Bratislava Muslims keeping quiet about their faith

Due to the current tense situation regarding Islam in Europe, Bratislava's Muslims have no interest in opening up to the public, reports the Hospodárske Noviny daily. Muslims in Slovakia have never been a particularly visible community - they certainly don't walk the streets like the singing Hare Krishna adherents, writes the Tuesday feature. Following the recent 'March against Islamisation' in Bratislava, Slovak Muslims tend to keep to themselves. In fact, the newspaper's efforts to ascertain how the current situation affects the lives of Slovak Muslims turned out to be a desperate search interspersed with begging for interviews. The Islamic Foundation in Slovakia had always been the first port of call for the daily, as it's the most visible institution for Muslims in Slovakia. It's located on Obchodná Street in Bratislava, with a culture centre and a prayer room. The daily's request for a personal meeting was flatly rejected, however. "A personal visit or taking pictures aren't possible, unfortunately. The interview would be carried out electronically and we would send you some photos", wrote the Islamic Foundation. The daily also approached the Community of Muslims in Slovakia, which has an office on Žabotova Street in Bratislava. The organisation states that it's focused on the customs and culture of Muslims living in Slovakia. A person representing the community agreed on the phone to a meeting with some members, only asking that the daily specified the purpose of its reportage. Another organisation that the daily was able to track down was the Islamic Mosque in Slovakia. Its address is on Šustekova Street in Bratislava, but no phone contact is stated. Of the few prayer rooms in Slovakia, most of them are in private houses, and it's actually impossible to peek into them. Such was the experience with the Islamic Mosque. The address turned out to be at a block of flats, but the daily was unable to work out which buzzer to press. The news daily also looked into a few other places associated with the Muslim community in Bratislava but the results were similar. After a few phone calls with representatives of the aforementioned Muslim organisations, attempts at arranging meetings were dropped because there was no interest on the other side and no sign of Muslims on Žabotova Street. Political scientist Jozef Lenč is considered to be a non-designated spokesman for Slovak Muslims. He converted to Islam 13 years ago and has had no issues talking about this publicly - until now. He informed the daily that he did some interviews over the summer, but the "response of the xenophobic-thinking part of society was very aggressive and I have no need for this to happen again". He also stated that one interview of this kind will not calm the situation down.