Islam in Europe
Encyclopedia
This article deals with the history and evolution of the presence of Islam
in Europe
. According to the German , the total number of Muslims in Europe in 2007 was about 53 million (7.2%), excluding Turkey
. The total number of Muslims in the European Union
in 2007 was about 16 million (3.2%).
came to Europe in various ways, including through conquest. New research has uncovered a Böszörmény
Muslim community in 12th century Hungary with roots in Muslim merchants in commerce with Asia over the Silk Road
. Significant communities of Muslim Lipka Tatars
lived throughout the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
, worshiping in small wooden Mosques and playing a key role in the history of Poland
and Lithuania
.
Muslim Arabs fought the Byzantine Empire soon after the establishment of Islam. The then Christian Syrian
, Armenian, Egyptian
and North African
provinces of the Byzantine Empire
were overrun. Soon after, Constantinople was besieged twice, once in a long blockade between 674 and 678, and once again between 717 and 718. However, the Byzantines successfully defended Constantinople and were able to re-establish control over much of Anatolia
. This blocked further expansion of the Arab Caliphate
towards Eastern Europe.
The Arab armies
also conquered much of the Caucasus
from the Turkic Khazars
during the Khazar–Arab Wars, but the instability of the Umayyad Caliphate made a permanent occupation impossible. The Arab armies withdrew and Khazar independence was re-asserted. This also prevented Islamic expansion into Eastern Europe
for some time.
In 824 CE, Byzantine Crete
fell to Arabs, who established an emirate on the island (see Al-Hakam I
). In 960, Nicephorus Phocas reconquered Crete for the Byzantines.
In the early 10th century, in what is now part of European Russia, the Volga Bulgarians under Almış
accepted Islam as the state religion. Ibn Fadlan was dispatched by the Abbasid
Caliph
al-Muqtadir
in 922/3 to establish relations and bring qadis and teachers of Islamic law (sharia
) to Volga Bulgaria, as well as to help build a fort and a mosque. Olga and her grandson Vladimir were the first christian rulers of Russia. She converted to orthodox Christianity in 957 and Vladimir did the same in 988. Therefore, Islam acquired a state religion status before Christianity in European Russia.
There are accounts of the trade connections
between the Muslims and the Rus
, apparently Vikings who made their way East towards current day Russia. On his way to Volga Bulgaria, Ibn Fadlan brought detailed reports of the Rus, claiming that some had converted to Islam. "They are very fond of pork and many of them who have assumed the path of Islam miss it very much." The Rus also relished their nabidh
, a fermented drink Ibn Fadlan often mentioned as part of their daily fare.
The Golden Horde
began its conquest of present day Russia and Ukraine
in the 13th century. Despite the fact that they were not Muslim at the time, the western Mongols adopted Islam as their state religion
in the early 14th century. More than half of the European portion of Russia and Ukraine, were under suzerainty of Muslim Tatars
and Turks
from the 13th to the 15th century. The Crimean Khanate
became a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire
in 1475 and subjugated what remained of the Great Horde
by 1502. The Khanate of Kazan
was conquered by Ivan the Terrible in 1552.
began its expansion into Europe
by taking the European portions of the Byzantine Empire in the 14th-15th centuries up until the 1453 capture of Constantinople
, establishing Islam as the state religion in the region. The Ottoman Empire continued to stretch northwards, taking Hungary
in the 16th century, and reaching as far north as the Podolia
in the mid-17th century (Peace of Buczacz
), by which time most of Eastern Europe was under Ottoman control. Ottoman expansion in Europe ended with their defeat in the Great Turkish War
. In the Treaty of Karlowitz
(1699), the Ottoman Empire lost most of its conquests in Central Europe
. The Crimean Khanate was later annexed by Russia
in 1783. Over the centuries, the Ottoman Empire gradually lost almost all of its European territories, until its collapse in 1922, when the former empire was transformed into the nation of Turkey
.
Between 1354 (when the Ottomans crossed into Europe at Gallipolli) and 1526, the Empire had conquered the territory of present day Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Hungary. The Empire laid siege to Vienna
in 1683. The intervention of the Polish King broke the siege, and from then afterwards the Ottomans battled the Habsburg Emperors until 1699, when the Treaty of Karlowitz
forced them to surrender Hungary, Croatia, and portions of present day Slovenia and Serbia. From 1699 to 1913, wars and insurrections pushed the Ottoman Empire further back until it reached the current European border of present-day Turkey.
For most of this period, the Ottoman retreats were accompanied by Muslim refugees from these province (in almost all cases converts from the previous subject populations), leaving few Muslim inhabitants in Hungary, Croatia, and the Transylvania region of present day Romania. Bulgaria remained under Ottoman rule until around 1878, and currently its population includes about 131,000 Muslims (2001 Census) (see Pomaks
).
