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www.groovekorea.com / December 2014 82 Edited by Jenny Na (jenny@groovekorea.com) COMMuNITy D i v i s i o n a n d d e v o t i o n The second-most popular religion in the world after Christianity, Islam only began to have a significant pres- ence in Korea toward the late 1990s, largely due to im- migration restrictions loosening at that time. Today, there are an estimated 135,000 Muslims in Ko- rea, according to Abdul Rahman Lee, the fifth imam of the Seoul Central Mosque. Lee was born in Korea, and it was about 30 years ago, as a young man of 23 or so, that he was “raised to Islam through the guidance of Allah.” He wears long black robes, has a small goatee, and sits in a long office at the mosque that is bedecked with Arabic books. “I visited (the mosque) as a young man, and got a small booklet about Islam, and the basics of Islam,” Lee says. He found the message of Islam compelling, and so he continued to visit the mosque. “I visited again, and again and again. I became open to Islamic knowledge.” Lee converted, took his Islamic name (he was previ- ously known as Lee Ju-hwa) and competed for and won a scholarship from the Saudi government to study Arabic and Islam in Saudi Arabia. Lee is reluctant to get into the details of his life before he converted, aside from saying that he drank just as most young people do. His conversion was not easy by any means and ultimately divided his family. “My family and my brother, they rejected me,” he says. “But thanks to God, I lived in Saudi Arabia for many years, so I changed my life totally to Islam.” He returned to Korea in 2004 and took several posi- tions in the masjid and Korean Muslim Federation. He became imam in 2006. Lee describes the evolution of Islam in Korea in three “terms” or periods. Over half a million Koreans went to the Middle East to work in construction during the oil shock and Arab boom of the 1970s, what Lee describes as the first period. “All kinds of infrastructure in the Middle East was built by Korean labor. Most of the companies that built it were Hyundai, LG and so on,” Lee says. “So, accidentally, Ko- reans learned about Islam.” Some of those laborers converted, especially those who went to work in the holy cities of Mecca and Medi- na, which are closed to non-Muslims. At the same time, the Korean government pushed for increased diplomatic relations with Middle Eastern countries — it was at this time, in 1976, that President Park Chung-hee donated the land in Itaewon for the mosque. By the 1990s, Muslims had began coming to Korea to pursue the “Korean dream,” launching a wave of immi- gration as Islam in Korea saw its second period of devel- opment. These “are not missionaries,” Lee says. “They are working for money. They work while they are here, they are praying, and they are establishing good rela- tions with their neighbors.” Many Koreans were exposed to Islam by working and living alongside foreign Muslim workers. Then came the events of 9/11 and the subsequent “War on Terror,” producing a second wave of immigrants to Ko- rea from the Muslim world. Like most Mus- lims, Lee is quick to distance himself from terrorists who use Islam as a cover. He says that 9/11 and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq contrib- uted to both a misunderstanding of Islam and a greater desire on the part of Koreans (and others) to learn more about the religion. People read more about Islam, and some even visited the mosque. In 2007, when 23 Korean missionaries were ab- ducted in Afghanistan after defying government warn- ings against such activities, the event incited anger and sympathy while also furthering the national conversation about Islam. Lee looks back at such events and their impact on the faith’s current reception in Korea. “At first, it was difficult because many understood Islam to be a terror religion,” he said. “But it also sparked a curiosity, a conversation.” He argues that if terrorism happened in the name of Jihad, it wouldn’t continue to gain a following because no one would convert to such a violent religion. “How would Islam increase like this? No, it’s impossi- ble,” he said. “All religions just want to keep silence and peace. What religion promotes killing? None.” ‘ A t f i r s t , i t w a s d i f f i c u l t b e c a u s e m a n y u n d e r s t o o d I s l a m t o b e a t e r r o r r e l i g i o n . B u t i t a l s o s p a r k e d a c u r i o s i t y , a c o n v e r s a t i o n . ’ A b d u l R a h m a n L e e , i m a m o f t h e S e o u l C e n t r a l M o s q u e