According to Statistics Norway (Statistisk sentralbyrå), there are approximately 100 - 185 000 Muslims in Norway. This is between the 2 and 4 percent of the total population. Since there is no official register on religious beliefs among the Norwegian population, the statistics are based on members of religious communities and immigration from countries with Muslim population.

Muslims in Norway cannot be easily noticed in public, except the occasional women passing by on the streets wearing a hijab. Even mosques are not that visible. There are mostly placed in ordinary houses and buildings with little or none outside marks.

The Norwegian constitution assures it's citizen's human rights, including religious freedom. The laws protect the people against discrimination and assure freedom of speech. Nevertheless, many Muslims still face prejudges by parts of the Norwegian population. Islam has often been seen and presented as something "new and strange" in Norway, and because of that many people have many questions regarding Muslim faith, traditions and Islam rules.

Many people are curious and just want to learn more about "new" religions and cultures arriving to Norway, recognizing that we in now live in a multicultural society and have to respect each other. But, there also a lot of skepticism, and even unfounded fears about Muslims and Islam, especially after the events of September 11 and the so called "war against terror."

As everywhere else, in Norway too the big role in fermenting those fears has been played by different media. The media has the last ten years often put Islam in relation to terrorism and led many Norwegians to believe that most terror attacks are conducted by Muslims. This obviously made acceptance of new peoples and their religion even harder and skepticism got a new heights.

Such negative anti-Islam propaganda is exploited by some politicians, claiming that Muslims have a secret plan to take over Europe. These politicians found news ways to gain votes by exploring average people's insecurities, fear and ignorance.

The Norwegian center-right Progress Party has been using this fear-mongering strategy for years, spreading propaganda against immigrants from Non Western countries, Muslims in particular, claiming immigration from Non Western countries will change and damage the Norwegian democracy. The Norwegian terrorist, Anders Behring Breivik, was in fact a member of the Norwegian Progress Party for several years until he came to the conclusion that the Party wasn't radical enough for him. So he let his twisted beliefs take him even further where he committed horrible acts of terrorism against innocent people.

Friday, July 22 started out as an ordinary day until a bomb went off near the Norwegian Prime Minister's office in Oslo. Eight people were killed in this attack. The first few hours after the attack most ethnic Norwegians believed that the attack was the work of a terror organization like Al Qaida or an Al Qaida-related Islamic terror cell, and fingers were immediately pointed towards Muslims.

This was clearly showed throughout social networks like Facebook and even on the streets of Oslo, where several Muslims were confronted and threatened. Muslims all across the country were worried, because everyone knew that life in Norway would be a lot harder after this, if it turned out that their suspicions were true.

It didn't take long before so called terror experts were all over the Norwegian news, speculating in why and how a radical Islamic terror cell could attack Norway. There were many suggestions; mostly regarding Norway's role in Afghanistan and "the war against terror". It wasn't that long ago when the Norwegian Police Security Service declared a low risk for a terror attack taking place in Norway, so how could this happen? Peoples wondered why Norway?

Hours after the initial bombing, the massacre at Utøya Island started. The young people gathered at Utøya were members of the Norwegian Youth Labor Party and were at the island on a summer camp. Breivik managed to kill 69 young boys and girls there. As the news slowly started to come out about those innocent people were being executed by an unidentified man in police uniform and the attack did no longer look like the work of Al Qaida. But, the "terror experts" were still searching for a link.

Although the news and killings were horrible, we have to admit that when the Norwegian media released the news of that the terrorist is actually an ethnic Norwegian, many people were relieved. Muslims in Norway could finally breathe again. It is shame that Muslims had to feel that way considering the horror and murder of so many young and innocent, but that shows how much pressure was placed on them until the information about the real killer finally emerged.

The outcome of the tragedy was still the same, but the negative consequences for Norwegian Muslims were smaller. The Norwegian terrorist, Anders Behring Breivik, surrendered to the police without a fight, and it didn't take long before his face was all over Norwegian news channels and in the newspapers. It turned out that the terrorist wasn't linked to any Islamic terror cell. On the contrary, he saw it as his mission to "protect" Norway from Islam and Muslim immigrants under the belief, as earlier mentioned, that Muslims would take over if nothing was done to prevent them.

During the following days the whole country was in a state of chock. This was definitely the worst thing that had happened in Norway since the Second World War. It was a national tragedy and the Norwegian Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, announced in his speech the following day that the people of Norway should stand together to overcome the horrible tragedy.

Unfortunately it took such a tragedy so that many ethnic Norwegians recognize that the fallout could had been a lot worse if the terrorist had been a Muslim. Others struggled to understand how "one of their own" could do such a thing.

On Monday, July 25, people gathered in the cities throughout Norway to show support to the families of the terror victims and to stand together against terror. It was nice to see that the tragedy actually increased solidarity among the peoples if Norway. People in all different ages, different ethnicities and religions stood together, carrying torches, roses and candles, and grieving together. The victims were also of various ethnic and religious backgrounds. People realized that "we were all in on this together." The consensus emerged that Brevik heinous crimes were an attack on democracy and the whole Norwegian multicultural society.

The tragedy made the Norwegian people realize that anyone can become both a terrorist and victim of terrorism. A terrorist doesn't have to be linked to Al Qaida or any other Islamic group. A terrorist doesn't have to have different religion or ethnic background. A terrorist could just as easy be a neighbor from an ordinary Norwegian town. Maybe strangely for some, but in a way it has become a little easier to be a Muslim in Norway. So Brevik is totally defeated as he did not cause more hatred towards Muslims in Norway, but opposite. Just, some Muslims say, it is a shame that it took a national tragedy to make people open their eyes.