Bosnia was conquered by the Ottomans in 1463, and a large portion of the population converted to Islam in the first 200 years of Ottoman domination. By the time Austia-Hungary occupied Bosnia in 1878, the Habsburgs had shed the desire to re-Christianize new provinces. As a result, a sizable Muslim population in Bosnia survived into the 20th century. Albania and the Kosovo area remained under Ottoman rule until 1913. Previous to the Ottoman conquest, the northern Albanians were Roman Catholic and the southern Albanians were Christian Orthodox, but by 1913 the majority were Muslim. Apart from the effect of a lengthy period under Ottoman domination, many of the subject population were converted to Islam as a result of a deliberate move by the Ottomans as part of a policy of ensuring the loyalty of the population against a potential Venetian invasion. However, Islam was not spread by force in the areas under the control of the Ottoman Sultan according to Thomas Walker Arnold
. Rather Arnold explains Islam's spread by quoting a 17th century author who stated:
Muslim
forays into Western Europe
began shortly after the religion's inception, with a short lived invasion of Byzantine
Sicily
by a small Arab and Berber force
that landed in 652. Islam gained its first foothold in continental Europe from 711 onward, with the Umayyad conquest of Hispania
. The invaders named their land Al-Andalus
, which expanded to include what is now Portugal
and Spain
except for the northern highlands of Asturias
, Basque country, Navarra and few other places protected by mountain chains from southward invasions. Al-Andalus has been estimated to have had a Muslim majority by the 10th century. This coincided with the La Convivencia
period of the Iberian Peninsula
as well as the Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain. Pelayo
, King of Asturias began the Christian
counter-offensive known as the Reconquista after the Battle of Covadonga
in 722. Slowly, Spanish Christian forces regained control of the peninsula. By 1236, practically all that remained of Muslim Spain was the southern province of Granada
.
In the 8th century, Muslim forces pushed beyond Spain into Aquitaine
, in southern France, but suffered a temporary setback when defeated by Eudes
(Duke of Aquitaine), at the Battle of Toulouse (721)
. In 725 Muslim forces captured Autun
in France. The town would be the easternmost point of expansion of Umayyad forces into Europe; just seven years later in 732, the Umayyads would be forced to begin their withdrawal to al-Andalus after facing defeat at the Battle of Tours
by Frankish King Charles Martel
. From 719 to 759, Septimania
was one of the five administrative areas of al-Andalus
. The last Muslim forces were driven from France in 759, but maintained a presence, especially in Fraxinet
all the way into Switzerland
until the 10th c.
At the same time, Muslim forces managed to capture Sicily and portions of southern Italy
, and even sacked Rome
in 846 and later sacked Pisa
in 1004.
s and Berbers
from 827 onward, and the Emirate of Sicily
was established in 965. They held onto the region until their expulsion by the Normans
in 1072.
(including the arts
, agriculture
, economics
, philosophy
, science and technology) assisted with fomenting conditions required for a rebirth of European thought and art (Renaissance). (See Latin translations of the 12th century and Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe
for more information).
Muslim rule endured in the Emirate of Granada
, from 1238 as a vassal state
of the Christian Kingdom of Castile
, until the completion of La Reconquista in 1492. The Morisco
s (Moorish in Spanish) were finally expelled from Spain
between 1609 (Castile) and 1614 (rest of Spain), by Philip III during the Spanish Inquisition
.
Throughout the 16th to 19th centuries, the Barbary States
sent Barbary pirates to raid parts of Western Europe in order to capture Christian slaves
to sell at slave markets
in the Arab World
throughout the Renaissance period. According to Robert Davis, from the 16th to 19th century, pirates captured 1 million to 1.25 million Europeans as slaves. These slaves were captured mainly from the crews of captured vessels and from coastal villages in Spain
and Portugal
, and from farther places like Italy
, France
or England
, the Netherlands
, Ireland
and even Iceland
.
Starting with the Dutch in Indonesia in the 17th century, and then during the late 19th century and into the 20th century, European colonial empire
s colonized regions with a Muslim majority (in North Africa, the Horn of Africa
, and Malay archipelago
) or large Muslim populations (in the Indian subcontinent
and sub-Saharan Africa
). This brought the European population into contact with Muslim populations, both as the army and civil administration in these new colonies, and with Muslim immigrants who came to the colonizing country.
After the colonies achieved independence, there was mass immigration from their former colonies. In the 1960s and early 1970s, guest workers were brought over by the governments of France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Scandinavia. Another class of immigrants were the descendants of those who moved internally inside a European colonial empire
, and from their to the home country such as the descendants of indentured
Indian labourers in the Caribbean. Once the European countries imposed an immigration ban, the type of immigration shifted. Today most Muslim immigrants come either as asylum seekers or as part of family reunification
. Many of the second generation migrants marry spouses from their former homeland. Some countries have tried to cut down on such immigration by passing strict laws, such as the Danish 24 year rule
.
. The founder of modern Islamic studies in Europe was Ignác Goldziher, who began studying Islam in the late 19th century. For instance, Sir Richard Francis Burton
, 19th-century English explorer, scholar, and orientalist, and translator of 'The Arabian Nights' The Book of One Thousand and One Nights
, disguised himself as a Pashtun and visited both Medina and Mecca during the Hajj, as described in his book The Pilgrimage to Al-Medinah and Meccah
Islamic architecture
influenced European architecture in various ways (for example, the Türkischer Tempel
synagogue in Vienna
). During the 12th century Renaissance in Europe, Latin translations of Arabic texts
were introduced. The Koran was also translated (for example, Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete
).
According to the German , the total number of Muslims in Europe in 2007 was about 53 million, including 16 million in the European Union
.
