Islam in Hungary
The Islamic community in Hungary numbers slightly more than 60,000 Muslims, and they constitute about 0.6% of the population. The Muslims have a long history in Hungary, with especiall focus on Ottoman Hungary.
History
Islam in Hungary pre-dates Ottoman Empire. Islam was first brought to Hungary by the Böszörmény ethnic group. These were parts of the Turkish Folk of Chevalison and of the Volga Bulgarians who had emigrated during the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th centuries and formed an important political, military, financial and commercial factor. The first Islamic author to speak of this Muslim community was Yaqut al-Hamawi (575-626/1179-1229)." [1]
Yaqut writes in his famous geographical dictionary, "Mu'ajam al-Buldan," [2] about his meeting with Ismaili youth in Syria who were studying Islam there and brought some details of the history and life of their people in Hungary.
In 16th century, during the time of Ottoman occupation of Hungary, numerous Muslim personalities were born in Hungary. Among them, most important were the Ottoman Grand Vizier came from Hungary, Kanijeli Siyavuş Pasha (from Nagykanizsa) who occupied the function three times between 1582 and 1593, and the famous Mevlevian dervish Pecsevi Árifi Ahmed Dede, a Turk native of Pécs.
In 19th century, after the collapse of the revolution 1849, more than 6.000 emigrated Poles and Hungarians followed General Josef Bem in Turkish exile and converted to Islam, for example the Hungarian officers Richard Guyon (Kurshid Pasha), György Kmety (Ismail Pasha) and Maximilian Stein (Ferhad Pasha) who became Turkish generals.
References
See also
External links
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