for this information is research prepared by Urban Facts. The geographical data available through this research is the first ever produced data based on the religious background of inhabitants.

Islam is not only about worship and belief, and not about what a Muslim wears, but it 15 an entire lifestyle. Thus, the religious dimensions mainly relating to faith and its effect on Muslims' housing and the identification of these dimensions will be the main interest of this study. The religious dimensions are all the faith-related obligations for a Muslim household that may constrain or define the way of using spaces of a residential unit, seeking a certain pattern of privacy or choosing its location. The methodologies used here are interviews, questionnaires and a theological approach referring by to the Quran and Sunnah* to analyze the information obtained through interviews held with Muslims or their comments through questionnaires.