The Muslim population in Europe is extremely diverse with varied histories and origins. Today, the Muslim-majority regions of Europe are Albania
, Kosovo
, parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina
, and some Russian regions
in Northern Caucasus and the Volga region. The Muslim-dominated Sandžak
of Novi Pazar
is divided between Serbia and Montenegro. They consist predominantly of indigenous Europeans of the Muslim faith whose religious tradition dates back several hundred years. The transcontinental countries of Turkey
, Azerbaijan
and Kazakhstan
also are Muslim majority. The Muslim population in Western Europe is composed primarily of peoples who arrived to the European continent from across the Muslim world during or after the 1950s.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that 70% of the people of Albania are Muslim, 91% in Kosovo, and 30% of them in Macedonia
are Muslim. Bosnia has a Muslim plurality. In transcontinental countries such as Turkey 99%, and 93% in Azerbaijan of the population is Muslim respectively. Muslims also form about one sixth of the population of Montenegro
. In Russia, Moscow
is home to an estimated 1.5 million Muslims.
in 2005 was due to immigration in general. Omer Taspinar predicts that the Muslim population of Europe will nearly double by 2015, while the non-Muslim will shrink by 3.5%, if the higher Muslim birth rate persists.
However, a 2007 Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) report calls for caution and argues that the Muslim population projections are overestimated.
Professor Philip Jenkins
of Penn State University estimates that by 2100, Muslims will compose about 25% of Europe's population. But Jenkins admits this figure does not take account of the large birthrates amongst Europe's immigrant Christians.
Other analysts are skeptical about the given forecast and the accuracy of the claimed Muslim population growth, since there has been a sharp decrease in Muslim fertility rates.
A Pew Forum study, published in January 2011, forecast an increase of Muslims in European population from 6% in 2010 to 8% in 2030. PEW also found that Muslim fertility rate in Europe would drop from 2.2 in 2010 to 2.0 in 2030. On the other hand, the non-Muslim fertility rate in Europe would increase from 1.5 in 2010 to 1.6 in 2030.
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. According to the German , the total number of Muslims in Europe in 2007 was about 53 million (7.2%), excluding Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. The total number of Muslims in the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
in 2007 was about 16 million (3.2%).
Early history
IslamIslam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
came to Europe in various ways, including through conquest. New research has uncovered a Böszörmény
Böszörmény
Böszörmény, also Izmaelita or Szerecsen , is a name for the Muslims who lived in the Kingdom of Hungary in the 10-13th centuries. Some of the böszörmény probably joined the federation of the seven Magyar tribes during the 9th century, and later smaller groups of Muslims arrived to the Carpathian...
Muslim community in 12th century Hungary with roots in Muslim merchants in commerce with Asia over the Silk Road
Silk Road
The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...
. Significant communities of Muslim Lipka Tatars
Lipka Tatars
The Lipka Tatars are a group of Tatars who originally settled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at the beginning of 14th century. The first settlers tried to preserve their shamanistic religion and sought asylum amongst the non-Christian Lithuanians...
lived throughout the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
, worshiping in small wooden Mosques and playing a key role in the history of Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
.
Eastern Europe
Muslim conquest of Syria
The Muslim conquest of Syria occurred in the first half of the 7th century, and refers to the region known as the Bilad al-Sham, the Levant, or Greater Syria...
, Armenian, Egyptian
Muslim conquest of Egypt
At the commencement of the Muslims conquest of Egypt, Egypt was part of the Byzantine Empire with its capital in Constantinople. However, it had been occupied just a decade before by the Persian Empire under Khosrau II...
and North African
Umayyad conquest of North Africa
The Umayyad conquest of North Africa continued the century of rapid Arab Muslim expansion following the death of Muhammad in 632 CE. By 640 the Arabs controlled Mesopotamia, had invaded Armenia, and were concluding their conquest of Byzantine Syria. Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad caliphate....
provinces of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
were overrun. Soon after, Constantinople was besieged twice, once in a long blockade between 674 and 678, and once again between 717 and 718. However, the Byzantines successfully defended Constantinople and were able to re-establish control over much of Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
. This blocked further expansion of the Arab Caliphate
Caliphate
The term caliphate, "dominion of a caliph " , refers to the first system of government established in Islam and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah...
towards Eastern Europe.
The Arab armies
Rashidun army
The Rashidun Caliphate Army or Rashidun army was the primary military body of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, serving alongside the Rashidun Navy...
also conquered much of the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
from the Turkic Khazars
Khazars
The Khazars were semi-nomadic Turkic people who established one of the largest polities of medieval Eurasia, with the capital of Atil and territory comprising much of modern-day European Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the northern Caucasus , parts of...
during the Khazar–Arab Wars, but the instability of the Umayyad Caliphate made a permanent occupation impossible. The Arab armies withdrew and Khazar independence was re-asserted. This also prevented Islamic expansion into Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
for some time.
In 824 CE, Byzantine Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
fell to Arabs, who established an emirate on the island (see Al-Hakam I
Al-Hakam I
Al-Hakam Ibn Hisham Ibn Abd-ar-Rahman I was Umayyad Emir of Cordoba from 796 until 822 in the Al-Andalus .Al-Hakam was the second son of his father, his older brother having died at an early age. When he came to power, he was challenged by his uncles Sulayman and Abdallah, sons of Abd ar-Rahman I...
). In 960, Nicephorus Phocas reconquered Crete for the Byzantines.
In the early 10th century, in what is now part of European Russia, the Volga Bulgarians under Almış
Almis
Almış iltäbär was the first Muslim ruler of Volga Bulgaria.Almış was a son of Şilki . He was a ruler of one of the Bulgar duchies, probably, the Bolghar Duchy. Initially, a vassal of the Khazars, he struggled for independence and unification of all Bulgar tribes and duchies. He sent ambassadors...
accepted Islam as the state religion. Ibn Fadlan was dispatched by the Abbasid
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate or, more simply, the Abbasids , was the third of the Islamic caliphates. It was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphate from all but the al-Andalus region....
Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
al-Muqtadir
Al-Muqtadir
Al-Muqtadir was the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 908 AD to 932 AD .After the previous Caliph, al-Muktafi, was confined for several months to his sick-bed, intrigue was made for some time as to his successor...
in 922/3 to establish relations and bring qadis and teachers of Islamic law (sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
) to Volga Bulgaria, as well as to help build a fort and a mosque. Olga and her grandson Vladimir were the first christian rulers of Russia. She converted to orthodox Christianity in 957 and Vladimir did the same in 988. Therefore, Islam acquired a state religion status before Christianity in European Russia.
There are accounts of the trade connections
Volga trade route
In the Middle Ages, the Volga trade route connected Northern Europe and Northwestern Russia with the Caspian Sea, via the Volga River. The Rus used this route to trade with Muslim countries on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, sometimes penetrating as far as Baghdad...
between the Muslims and the Rus
Rus' (people)
The Rus' were a group of Varangians . According to the Primary Chronicle of Rus, compiled in about 1113 AD, the Rus had relocated from the Baltic region , first to Northeastern Europe, creating an early polity which finally came under the leadership of Rurik...
, apparently Vikings who made their way East towards current day Russia. On his way to Volga Bulgaria, Ibn Fadlan brought detailed reports of the Rus, claiming that some had converted to Islam. "They are very fond of pork and many of them who have assumed the path of Islam miss it very much." The Rus also relished their nabidh
Nabidh
Nabidh is a drink traditionally made from fruits such as raisins/grapes or dates. Nabidh may be non intoxicating, mildy intoxicating, or heavily intoxicating depending on the level of fermentation.Abu Hurayrah says of the drink:...
, a fermented drink Ibn Fadlan often mentioned as part of their daily fare.
The Golden Horde
Golden Horde
The Golden Horde was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate that formed the north-western sector of the Mongol Empire...
began its conquest of present day Russia and Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
in the 13th century. Despite the fact that they were not Muslim at the time, the western Mongols adopted Islam as their state religion
State religion
A state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state...
in the early 14th century. More than half of the European portion of Russia and Ukraine, were under suzerainty of Muslim Tatars
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...
and Turks
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
from the 13th to the 15th century. The Crimean Khanate
Crimean Khanate
Crimean Khanate, or Khanate of Crimea , was a state ruled by Crimean Tatars from 1441 to 1783. Its native name was . Its khans were the patrilineal descendants of Toqa Temür, the thirteenth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan...
became a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
in 1475 and subjugated what remained of the Great Horde
Great Horde
- Dissolution of the Golden Horde :The peripheral regions of the Golden Horde broke off as follows: 1438: Kazan Khanate, 1441: Crimean Khanate, 1466: Astrakhan Khanate The remnant, which became known as the Great Horde, was left with the steppe between the Dnieper and Yaik, the capital Sarai and a...
by 1502. The Khanate of Kazan
Khanate of Kazan
The Khanate of Kazan was a medieval Tatar state which occupied the territory of former Volga Bulgaria between 1438 and 1552. Its khans were the patrilineal descendants of Toqa Temür, the thirteenth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. The khanate covered contemporary Tatarstan, Mari El,...
was conquered by Ivan the Terrible in 1552.
Balkans during the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
began its expansion into Europe
Ottoman wars in Europe
The wars of the Ottoman Empire in Europe are also sometimes referred to as the Ottoman Wars or as Turkish Wars, particularly in older, European texts.- Rise :...
by taking the European portions of the Byzantine Empire in the 14th-15th centuries up until the 1453 capture of Constantinople
Fall of Constantinople
The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which occurred after a siege by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, against the defending army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI...
, establishing Islam as the state religion in the region. The Ottoman Empire continued to stretch northwards, taking Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
in the 16th century, and reaching as far north as the Podolia
Podolia
The region of Podolia is an historical region in the west-central and south-west portions of present-day Ukraine, corresponding to Khmelnytskyi Oblast and Vinnytsia Oblast. Northern Transnistria, in Moldova, is also a part of Podolia...
in the mid-17th century (Peace of Buczacz
Peace of Buczacz
The Treaty of Buchach was signed on 16 or 18 October 1672 in Buczacz between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire, ended the first phase of the Polish-Ottoman War...
), by which time most of Eastern Europe was under Ottoman control. Ottoman expansion in Europe ended with their defeat in the Great Turkish War
Great Turkish War
The Great Turkish War refers to a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and contemporary European powers, then joined into a Holy League, during the second half of the 17th century.-1667–1683:...
. In the Treaty of Karlowitz
Treaty of Karlowitz
The Treaty of Karlowitz was signed on 26 January 1699 in Sremski Karlovci , concluding the Austro-Ottoman War of 1683–1697 in which the Ottoman side had been defeated at the Battle of Zenta...
(1699), the Ottoman Empire lost most of its conquests in Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
. The Crimean Khanate was later annexed by Russia
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
in 1783. Over the centuries, the Ottoman Empire gradually lost almost all of its European territories, until its collapse in 1922, when the former empire was transformed into the nation of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
.
Between 1354 (when the Ottomans crossed into Europe at Gallipolli) and 1526, the Empire had conquered the territory of present day Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Hungary. The Empire laid siege to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
in 1683. The intervention of the Polish King broke the siege, and from then afterwards the Ottomans battled the Habsburg Emperors until 1699, when the Treaty of Karlowitz
Treaty of Karlowitz
The Treaty of Karlowitz was signed on 26 January 1699 in Sremski Karlovci , concluding the Austro-Ottoman War of 1683–1697 in which the Ottoman side had been defeated at the Battle of Zenta...
forced them to surrender Hungary, Croatia, and portions of present day Slovenia and Serbia. From 1699 to 1913, wars and insurrections pushed the Ottoman Empire further back until it reached the current European border of present-day Turkey.
