Iceland review - 2014, Qupperneq 70

68 ICELAND REVIEW
TIME TO cElEBrATE
It’s October 15, Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice), and I have been
invited to join the celebrations at both Muslim associations. The
small mosque of the Muslim Association of Iceland is crowded
with people of different nationalities. Excited children play out-
side the entrance. An Icelandic woman comes to my assistance as
I try to create a makeshift hijab out of my scarf. “It’s fine if some
of your hair shows,” smiles Matthildur Kaymaz, who converted
to Islam after marrying a Turkish man. They run the deli store
Tyrkneskur Bazar in Reykjavík. “I just have to cover mine up
because I’m going to pray,” she adds as she tucks her blond locks
under a turquoise shawl. More people arrive and soon enough
the buffet table is buckling under the weight of all the treats
they’ve brought, bearing witness to a melting pot of cultures.
“Allah hu akbar” resounds from a microphone and attendees
quickly join in, kneeling in line on the green carpeted floor, the
men up front, the women at the back. “It would disturb their
concentration to watch our butts in the air,” laughs Matthildur
in explanation of the tradition. “Supposedly they have different
urges from us.” At the new mosque, the women would like to
have a balcony for praying, she says. “What surprised me the most
about Islam is how respectful it is of women. When I first met
my husband, I scolded: ‘You keep women in cages like dogs!’ But
he just smiled and replied: ‘That’s what you think.’” There was no
pressure from her husband or his family to convert, Matthildur
stresses, she made the decision herself after falling for the religion.
“It’s a common misunderstanding that Allah is different from the
Christian God,” she adds. “Allah is just Arabic for God.” After
the ceremony, Salmann gives a speech, highlighting the impor-
tance of the new mosque, asking everyone to contribute to its
construction. “It’s not just for all Muslims in Iceland. It’s for all
Icelanders.” 
A HIPPy ON A HOrSE
Salmann was among the first Muslims in Iceland. “In 1971, I was
on my way to the U.S. to study and decided to make a stopover in
Iceland, where my brother already lived, to work and save money.
I never made it to the U.S. and I thank Allah for that. I’m now an
Icelandic citizen, have an Icelandic wife, four daughters, one son
and nine grandchildren.”
As Salmann was moving from Jerusalem to Reykjavík, Sverrir
was discovering Islam. “In 1970 I lived in Almería, Spain, where
I helped train horses for spaghetti westerns. The Spaniards didn’t
want us hippies living among them, so ten of us lived together in
an Arab castle above the town. That’s where I first encountered
Islam, through inscriptions on the walls.” The group of foreign-
ers decided to meet up one year later in Istanbul, travel through
the Orient to Pakistan, buy horses and ride in the Himalayas. “I
was the only one who showed and I went all the way,” smiles
Sverrir. “I bought a horse in Peshawar and spent months riding
in the mountains. I never knew whether I was in Pakistan or
Afghanistan—at one point I think I entered China. I had a reli-
gious experience and came in contact with eternity. I found my
magic carpet and I haven’t let go of it since.”
Returning to Iceland, Sverrir married his first wife María
Harðardóttir in 1973. “It was just the two of us before the city
magistrate. We used the money from our wedding to buy a
Volkswagen Bus and traveled around the world.” The couple
spent years living with their two sons in Muslim communities
abroad, such as in North Africa. “We lived in Libya for a while
where I worked at the Ministry of Agriculture as a sheep breeding
consultant and learned Arabic,” Sverrir recollects.
salmann tamimi, founder of the Muslim association of iceland, tells the story of
how abraham had been prepared to sacrifice his only son ishmael when God sent
a lamb to be slaughtered in his stead, which is why eid al-adha is celebrated.
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