Korea is known primarily as a Christian or Buddhist nation, but there is one religion that is growing and making inroads. It is Islam.

Historically, Korea had Muslim and Arab communities that were alive and thriving from the beginning of the 9th century. Arab sailors in the mid-9th century wrote about “Silla” — the dynasty that ruled the peninsula at the time — in their journals. They noted its beauty, mountains, abundant gold and their wishes to stay there. According to the Korean Muslim Federation, there were several Korean villages that were founded by Arab traders. The Changs of Toksu village are one example of Koreans who acknowledge their Muslim roots.

In 1231, Genghis Khan conquered Korea and brought Muslim administrators to run his government. One of the Muslim groups, the Hui-Hui, came from China and became known as the Hui-Kyo in Korea. They stayed for about 100 years and gradually assimilated into Korean society. During the Yi Dynasty at the beginning of the 15th century, these contacts with the Muslim and Arab world dissipated as neo-Confucianism became the dominant ideology.

From the 15th to the mid-20th century, Muslim conversion of Koreans and emigration to Korea by Muslims was miniscule. There is mention of Koreans who fled to Northern China prior to and during the Japanese occupation of the 20th century. Some were taken in by Chinese Muslims, given work and shelter and taught Islam, then later returned to Korea, where they introduced Islam to small numbers of people. Many Chinese “Hui” Muslims came to Korea for a second time as refugees after the Chinese Revolution in 1949.

A look inside the Seoul masjid — which is the Romanized pronunciation for mosque in Turkish and Arabic.

The birth of today’s modern Korean-Islamic community is primarily due to events that began in 1950. At that time, Turkish troops fought alongside South Koreans during the Korean War. They made battlefield mosques out of tents and used these tents to teach and convert Koreans to Islam. By 1953, there was a sizeable Korean Muslim population primarily made up of men who had fought alongside the Turks. Turkish imams were sent to minister to the Muslims of Korea and to conduct further missionary work.

In 1976, the Seoul Central Mosque was built using funds sent from Saudi Arabia. Currently, there are 10 mosques, or masjids, in South Korea, with another 70 smaller temporary mosques in use. Imam Sulaiman Lee estimates that there are 100,000 non-Korean Muslims and 35,000 Korean Muslims in South Korea today.

Islam in Korea can be seen as a unique entity within the Muslim world because of its distance from the Middle East and non-Arab origins. In other words, Korean Islam is quite removed from political Islam and has a very strict interpretation of the Quran and the Hadith.

KoreAm met with Imam Sulaiman Lee and Káram Kim to hear their stories about being Muslims in Korea.

A believer reads the Quran in Seoul Central Mosque.

Káram Kim (neé Kim Eun Soo)

Kim, 25, became a Muslim two years ago, and adopted the Arabic name of Kàram, which means