Among other duties, the Registration Department at Tartu District Court is responsible for registering congregations. Following routine practice, the department sought an opinion from the Ministry of the Interior regarding an application for the registration of the Estonian Muslims' Muftiate (Eesti moslemite muftiaat).

According to Ilmo Au, the ministry religious affairs adviser who reviewed the application documents, the Interior Ministry found that the documents submitted by the congregation failed to satisfy the criteria set by the Churches and Congregations Act and did not adhere to Estonian language rules. Therefore, the ministry was of the position that this religious association could not be registered.

For example, Au noted that the name of the religious association does not comply with a provision in the Churches and Congregations Act that stipulates that the association's name "shall not be misleading with regard to the objectives, scope of activity or legal form."'

Furthermore, the adviser noted that according to provisions in the proposed congregation's statutes, only permanent residents of Estonia could belong to the congregation. However, such a restriction conflicts with the Estonian Constitution.

The statutes were submitted for registration by a group of people led, according to Au, by Ildar Muhhamedšin.

"He is a cleric who has not had good relations with existing congregations; they have expelled him from their membership," the ministry adviser told ERR. "Now he is creating his own separate congregation."

Anyone can do that, he continued, but the statutes in question failed to meet all legal requirements.

"If they resolve the issues and submit amended statutes, then I see no obstacle to registering this congregation," Au noted.

According to the adviser, the ministry reviews statutes for entirely new congregations seeking registration about four to five times a year.

"Currently pending is a completely new thing — Grace Bible Church," he said. "I assume these are immigrants who want to create their own congregation. But why not?"

Estonia home to two Muslim congregations

Requests to register Muslim congregations have not gone up in recent years, Au said, adding that there are currently two Muslim congregations in Estonia.

"One is the traditional and historical Estonian Islamic Congregation," he explained. "This is the congregation of the descendants of the Muslim community that has lived in Estonia for centuries, and of people who moved here during the Soviet period, which — very positively — includes both Sunnis and Shiites."

The other congregation, the adviser continued, is new — the Estonian Islamic Shura Council Dar Al Iftaa congregation.

"That [congregation's] core group consists of immigrants of various nationalities, but among them are also Estonians," he added.

The Estonian Internal Security Service (ISS) has warned in its annual reports that a growing Muslim community increases the likelihood of radicalization, but Au emphasized that radicals exist in every religion, including among Christians.

Last March, the council of the Estonian Islamic Congregation held a meeting where, due to violations of financial discipline, imam Ildar Muhhamedšin was dismissed as the congregation's chief cleric.

Attended by five council members representing Estonian Muslim cultural societies, the meeting concluded that a no-confidence motion should be brought against Muhhamedšin, and that he should be dismissed from his position as chief cleric, the council announced at the time.

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