For most of this period, the Ottoman retreats were accompanied by Muslim refugees from these province (in almost all cases converts from the previous subject populations), leaving few Muslim inhabitants in Hungary, Croatia, and the Transylvania region of present day Romania. Bulgaria remained under Ottoman rule until around 1878, and currently its population includes about 131,000 Muslims (2001 Census) (see Pomaks
Pomaks
Pomaks is a term used for a Slavic Muslim population native to some parts of Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo. The Pomaks speak Bulgarian as their native language, also referred to in Greece and Turkey as Pomak language, and some are fluent in Turkish,...
).
Bosnia was conquered by the Ottomans in 1463, and a large portion of the population converted to Islam in the first 200 years of Ottoman domination. By the time Austia-Hungary occupied Bosnia in 1878, the Habsburgs had shed the desire to re-Christianize new provinces. As a result, a sizable Muslim population in Bosnia survived into the 20th century. Albania and the Kosovo area remained under Ottoman rule until 1913. Previous to the Ottoman conquest, the northern Albanians were Roman Catholic and the southern Albanians were Christian Orthodox, but by 1913 the majority were Muslim. Apart from the effect of a lengthy period under Ottoman domination, many of the subject population were converted to Islam as a result of a deliberate move by the Ottomans as part of a policy of ensuring the loyalty of the population against a potential Venetian invasion. However, Islam was not spread by force in the areas under the control of the Ottoman Sultan according to Thomas Walker Arnold
Thomas Walker Arnold
Sir Thomas Walker Arnold was an eminent British orientalist and historian of Islamic art who taught at MAO College, Aligarh Muslim University, then Aligarh College, and Government College University, Lahore. He was a friend of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, and wrote his famous book "The preaching of Islam"...
. Rather Arnold explains Islam's spread by quoting a 17th century author who stated:
Meanwhile he (the Turk) wins (converts) by craft more than by force, and snatches away Christ by fraud out of the hearts of men. For the Turk, it is true, at the present time compels no country by violence to apostatise; but he uses other means whereby imperceptibly he roots out Christianity...
Iberia and Southern France
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
forays into Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
began shortly after the religion's inception, with a short lived invasion of Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
by a small Arab and Berber force
Rashidun army
The Rashidun Caliphate Army or Rashidun army was the primary military body of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, serving alongside the Rashidun Navy...
that landed in 652. Islam gained its first foothold in continental Europe from 711 onward, with the Umayyad conquest of Hispania
Umayyad conquest of Hispania
The Umayyad conquest of Hispania is the initial Islamic Ummayad Caliphate's conquest, between 711 and 718, of the Christian Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania, centered in the Iberian Peninsula, which was known to them under the Arabic name al-Andalus....
. The invaders named their land Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
, which expanded to include what is now Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
except for the northern highlands of Asturias
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
, Basque country, Navarra and few other places protected by mountain chains from southward invasions. Al-Andalus has been estimated to have had a Muslim majority by the 10th century. This coincided with the La Convivencia
La Convivencia
La Convivencia is a term used to describe a postulated situation in Spanish history when Jews, Muslims, and Catholics in Spain lived in relative peace together within the different kingdoms. It lasted from the Muslim Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 until 1492, concurrent with the Reconquista...
period of the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
as well as the Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain. Pelayo
Pelayo
Pelayo is the Spanish form of the Latin name Pelagius. It may refer to:*Pelagius of Asturias, founder of the Kingdom of Asturias and beginner of the Reconquista*Pelayo of Oviedo, bishop and chronicler...
, King of Asturias began the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
counter-offensive known as the Reconquista after the Battle of Covadonga
Battle of Covadonga
The Battle of Covadonga was the first major victory by a Christian military force in Iberia following the Muslim Moors' conquest of that region in 711...
in 722. Slowly, Spanish Christian forces regained control of the peninsula. By 1236, practically all that remained of Muslim Spain was the southern province of Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
.
In the 8th century, Muslim forces pushed beyond Spain into Aquitaine
Aquitaine
Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, :Lot et Garonne, :Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes...
, in southern France, but suffered a temporary setback when defeated by Eudes
Eudes
There are several notable people with the Old French name Eudes.* Odo of Aquitaine, died about 735* Odo , Count of Paris* Eudes-Henry , Duke of Burgundy * Eudes, Count of Penthièvre and Count of Brittany...
(Duke of Aquitaine), at the Battle of Toulouse (721)
Battle of Toulouse (721)
The Battle of Toulouse was a victory of an Aquitanian army led by Duke Odo of Aquitaine over an Umayyad army besieging the city of Toulouse, and led by the governor of Al-Andalus, Al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani...
. In 725 Muslim forces captured Autun
Autun
Autun is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in Burgundy in eastern France. It was founded during the early Roman Empire as Augustodunum. Autun marks the easternmost extent of the Umayyad campaign in Europe.-Early history:...
in France. The town would be the easternmost point of expansion of Umayyad forces into Europe; just seven years later in 732, the Umayyads would be forced to begin their withdrawal to al-Andalus after facing defeat at the Battle of Tours
Battle of Tours
The Battle of Tours , also called the Battle of Poitiers and in Battle of the Court of the Martyrs, was fought in an area between the cities of Poitiers and Tours, located in north-central France, near the village of Moussais-la-Bataille, about northeast of Poitiers...
by Frankish King Charles Martel
Charles Martel
Charles Martel , also known as Charles the Hammer, was a Frankish military and political leader, who served as Mayor of the Palace under the Merovingian kings and ruled de facto during an interregnum at the end of his life, using the title Duke and Prince of the Franks. In 739 he was offered the...
