Norway: First conversion course

Norway: First conversion course

The Islamic Network opened conversion course for non-Muslims in Oslo Thursday.

"Many Norwegians are turning to Islam," says the organization.

Board member Fahad Qureshi thinks the course is the first of its type in Norway. It is mainly ethnic Norwegians who want to convert, he told newspaper Vårt Land.

The Network doesn't want focus on the plan and rejected the request from the paper to be there for the first day.

According to the Network's site islamnet.no, there's a need for their own educational plan so that non-Muslims can learn the essentials of the religion.

There is no data about how many convert to Islam in Norway, but according to TV 2 in December, about 100 Norwegians registered last year that they converted to Islam. The figure is based on data from the Islamic faith-organizations in Norway.

The course consists of 9 stages over nine months. Men and women will go to separate courses,and will get all the necessary literature, prayer rugs and hijab or kufi free.

Religion researcher Jan Opsal of the School of Mission and Theology in Stavanger says conversion to Islam has long been a phenomenon in Central-Europe. He is not surprised that there is now a conversion course in Norway.


Source: VG (Norwegian)

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