이주 무슬림의 한국 사회 정착에 대한 선교적 고찰

Mission Considerations of lmmigrant Muslim’ s Residence in Korean Society

Migration is one of the global aspects in these days, which leads people to the cross-cultural experiences. In the religious perspectives, migration will impact on statistics of believers in the world religions in the areas and give opportunities of propagation to each religion. Korean society is facing to challenges of immigrants, especially from the Islamic world because of their unique religious culture. There are, however, not many scholars to research on immigrant Muslims in Korean society who mount up to almost 15% of the total immigration population. Many countries in the Europe are struggling with muslim immigrants. Europe had experienced muslim immigrants in Spain where muslims had ruled from 711 until 1492. At that time the christians in the west had responded in various ways to the challenges of the muslims. It can be called a paradigm of coexistence, rejection, confrontation, and mission with love. These days West countries facing the challenges of muslim immigrants are seeking the solutions of the social problems which are happened by muslim immigrants’s unique religious culture. Korean society also faces to the same problems. Actually Korean society had experienced Arabian people or muslims since Tongil Shinlla through Goyreo and Chosun dynasties, but they were not religious. The small religious group that had started by Turkish soldiers in 1955 has developed to an influential religious group backing up by oil power. Korean economic growth brought workers from Islamic countries since the late of 1980’s. According to researches about muslim immigrants in Korea, most of muslim immigrants are classified into three status like as worker, student, and business man. Muslim immigrants form social networks centering the mosques and Islamic centers which function shelters as well as religious roles for them. Muslims live together area near the workshops and opened prayer places for their religious lives. The most difficulty that many muslims have in adjustment to Korean society is religious matter. There are over 60 mosques and Islamic centers, which almost consist of immigrants. One of the serious problems that muslim immigrants bring out is that muslims seduces Korean women into the marriages to get the visa in spite of having wives in their home countries. Korean christians consider this matter as a strategy of Islamization. We, however, must deal with this problem in social approach to avoid religious conflict. That which categories of assimilation, integration, separation, and marginalization muslims would belong to depends on our attitudes toward them. Christians show mostly two reflexactions to muslim immigrants in Korea: 1. Muslim's residence in Korean society is one of ‘Dawa’ strategies. This view can be accepted in terms of that all religion intends to propagate. In fact, most of muslims who are in Korea play roles of Islamic missionaries and Korean muslims who were students in Islamic countries now are initiating spreading the Islam in Korean society through academic activities. But this view might bring forth hostility and aggressiveness to others. 2. Muslim’s residence in Korea is an opportunity for Christian mission. This view suggests that the centrifugal mission should shift into the centripetal mission to immigrants muslims. Many Korean churches have ministered to immigrants, but make a lot of mistakes rather than bearing fruits because of lacks of understanding about the muslim society and the Islam. Concludingly this paper gives some proposals in the face of muslim's presences in Korea society. First, Korean church should recover the nature of the church. And christians should be letters of the Christ to the muslims. Christians should offer motives for muslims to ask what is hope in christians, give the answer.