. From 719 to 759, Septimania
Septimania
Septimania was the western region of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed under the control of the Visigoths in 462, when Septimania was ceded to their king, Theodoric II. Under the Visigoths it was known as simply Gallia or Narbonensis. It corresponded roughly with the modern...
was one of the five administrative areas of al-Andalus
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
. The last Muslim forces were driven from France in 759, but maintained a presence, especially in Fraxinet
Fraxinet
Fraxinet or Fraxinetum was the site of a tenth-century fortress established by Saracen pirates at modern La Garde-Freinet, near Saint-Tropez, in Provence...
all the way into Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
until the 10th c.
At the same time, Muslim forces managed to capture Sicily and portions of southern Italy
History of Islam in southern Italy
The history of Islam in southern Italy begins with the Islamic conquest and subsequent rule of Sicily and Malta, a process that started in the 9th century. Islamic rule over Sicily was effective from 902, and the complete rule of the island lasted from 965 until 1061...
, and even sacked Rome
Sack of Rome (846)
In 846 Arab raiders plundered the environs of Rome, including the Vatican, sacking Old St. Peter's and St. Paul's-Outside-the-Walls, but were prevented from entering the city itself by the Aurelian Wall...
in 846 and later sacked Pisa
Timeline of the Muslim presence in the Iberian peninsula
This is a timeline of notable events in the Muslim presence in Iberia, which started with the Umayyad conquest in the 8th century.-Conquest :...
in 1004.
Sicily
Sicily was gradually conquered by the ArabArab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
s and Berbers
Berber people
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
from 827 onward, and the Emirate of Sicily
Emirate of Sicily
The Emirate of Sicily was an Islamic state on the island of Sicily , which existed from 965 to 1072.-First Arab invasions of Sicily:...
was established in 965. They held onto the region until their expulsion by the Normans
Norman conquest of southern Italy
The Norman conquest of southern Italy spanned the late eleventh and much of the twelfth centuries, involving many battles and many independent players conquering territories of their own...
in 1072.
Cultural impact and Christian interaction
The Christian conquests of the Iberian peninsula and southern Italy helped to reintroduce ideas and concepts lost to Western Europe after the fall of Rome in A.D. 476. Arab speaking Christian scholars saved influential pre-Christian texts and this coupled with the introduction of aspects of medieval Islamic cultureIslamic Golden Age
During the Islamic Golden Age philosophers, scientists and engineers of the Islamic world contributed enormously to technology and culture, both by preserving earlier traditions and by adding their own inventions and innovations...
(including the arts
Islamic art
Islamic art encompasses the visual arts produced from the 7th century onwards by people who lived within the territory that was inhabited by or ruled by culturally Islamic populations...
, agriculture
Muslim Agricultural Revolution
The Arab Agricultural Revolution is a term coined by the historian Andrew Watson in his influential 1974 paper postulating a fundamental transformation in agriculture from the 8th century to the 13th century in the Muslim...
, economics
Islamic economics in the world
Islamic economics in practice, or economic policies supported by self-identified Islamic groups, has varied throughout its long history. Traditional Islamic concepts having to do with economics included...
, philosophy
Early Islamic philosophy
Early Islamic philosophy or classical Islamic philosophy is a period of intense philosophical development beginning in the 2nd century AH of the Islamic calendar and lasting until the 6th century AH...
, science and technology) assisted with fomenting conditions required for a rebirth of European thought and art (Renaissance). (See Latin translations of the 12th century and Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe
Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe
Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe were numerous, affecting such varied areas as art, architecture, medicine, agriculture, music, language, and technology. From the 11th to 13th centuries, Europe absorbed knowledge from the Islamic civilization...
for more information).
Muslim rule endured in the Emirate of Granada
Emirate of Granada
The Emirate of Granada , also known as the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada , was an emirate established in 1238 following the defeat of Muhammad an-Nasir of the Almohad dynasty by an alliance of Christian kingdoms at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212...
, from 1238 as a vassal state
Vassal state
A vassal state is any state that is subordinate to another. The vassal in these cases is the ruler, rather than the state itself. Being a vassal most commonly implies providing military assistance to the dominant state when requested to do so; it sometimes implies paying tribute, but a state which...
of the Christian Kingdom of Castile
Kingdom of Castile
Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region...
, until the completion of La Reconquista in 1492. The Morisco
Morisco
Moriscos or Mouriscos , meaning "Moorish", were the converted Christian inhabitants of Spain and Portugal of Muslim heritage. Over time the term was used in a pejorative sense applied to those nominal Catholics who were suspected of secretly practicing Islam.-Demographics:By the beginning of the...
s (Moorish in Spanish) were finally expelled from Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
between 1609 (Castile) and 1614 (rest of Spain), by Philip III during the Spanish Inquisition
Spanish Inquisition
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition , commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition , was a tribunal established in 1480 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms, and to replace the Medieval...
.
