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(2)Islamic Center Japan
The leaders consist of the pioneers of Japanese Muslims and foreign
daiyah(missionaries). Their main activities are:
* the publications on Islam
* the publication of magazine “Islam”
* the lesson of Arabic
(3) Japan Islamic Kyodan
It was established in the mid 70’s, a little later than the other
groups. It is represented by Dr. Shaokey. They established relations with
Arabic countries and built a hospital for Muslims.
Kyoto, Tokushima, Kanazawa, and Sendai have one association
in each part, and Hokkaido has two.
4.The problems that Japanese Muslims have
There are numberless problems that Japanese Muslims have. I would
like to list up some serious ones here;
(1) What religion is to the Japanese
It is natural that the meaning of the word “religion” means differs
from community to community, not to say, from country to country. The word
“Deen” is to Arabians, who believe in revelation religion, what the Latin
word “religion” is to Westerners. That means that Arab and Western have
something in common in words and religion related to the relations between
human and God. On the other hand, in India, “religion” means those who
believe in the religion, which is what “Siddhanta”, the right way or
spiritual enlightenment, means in Sanskrit. And what “religion” means
in China or Japan differs from in Western and Arab, and the religion in
China or Japan has much in common with Hindu. They call “religion” “Shu-Kyo”,
“Shu” means spiritual enlightenment and “Kyo” means teaching or educating.
This point of view on religion might enable the Japanese and Chinese to
believe in several religions at the same time.
The word “Allah” in Arabic means the God, which means the creator
for Muslims, but in Japanese, this word also corresponds to the emperor
and has been used for the title of emperors for generations. Thus, the
word, God, has three different meanings.
The prophet for the Japanese
Some Japanese associate the prophet with the prophetess of
Tenrikyo.
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