Islam in Europe Totally Explained

Everything about Islam In Europe totally explained

This article deals with the history and the evolution of the Islamic religion in Europe. Currently, attitudes in Europe towards Islam are varied and complex in nature.

History

Early history

Islam came to Europe in various ways, through Muslim armies, Muslim explorers and traders, and through Arabic manuscripts and scientific research.

Western Europe

Muslim forays into Europe began shortly after the new religion's inception, as a short lived invasion of Byzantine Sicily by a small Arab force that landed in 652 CE. Islam's first real success in European expansion came in 711 during the Umayyad conquest of Hispania, when a Berber dominated army landed at Gibraltar and invaded the Visigoth lands of the Iberian Peninsula. The invaders named their land Al-Andalus, which expanded to include what is now Portugal and Spain except for the northern highlands of Asturias. Al-Andalus has been estimated to have had a Muslim majority in the 10th century. Pelayo, King of Asturias began the Christian counter-offensive known as the La Reconquista after the Battle of Covadonga in 722. By 1236 practically all that remained of Al-Andalus in Spain was the southern province of Granada. The Portuguese Reconquista was completed when Faro in the southern province of Algarve was taken in 1272.
Muslim forces also pushed into Aquitaine, what is now southern France, but suffered a temporary setback when defeated by Eudes, Duke of Aquitaine, at the Battle of Toulouse (721) and were turned back decisively by the Franks under Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours in 732. Sicily and parts of southern Italy were gradually conquered by the Arabs and Berbers commencing in 827 and held until they were expelled by the Norman conquest of the 11th century. Then Rome was attacked in 846. Vikings are known to have traveled both East and South, raiding Muslim holdings in Europe on the one hand, and establishing trade on the other. In 884 a Viking raiding expedition reached the then Muslim dominated Iberian peninsula and attacked Lisbon, Cadiz, Algeciras and North Africa. On their way back home, the Norse sailed along the Guadalquivir River and plundered Seville, destroying the city walls and burning the local mosque. Muslim sources tell of some "mayus" (pagans), who got lost in Spain, and converted to Islam.
Muslim rule endured in Granada, from 1238 as a vassal state of the Christian Kingdom of Castile, until the completion of La Reconquista in 1492. The Moriscos (converts to Christianity) were ultimately expelled from Spain between 1609 (Castile) and 1614 (rest of Spain), by Philip III.

Eastern Europe

Muslim Arab forces attacked the Byzantine Empire soon after the establishment of Islam. The southern provinces of the Empire were overrun. Constantinople was besieged twice, once in a long blockade between 674 CE and 678 CE, and once again in 717 CE. Victory of the Byzantines lead to the re-establishment of their control over most of Asia Minor and parts of Syria. This blocked further expansion of the Arab Caliphate towards Eastern Europe.
   In 824 CE, Byzantine Crete fell into the hands of 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 help in building a fort and a mosque.
   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 brings detailed reports of the Rus and says that some have 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 had 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 weren't Muslim at the time, the 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 century 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.
   The Ottoman Empire began its conquest of the European portion of the Byzantine Empire in the 14th century and in 1453 captured Constantinople, establishing Islam as a major religion in the region. The Ottoman Empire continue to stretch northwards, taking Hungary in the 15th century, and reaching as far north as the Podolia in the mid-17th century (Peace of Buczacz). Ottoman control in Europe ended with the Ottoman 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 annexed by Russia in 1783.

Modern history

During the late 19th century and into the 20th century numerous European countries colonized countries with a majority-wise or large Muslim populations. 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 in order to study and learn about the new European methods.
After the colonies achieved independence the European countries enabled 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. 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.

Islam in European culture

Islam perked interest among European scholars, setting off the movement of Orientalism. The founder of modern Islamic studies in Europe was Ignác Goldziher, who started 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, in 1853 disguised as a Pashtun visited 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. As a result, the Qur'an was also translated (for example, Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete).

Muslim populations in Europe

The Muslim population in Europe is very diverse. In general, Eastern Europe and Balkans (notably Russia, Bulgaria, Albania, Bosnia, Montenegro, Cyprus, Greece, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) have Muslim minorities with roots dating back several hundred years, while Western Europe's Muslim population is composed mainly of new immigrants which have arrived starting from the 1960s (especially in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden). In many countries, Islam is the largest minority religion.
   Currently, there's one European country with a Muslim majority in Eastern Europe: Albania. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that in Albania 60% of Albanians is Muslim, 90% in Kosovo and 99% of the ethnic Albanians in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia(CIA Factbook 2007). The predominately muslim nations of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkey are transcontinental countries with a small percentage of territory located in Europe.
   Kosovo, and the Sanjak region which is divided between Serbia and Montenegro, as well as Bulgaria and Macedonia have a muslim minority.
   Some European cities, such as Marseille in France and Rotterdam in the Netherlands, now have Muslim populations of 25%. The city of Malmö, in Sweden has a muslim population of 35%. In percentage, this is the largest population of Muslims in Europe among countries that don't have a Muslim majority. In others, like Paris, Brussels, London and Copenhagen, Denmark, the figure is in excess of 10%. Moscow is home to an estimated 1.5 million (10%) Muslims.
   Immigrants have come to Europe from across the Muslim world, with different nationalities focusing on different countries. The United Kingdom has a high percentage of Muslims from the Indian sub-continent; France has many Muslims from its former colonies in North Africa; Belgium and the Netherlands have Muslims mostly from Morocco and Turkey; Germany has a large Turkish population; Norway has a large Pakistani and Somali population and Sweden has many Iraqi immigrants.
   Today, the only remaining majority-Muslim regions in Europe are Kosovo, Albania, western/southern Bosnia, the region of Istanbul within Europe and some Russian republics in Northern Caucasus and the Volga region. The Muslim-dominated Sandžak of Novi Pazar is divided between Serbia and Montenegro.
   According to the German Central Institute Islam Archive, the total number of Muslims in Europe in 2006 was about 53 million and in the European Union about 16 million.