Throughout the 16th to 19th centuries, the Barbary States
Barbary Coast
The Barbary Coast, or Barbary, was the term used by Europeans from the 16th until the 19th century to refer to much of the collective land of the Berber people. Today, the terms Maghreb and "Tamazgha" correspond roughly to "Barbary"...
sent Barbary pirates to raid parts of Western Europe in order to capture Christian slaves
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
to sell at slave markets
Arab slave trade
The Arab slave trade was the practice of slavery in the Arab World, mainly Western Asia, North Africa, East Africa and certain parts of Europe during their period of domination by Arab leaders. The trade was focused on the slave markets of the Middle East and North Africa...
in the Arab World
Arab world
The Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the...
throughout the Renaissance period. According to Robert Davis, from the 16th to 19th century, pirates captured 1 million to 1.25 million Europeans as slaves. These slaves were captured mainly from the crews of captured vessels and from coastal villages in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, and from farther places like Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
or England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and even Iceland
Turkish Abductions
The Turkish Abductions were a series of raids that took place in Iceland between July 4 – July 19, 1627. Both Austurland and Vestmannaeyjar were raided by Barbary pirates from the regency of Algiers.In 1627, Jan Janszoon hired a Danish “slave”...
.
Colonial empire
The Colonial empires were a product of the European Age of Exploration that began with a race of exploration between the then most advanced maritime powers, Portugal and Spain, in the 15th century...
s colonized regions with a Muslim majority (in North Africa, the Horn of Africa
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in East Africa that juts hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent...
, and Malay archipelago
Malay Archipelago
The Malay Archipelago refers to the archipelago between mainland Southeastern Asia and Australia. The name was derived from the anachronistic concept of a Malay race....
) or large Muslim populations (in the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
and sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
). This brought the European population into contact with Muslim populations, both as the army and civil administration in these new colonies, and with Muslim immigrants who came to the colonizing country.
After the colonies achieved independence, there was mass immigration from their former colonies. In the 1960s and early 1970s, guest workers were brought over by the governments of France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Scandinavia. Another class of immigrants were the descendants of those who moved internally inside a European colonial empire
Colonial empire
The Colonial empires were a product of the European Age of Exploration that began with a race of exploration between the then most advanced maritime powers, Portugal and Spain, in the 15th century...
, and from their to the home country such as the descendants of indentured
Indentured servant
Indentured servitude refers to the historical practice of contracting to work for a fixed period of time, typically three to seven years, in exchange for transportation, food, clothing, lodging and other necessities during the term of indenture. Usually the father made the arrangements and signed...
Indian labourers in the Caribbean. Once the European countries imposed an immigration ban, the type of immigration shifted. Today most Muslim immigrants come either as asylum seekers or as part of family reunification
Family reunification
Family reunification is a recognized reason for immigration in many countries. The presence of one or more family members in a certain country, therefore, enables the rest of the family to immigrate to that country as well....
. Many of the second generation migrants marry spouses from their former homeland. Some countries have tried to cut down on such immigration by passing strict laws, such as the Danish 24 year rule
24 year rule
The 24 year rule is a rule in Danish immigration law meant to cut down forced marriages and family reunification immigration.The rule has four requirements...
.
Cultural influences
Islam piqued interest among European scholars, setting off the movement of OrientalismOrientalism
Orientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...
. The founder of modern Islamic studies in Europe was Ignác Goldziher, who began studying Islam in the late 19th century. For instance, Sir Richard Francis Burton
Richard Francis Burton
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS was a British geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia, Africa and the Americas as well as his...
, 19th-century English explorer, scholar, and orientalist, and translator of 'The Arabian Nights' The Book of One Thousand and One Nights
The Book of One Thousand and One Nights
One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age...
, disguised himself as a Pashtun and visited both Medina and Mecca during the Hajj, as described in his book The Pilgrimage to Al-Medinah and Meccah
Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture encompasses a wide range of both secular and religious styles from the foundation of Islam to the present day, influencing the design and construction of buildings and structures in Islamic culture....
influenced European architecture in various ways (for example, the Türkischer Tempel
Türkischer Tempel
The Türkischer Tempel was a synagogue in Vienna. It was built specifically for a community of Sephardi Jews, who originally came from Turkey. The synagogue was built in a Turkish, almost Islamic style, with a dome. The building was destroyed during the Reichskristallnacht in 1938....
synagogue in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
). During the 12th century Renaissance in Europe, Latin translations of Arabic texts
Islamic science
Science in the medieval Islamic world, also known as Islamic science or Arabic science, is the science developed and practised in the Islamic world during the Islamic Golden Age . During this time, Indian, Iranian and especially Greek knowledge was translated into Arabic...
were introduced. The Koran was also translated (for example, Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete
Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete
Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete is the translation of the Qur'an into Latin by Robert of Ketton...
).
Current population
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
.
The Muslim population in Europe is extremely diverse with varied histories and origins. Today, the Muslim-majority regions of Europe are Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
, parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
, and some Russian regions
Subdivisions of Russia
Russia is divided into several types and levels of subdivisions.-Federal subjects:Russia is a federation which since March 1, 2008 consists of 83 federal subjects . These federal subjects are of equal federal rights in the sense that they have equal representation—two delegates each—in the...
in Northern Caucasus and the Volga region. The Muslim-dominated Sandžak
Sandžak
Sandžak also known as Raška is a historical region lying along the border between Serbia and Montenegro...
of Novi Pazar
Sanjak of Novi Pazar
The Sanjak of Novi Pazar was an Ottoman sanjak that existed until the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 in the territory of present day Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo.-History:It was part of the Bosnia Vilayet and later Kosovo Vilayet and included...
is divided between Serbia and Montenegro. They consist predominantly of indigenous Europeans of the Muslim faith whose religious tradition dates back several hundred years. The transcontinental countries of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
and Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
also are Muslim majority. The Muslim population in Western Europe is composed primarily of peoples who arrived to the European continent from across the Muslim world during or after the 1950s.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that 70% of the people of Albania are Muslim, 91% in Kosovo, and 30% of them in Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
are Muslim. Bosnia has a Muslim plurality. In transcontinental countries such as Turkey 99%, and 93% in Azerbaijan of the population is Muslim respectively. Muslims also form about one sixth of the population of Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
. In Russia, Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
is home to an estimated 1.5 million Muslims.
