|
The first Islamic organization was finally
established seven years after the war. While
foreign daiyah (missionary) made great endeavors hoping to spread
Islam, its penetration into Japan---as
Ali Ahmad Al-Jarjawy from Egypt in 1907, Muhty
and Abdur-Rarshid Ibrahim ia in 1909, and Jamartutablege had done---, the
population of Japanese Muslims at that time, during 1970’s, still hadn’t reached
400.
This situation changed after 1970. The
Muslim population started to make a remarkably rapid growth.
There were more and more Japanese who
travelling abroad and therefore more chances to come in contact with different
peoples, cultures and religions around the world, one of which was Islam. In
addition, the oil crisis in 1973 brought Arab countries to the attention of the
Japanese people. This resulted in a large increase in information and
publications on Islam and Islamic countries.
3-The Japanese Muslims nowadays
The exact number of Japanese Muslims is not clear, for the
relationships between each group are not so firm and there is no main
organization that has the leadership. The number registered for the Japan Muslim Association is three thousand, but
the office says there practically can be no more than one thousand. Many of them
live in the metropolitan area and the suburbs and have converted to Islam
recently. This prevents them from gathering as one Muslim community. Japan has
two mosques at present, one in Tokyo, the other in Kobe, and the Muslim
population is increasing in Hokkaido, the north part of Japan, and in the other
parts of Japan. This means the penetration of Islam into the other parts of
Japan.
Most of the Japanese Muslims belong to the middle class, and it is
obvious that they follow the precepts of Islam and
are contributing to the penetration of Islam. Despite the differences of
their names or titles among the Japanese Muslim
organizations, their goal is nothing but the promotion of
Islam.
Japan is dotted with the Islam organizations
and there are seven organizations in Tokyo.
(1) the Japan Muslim Association
It
is the most oldest and biggest in Japan and is managed by Japanese Muslims.
Their main activities are;
the lecture of the dogma
the lesson of
Arabic
the
publication of monthly newspaper
Mr. Fadlullah Chan has been contributing to the
education of the Japanese Muslims and the guidance to their children.
|
