Anas Hajjar
Anas Hajjar was born in Damascus (Syria) in 1969.
He moved to Finland in 1988 and studied medicine.
On 9 November 2010, he was elected as Imam of the Islamic Society of Finland, following the death of Imam Khodr Chehab.
According to the Imam, sexual acts outside marriage are a sin. Hajjar has nothing against cutting a thief’s hand. Regarding imams’ training, he states that Muslims cannot receive religious instruction from non-Muslims. Hajjar condemns certain aspects of the Islamic State, but does not give further details about them.
These stances do not prevent him from being described by the media as moderate and open to interreligious dialogue.
In November 2014, the United Arab Emirates declared his Suomen Islam-seurakunta (Finnish Islamic Association) association as a terrorist organization.
In 2015, the Finnish public television, Yle, entrusted to Anas Hajjar and Jaakko Hameen-Anttila (who translated the Qur’an into Finnish) the preparation of a series of 60 episodes consisting of read the Quran from the first to the last page and “discussing it”. In the course of an interview by the BBC which is considering buying the series, Jaakko Hameen-Anttila explains: “Iman Hajjar finds considers the practical side and contemporary importance of the text, while I see a historical work in it, which relates to the period of its creation”.
By entrusting this gigantic educational mission to the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Finland breaks its tie with its 500-year-old Muslim community, which does not have a political vision of Islam.
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