Promoting Dakwah in Japan Through Infaq

Abstract

Islam is new to Japan and little research has been done about Islam in Japan mainly because of its small Muslim population. In recent survey, the population of Muslim in Japan is around 230,000 compared to the total population of Japan of 126 million. The accurate number of Muslim is unknown because Japan consider religion as a private matter and there is no compulsion to declare one’s belief in the registration. Most of the Japanese is ignorance about Islam despite the bad images shown by the media. In recent years, Islam is growing with the establishment of new mosque and halal restaurants. To date there are 113 mosques throughout Japan, compared to only 15 in 1999. However, most of the mosques are built by the foreigners without local architecture. Therefore, it lacks the local interest for the Japanese sees Islam as for the immigrants. Thus, it is timely to build a new mosque with Japanese architecture and culture. This paper aims to elucidate the history and development of Islam in Japan. Also, the paper analyses the empowerment of commendable infaq or waqaf as an instrument to promote dakwah in Japan. It is hope that the paper would be able to propagate Islam as an emerging religion in Japan, and to create better awareness for the Muslims to contribute funds in term of waqaf to build a new mosque in Osaka Japan with Japanese architecture and culture.