Almost every evening from 21.30:22 p.m. to 00 p.m., dozens of Muslim students gather in a room at the Seoul State University (SNU) dormitory to perform Isha prayers in congregation.
SNU is the first educational institution in South Korea to have a mosque for its Muslim students. The number of Muslim students at this university reaches eight percent of the 1.200 students from 88 countries, including Korea itself.
Professor of the Faculty of Arts and Culture, Kim Sung-hee, said the presence of the mosque was to support the growing religious activities of Muslim students. "The presence of this place of worship is for the sake of equality of religious beliefs and respecting cultural diversity," Kim was quoted as saying koreajoongangdaily.com (25 / 1).
In addition, he explained, the presence of the mosque is also proof that the Muslim population in South Korea continues to grow. According to the Korean Muslim Organization, there are an estimated 92.000 Muslim immigrants in South Korea. The increase in Muslims occurred mainly due to the influx of foreign workers from Muslim countries, such as Indonesia, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.
The crowd of Muslim immigrants has had an impact on the increase of native Korean Muslims. 2005 census data shows there are about 45.000 native Korean Muslims.
The census, conducted by the Korea Statistics Agency, includes a survey of the religions of Korean society. However, in the last 2010 census, the question of religion had been removed.
Many native Koreans became interested in knowing Islam and came to the Islamic Center. Islamic and Anthropological Expert from Hanyang University, Prof. Lee Hee-soo said, some time after the September 11, 2001 tragedy in America, there were only 67 Korean books that discussed Islam.
After more than 10 years, around 150 Korean Islamic books are circulating. Lee is one of the authors of this Islamic book. A bestseller in 2001 entitled Islam: Ten Years after September 11 and the Changing of the Islamic World.
Korea has a long history of relations with Islam. Research by Korean scholars for more than three decades notes that trade began in the seventh century and there were large groups of Muslims living in Korea during the Joseon Dynasty.
However, since the official government of South Korea, the mosque was first built in 1976 after the Park Chung Hee government donated a plot of land in Hannam-dong, downtown Seoul, which has an area of about 5.000 square meters. (Republika). *
