The Only Mosque-Free Country in Europe

Unfortunately, most European countries have Sharia populations – but there are exceptions. In Slovakia, there is not a single mosque or prayer room, and new legal requirements mean that Islam cannot even be recognized as an official religion in the country for the foreseeable future.

In large parts of Western Europe, mosques and prayer rooms are popping up like mushrooms. In France, Germany and the UK, the number of mosques is counted in the hundreds, while Muslim prayer rooms are counted in the thousands. Even in countries like Sweden the development is clearly visible – from almost nothing around the turn of the millennium, to today having 15 fully built mosques, some with calls to prayer, and almost 300 prayer rooms.

The Slovak Nationalist Party (SNS) took the initiative for the new legal requirement, which was voted through in parliament by a large majority.

In the former Eastern Europe, the situation is different. In Slovakia, there is not a single mosque or a single place of prayer. There is no indication that this will change in the foreseeable future. Thanks to a regulation that was introduced at the suggestion of the “far-right” Slovak Nationalist Party (SNS) a few years ago, a religion must have at least 50,000 registered followers to be recognized – which in turn is a requirement for, for example, receiving public support or building official prayer rooms. President Andrej Kiska initially vetoed the law, but parliament overturned his veto with a majority of almost 70 percent.

Pastafarians Became the Origin of the Law

When the law was introduced, however, it was not Islam that was the focus of the debate, but the joke religion “The Flying Spaghetti Monster”, often called “Pastafarians”. They managed to reach 20,000 registered followers, which was the requirement at the time. But the government then introduced the new law – with 50,000 registered followers and a requirement that the community be serious.

A few years later, the Pastafarians reached 50,000, but were blocked, citing the requirement of seriousness: “Satirical character precludes registration, regardless of number,” the government announced.

Real Reason: To Stop Islam

But in the debate, most people agree that there was actually another group that the government wanted to stop with the new law: Muslims. And the regulation, where Pastafarians were at the center of the debate, was actually a way to prevent the Islamization of the country, already at an early stage, which Western Europe has failed in so miserably.

There is still formal freedom of religion in Slovakia. The very small Muslim minority living there – a few thousand people, most of whom come from the Balkans or Turkey – has the legal right to be Muslim, but they are only allowed to practice their religion in their homes or other private premises. The premises are not allowed to have any Muslim architecture or other attributes that are considered to be contrary to Slovakia’s building laws, which require that the country’s buildings be adapted to the country’s national culture.

Religious Freedom

No public support, neither financial nor political, is given to Muslims because Islam is not an officially recognized religion. Nor is Hinduism or Buddhism, because the number of practitioners is minimal and they therefore do not meet the new legal requirements. The religions that were already recognized when the law was introduced were allowed to maintain their official status. This includes Judaism, which has as few practitioners as Islam in Slovakia. The politicians justified this by saying that the law targets religions that have never had any practitioners in the country before.

St. Elizabeth’s Cathedral in Košice. Slovakia wants to protect the country’s Christian faith and culture, and allows this to be the basis for the country’s political line in several areas – building regulations, immigration policy and minority issues Photo: Sina Ettmer Photography/Shutterstock

Slovakia has thus succeeded in maintaining religious freedom for all citizens, while at the same time using regulations to make a clear distinction between Islam and the country’s majority religion, Christianity.

‘Sect Protection’ Also Introduced

If any religion, which can certainly be considered “serious”, were to reach 50,000 registered followers, Slovakia could still deny them official status, citing the law prohibiting the registration of sects, the so-called sect protection. Today, however, there is no indication that any religion would come close to reaching the number requirement. The number of Muslims in the country has been stagnant for a long time, mainly linked to Slovakia’s refusal to accept Muslim immigrants that the EU wants to send to the country.

The Islamic Foundation of Slovakia, the country’s largest organization for Muslims, does not have a single mosque or even an official prayer room. However, they do have an office in Bratislava, where they gather to pray in one of the rooms.

On their website they write:

– Even though Slovakia does not have a real mosque or Islamic center, we try to cover the needs of Slovak Muslims as best we can. We have a prayer room open every day of the week.

They also write that they are “the only organization in Slovakia that systematically addresses the problem of intolerance, combats prejudice and various forms of hatred, especially against Muslims and immigrants.”

– Sometimes we also protest against anti-Muslim statements from our politicians, some of whom say quite openly that “Islam has no place in this country.” We disagree.

Czech Republic Closes its Only Mosque

In the neighboring Czech Republic, the situation is similar. Certainly, there are significantly more Muslims living there – around 20,000 – and there are just over a dozen Muslim prayer rooms. Islam is also recognized as a religion. However, there is not a single real mosque in the country. What was previously described as the country’s only mosque, in Prague, was in practice a larger prayer room in a converted industrial building where hundreds of Muslims gathered every week. In 2024, it was closed by the authorities after complaints from the public, and with references to the fact that the activities there were not integrated with the majority culture of the Czech Republic.