Islam in Europe: Difference between revisions
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== Islam in Europe Historically == |
== Islam in Europe Historically == |
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The recorded history of '''[[Islam]] in [[Europe]]''' begins with the [[al-Andalus]] territories in what is now Spain and Portugal, established in 710 and enduring until 1492;<ref name="Hourani 1"> Hourani, pg.41</ref> the last Muslims were expelled from Spain by [[1614]]. |
The recorded history of '''[[Islam]] in [[Europe]]''' begins with the [[al-Andalus]] territories in the [[Iberian peninsula]], which included what is now [[Spain]] and [[Portugal]], established in 710 and enduring until 1492;<ref name="Hourani 1"> Hourani, pg.41</ref> the last Muslims were expelled from Spain by [[1614]]. [[Sicily]] and parts of [[History of Islam in southern Italy|southern Italy]] was also ruled by [[Arabs]] from the 9th to the 11th century. |
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Al-Andalus, reaching at times up until the north of the Iberian peninsula, has been estimated to have been Muslim in majority from the 10th century.<ref name="Hourani 2"> Hourani, pg.42</ref> |
Al-Andalus, reaching at times up until the north of the Iberian peninsula, has been estimated to have been Muslim in majority from the 10th century.<ref name="Hourani 2"> Hourani, pg.42</ref> |
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Revision as of 13:25, 23 January 2007
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Islam in Europe Historically
The recorded history of Islam in Europe begins with the al-Andalus territories in the Iberian peninsula, which included what is now Spain and Portugal, established in 710 and enduring until 1492;[1] the last Muslims were expelled from Spain by 1614. Sicily and parts of southern Italy was also ruled by Arabs from the 9th to the 11th century.
Al-Andalus, reaching at times up until the north of the Iberian peninsula, has been estimated to have been Muslim in majority from the 10th century.[2]
Sicily and Constantinople were already attacked by Arab Muslims even before the Bulgarians reached the Balkans, and during the early Arab siege of Constantinople a first Muslim community already existed[citation needed] inside Europe´s center of Orthodoxy and today biggest city before the Balkan Slavs became orthodox Christians or before the Magyars settled in Hungary. Spain and the southern parts of France became islamic even before the first French state was established as a result of the Frankish partions.
The first Italian islands were conquered by Muslims before the Papal state in Rome was created, and a few nations in today´s Russian Caucasus became Muslims (as well as a part of the Chazars) before the first Russian state (Rus) was founded and before any Slavic nation became christianized at all[citation needed].
Later, Arab Muslims temporarily seized today´s Switzerland[citation needed] at the same time that Slavs in Eastern Germany still resisted Christianization, and the first Muslims settled in Romania even before the Romanian principalities were mentioned at all[citation needed]. In the east, the Golden Horde began its conquest of present day Russia and Ukraine in the 13th century and the Ottoman Empire conquest of European part of Byzantium in the 14th century to complete it in 1453, establishing the Islamic religion there. More than the half[citation needed] of all Russia (European part) and Ukraine, today Europe´s two biggest states, were once under suzeranity of Muslim Tatars and Turks.
Islam in Europe Today
Muslim Populations in Europe
Today, the only majority-Muslim regions in Europe are Albania, Kosovo, Turkey within Europe and a few Russian Republics in Northern Caucasus and the Volga region. Islam is also the second largest religion of Bosnia and Herzegovina, after Christianity, but is often considered the largest (relative majority), because it is larger than Roman Catholic and Serbian Orthodox churches separately. The Muslim-dominated Sandžak of Novi Pazar is divided between Serbia and Montenegro.
Some other eastern European countries have substantial Muslim minorities (notably Russia, Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia) with roots dating back several hundred years ago, while many western European countries have significant and growing recent Muslim immigrant populations (especially Germany, France, United Kingdom, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden). Islam in East Europe is in recent years, after the fall of Communism, witnessing a revival[citation needed].
Relations between Muslims and non-Muslims in Europe
In some cases, relations between Europeans and Muslims are tense today, causing growing racism on both sides, as well as xenophobia. During the half-century before World War II, religious persecution in Europe was chiefly Anti-Semitic. After the Holocaust and the exodus of Jews from Europe, some believe that these attitudes were replaced by anti-Islam tendencies[citation needed]. However, this analysis is disputed. [citation needed]
Some observers, for example Heiko Henkel, believe that tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims in Europe are deliberately inflated to serve diverse political agendas. The critique of "Islamic fundamentalism", as it is often termed, "has emerged as a banner under which the most diverse sectors of society can unite in the name of ‘European values’: feminists and Christian conservatives, social democrats and neoliberals, nationalists and multiculturalists, civil rights activists and consumption-oriented hedonists."[3] As such it is a useful political tool for different political actors.
Some Muslim thinkers believe Islam should develop a specific form in Western Europe in order to better fit into European society and culture. The most prominent proponent of cultural adaptation and integration is Tariq Ramadan author of To be a European Muslim. The question of integration of Muslim minority is also intensively discussed by non-Muslim thinkers.
See also
- Islam by country
- Religion in Europe
- Christianity in Europe
- Tariq Ramadan
- Muslims in Western Europe
- Western Muslims
Further Reading
- Hourani, Albert, A History of the Arab Peoples, Faber & Faber, 2002, ISBN 0-571-21591-2
- Köchler, Hans, Muslim-Christian Ties in Europe: Past, Present and Future, 2004, Islam Online
References
- ^ Hourani, pg.41
- ^ Hourani, pg.42
- ^ Henkel, Heiko. "‘The journalists of Jyllands-Posten are a bunch of reactionary provocateurs’ The Danish cartoon controversy and the self-image of Europe" Radical Phillosophy. May/June 2006. http://www.radicalphilosophy.com/default.asp?channel_id=2187&editorial_id=21398
External links
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