Projections

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 doesn't take account of the large birthrates amongst Europe's immigrant Christians. Additionally, this estimation depends more on the supposed inevitability of the increase of Muslim population in the West and one person's research on the future of Europeans. Therefore, while Jenkins' estimation should be considered in the process of predicting what it would be like to live in the West in the year 2100, it should also be raising doubts about the entire European population.
Europe's Muslim population (without Russia) has nearly tripled over the last 30 years, to about 23 million, and experts predict it'll double again by 2020. In 2005, the EU-25 had an overall net gain from international migration of +1.8 million people. This accounts for almost 85% of Europe's total population growth in 2005. Muslim birth rate in Europe is three times higher than the non-Muslim one. By 2050, 1 in 5 Europeans will likely be Muslim.
Other analysts are skeptical about the given facts and accuracy of the Muslim population and its growth. The facts behind this theory are that the increase has considerably slowed down due to a sharp decrease in Muslim fertility rates and the limiting of immigrants coming in to Europe which will lead to Muslim population increasing slowly in the coming years to eventually stagnation and decline. Others point to overestimated number and exaggeration of the Muslim growth rate. It is also a fact that projections can not be taken as 100% accurate, they're rather an estimation should current trends continue and are always subject to changing.

Relations between Muslims and non-Muslims in Europe

In some cases, relations between Europeans and Muslims are tense today. Intolerance of Western values and liberties by Muslims and reactionary tendencies of Europeans inflame social tensions.
Various debates have developed, especially over the past few years, focusing on the relation between Islamic values, the freedom of religion, and different western norms and values.

Freedom of speech debate

In recent years the debate over freedom of speech in Europe has intensified, especially in relation to what can or can't be said about the Muslim religion.
   Various Europeans have been threatened after voicing their criticism of Islam. In the Netherlands, movie director Theo van Gogh was killed by Mohammed Bouyeri, a Dutch Muslim. Bouyeri left a letter on the body threatening Western governments, Jews and Dutch Muslim critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who was van Gogh's partner in creating the film Submission, which criticized Islam's treatment of women.
   Another case in the freedom of speech debate was the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper, published cartoons of Muhammad as a way of showing defiance against Muslim-related censorship. The cartoons caused an uproar in the Muslim world, leading to attacks against Danish and Norwegian embassies in some countries. Several newspapers across Europe reprinted the cartoons as a way of taking a stand in the debate.
   British-Indian writer Salman Rushdie spent the best part of a decade in hiding after a fatwa calling for his execution was issued in response to his novel The Satanic Verses.

Muslim dress debate

A growing Muslim identity and a wish to assert that identity by many, especially young, Muslims has led to a debate about the viability of Muslim dress in Europe. The major point of contention are the different female forms of clothing, such as the face veil (niqab) and over-cloak (abaya); see List of types of sartorial hijab. Note that the Arabic word hijab refers to modest behaviour in general, and pertains to men and women, but it's sometimes used in other languages to describe the Muslim headscarf.
Different countries approach the issue differently. For example, France has banned the hijab in the public education system (French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools), while other countries, such as Sweden, see the wearing of the hijab as a basic right derived from the freedom of religion. Muslim feminists take different positions on this. In long established Muslim populations in Europe in the former Ottoman Empire, in Turkey, Cyprus and the Balkans, the majority of women while dressing modestly don't in general wear face or head coverings in public.

Women's rights debate

This debate about women's rights is related to the debate about Muslim dress, but is much wider and involves many subjects which are culturally inherent to the new Muslim immigrants. It includes such topics as honor killings, forced marriage and female genital mutilation, as well as topics that have been addressed by European feminist organizations in their own struggle for equality, such as a women's right to education and work.

Weaver v NATFHE (now part of the UCU) Race/sex discrimination case. An Industrial (Employment) Tribunal in the UK decided that a trade union were justified in not assisting a (Muslim) woman complaining of racist/sexist harassment because the accused male would lose his job. The Employment Appeal Tribunal upheld the decision, which then applied to all trades unions. Also known as the Bournville College Racial Harassment Issue.

Sharia

In Greece, Sharia is applied by the state-appointed muftis of the Muslim minority of Greece who are also recognized as judges in family law matters. It has even been reported that polygamy has been allowed in Muslim communities in Greece by Greek Appeal Courts despite the fact that polygamy is a criminal offence punishable under article 356 of the Greek Penal Code.
In several countries other EU countries, such as Sweden and the United Kingdom, Muslim groups had asked to apply Islamic inheritance, marriage and divorce laws. Such requests have brought up considerable controversy in those countries.
In 2004 Europe's first bank to offer Sharia compliant financial services, the Islamic Bank of Britain, opened its doors in Britain. Other countries which have Islamic banking institutions are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland and Ireland.

Terrorism

While in some places Islamic terrorism can be considered part of a national struggle (eg, Russia), in other places Islamic terror had hit in the past few years as part of a struggle against "The West". Terror attacks have taken place in Spain in 2004 and in the United Kingdom in 2005.
Suspects accused of Islamic terrorist activity have been arrested in Germany, the Czech Republic, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Cyprus.

European Islam

According to several scholars, a new branch of Islam is coming into existence in Europe.

Organizations

European Council for Fatwa and Research

Muslim Executive of BelgiumFurther Information

Get more info on 'Islam In Europe'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://islam_in_europe.totallyexplained.com">Islam in Europe Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.