TALLINN - Islam is taking off in Estonia. The Koran, the holy book which was recently published for the first time in Estonian, has been on the best sellers list for months.
The liberalization of immigration policy, meanwhile, is likely to lead to an increase in the number Muslims settling in the country.
Three thousand copies of the Koran have been sold since it was first published in December 2007. To put this in the context of a small nation, best selling CDs sell about 5000 copies. The success of the Koran surprised both publishers and book sellers.
"The Koran's success has been quite unexpected. It went straight to the top 10 and has been there with varying success until today," said Merje Vari from Rahva Raamat, one of Estonia's biggest publishers.
The Koran is so popular that some book stores actually ran out of copies.
"We could only show it once in December's top sellers because it sold out, but since the end of February when the reprint came it has been in the 10 top every week," said Tiiu Laul, marketing manager for Apollo, another big book sales company in Estonia.
People in the publishing industry believe that customers are buying the book out of curiosity as much as out of wishing to convert to the religion.
"The reason people are buying the book is because it's an important artifice. It [Islam] is very important culture in the world. People are fascinated by the outside world," said Aivar Lestsinki, editor in chief of Avita publishing company which brought the book to the market.
The publisher said that many different types of people are buying the book and that the feedback they have received has all been positive.
"There hasn't been any negative reaction, just interest," Lestsinki said.
The story of how the Koran came to be published is a remarkable story in itself. It was translated by an Estonian scholar Haljand Udam (see story Page 16).
"The translator had the idea, it was his big dream." Lestsinki said.
There were no publishing companies in Estonia willing to take the project on. The book was completed a full two years before it finally went on the market.
"Our population is very small, no one specializes. It's a big proposition. We've got to get it right; it must be done properly" Lestsinki said.
The Baltic Times spoke exclusively to the widow of the translator, who described him as a man of "brilliant erudition."
"Haljand was quiet man with strong words. He didn't talk much, but when he said something it was so. He did what he thought was important and he always had lots of work to do. His great love was Oriental countries and traditions. He looked at things in a general way and details made him nervous," she said.
There are various estimates as to the number of Muslims in Estonia. One estimate put the figure at 20,000, most of whom are Tartars that moved to Estonia in Soviet Times.
Estonian Muslims have ambitious plans to build a mosque which they hope will one day be the largest in the region.
Estonia is famously not a religious country. According to Eurostat figures, church going in Estonia is among the lowest in the EU.