Projections
Don Melvin writes that, excluding Russia, Europe's Muslim population will double by 2020. He also says that almost 85% of Europe's total population growthPopulation growth
Population growth is the change in a population over time, and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals of any species in a population using "per unit time" for measurement....
in 2005 was due to immigration in general. Omer Taspinar predicts that the Muslim population of Europe will nearly double by 2015, while the non-Muslim will shrink by 3.5%, if the higher Muslim birth rate persists.
However, a 2007 Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) report calls for caution and argues that the Muslim population projections are overestimated.
Professor Philip Jenkins
Philip Jenkins
Philip Jenkins is as of 2010 the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Humanities at Pennsylvania State University . He was Professor and a Distinguished Professor of History and Religious studies at the same institution; and also assistant, associate and then full professor of Criminal Justice and...
of Penn State University estimates that by 2100, Muslims will compose about 25% of Europe's population. But Jenkins admits this figure does not take account of the large birthrates amongst Europe's immigrant Christians.
Other analysts are skeptical about the given forecast and the accuracy of the claimed Muslim population growth, since there has been a sharp decrease in Muslim fertility rates.
A Pew Forum study, published in January 2011, forecast an increase of Muslims in European population from 6% in 2010 to 8% in 2030. PEW also found that Muslim fertility rate in Europe would drop from 2.2 in 2010 to 2.0 in 2030. On the other hand, the non-Muslim fertility rate in Europe would increase from 1.5 in 2010 to 1.6 in 2030.
See also
- A Common Word Between Us and YouA Common Word Between Us and YouA Common Word between Us and You is an open letter, dated 13 October 2007, from leaders of the Muslim faith to leaders of the Christian faith. It calls for peace between Muslims and Christians and tries to work for common ground and understanding among both faiths, in line with the Qur'anic...
- European IslamEuropean IslamEuropean Islam or Euro-Islam is a hypothesized new branch of Islam, which some believe is or should be emerging in Europe...
- Islam by countryIslam by countryIslam is the world's second largest religion after Christianity. According to a 2009 demographic study, Islam has 1.57 billion adherents, making up 23% of the world population....
- Islamic dress controversy in Europe
- IslamophobiaIslamophobiaIslamophobia describes prejudice against, hatred or irrational fear of Islam or MuslimsThe term dates back to the late 1980s or early 1990s, but came into common usage after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States....
- Islamophobic incidentsIslamophobic incidents-Bosnia:In the 1990s, the Bosnian Genocide and Kosovo War, both of which involved the "mass murder of innocent Muslims," have been linked to Islamophobia. In Bosnia, Christian Serb and Croat militias carried out genocidal attacks on the Muslim Bosniak community...
- Persecution of MuslimsPersecution of MuslimsPersecution of Muslims is the religious persecution of Muslims as a consequence of professing their faith, both historically and in the current era.-Anatolia:...
- Women's rights and Islam
- Western MuslimsWestern MuslimsWestern Muslims are Muslims who reside in the West. Ever since the rise of Islam, Muslims have lived in parts of the West alongside Jews and Christians. Until the twentieth century, very few Muslims had ever lived in Western Europe, with the main exceptions being southern Italy and Al-Andalus, the...
Organizations
- Catholic-Muslim ForumCatholic-Muslim ForumThe Catholic-Muslim Forum is a forum for dialogue between Catholics and Muslims. The first summit took place on 4-6 November 2008 in Vatican with nearly fifty delegates. The chosen theme was "Love of God, Love of Neighbour."-External links:******...
- European Council for Fatwa and ResearchEuropean Council for Fatwa and ResearchThe European Council for Fatwa and Research is a Dublin-based private foundation, founded in London on 29 March - 30 March 1997 on the initiative of the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Europe...
- Muslim Council for Cooperation in EuropeMuslim Council for Cooperation in EuropeThe Muslim Council for Cooperation in Europe is a representative body of European citizens of Muslim faith before the EU administration for advice, representation and intra-European collaboration...
- Muslim Executive of BelgiumMuslim Executive of BelgiumDe Belgische Moslim Executief or L'Exécutif des musulmans de Belgique is the official Muslim interlocutor of the Belgian federal government for the implementation of the July 19, 1974 law recognizing Islam as one of the subsidized religious or secular communities in Belgium according to the law...
External links
- For Muslim Minorities, it is Possible to Endorse Political Liberalism, But This is not Enough
- BBC News: Muslims in Europe
- Khabrein.info: Barroso: Islam is part of Europe
- 2010 World Muslim Population by Dr. Houssain Kettani.
- Euro-Islam Website Coordinator Jocelyne Cesari, Harvard University and CNRS-GSRL, Paris
- Asabiyya: Re-Interpreting Value Change in Globalized Societies
- Why Europe has to offer a better deal towards its Muslim communities. A quantitative analysis of open international data
- Köchler, HansHans KöchlerHans Köchler is a professor of philosophy at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, and president of the International Progress Organization, a non-governmental organization in consultative status with the United Nations...
, Muslim-Christian Ties in Europe: Past, Present and Future, 1996