Islam in France is a minority faith. Muslims are estimated to represent around 4% of the nation's population as per Statista and Le Monde, although Insee claims that in metropolitan France this percentage can reach 10%. After conquering much of the Iberian peninsula, the Umayyad Muslim forces invaded modern day southern France, but were defeated by the Frankish Christian army led by Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours in 732 AD, thus preventing the possible Islamisation of Western Europe. During a later incursion, Muslims established the fortress Fraxinetum. France's Muslim population grew starting in the second half of the 20th century, following immigration from former French colonies and protectorates in Africa and the Middle East.
Grand Mosque, Paris.
Barbarossa's fleet in Toulon, 1543
Funeral in Muslim section of Père Lachaise Cemetery, 1865
Muslim section of Père Lachaise, between 1903 and 1914
The Arabs, also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world.
The Namara inscription is an Arabic epitaph in Nabataean script of Imru' al-Qais, son of "Amr, king of all the Arabs". Basalt, found at Nimreh in the Hauran (Southern Syria), dated 7 December 328 CE.
A depiction of Hagar and her son Ishmael in the desert (1819) by François-Joseph Navez
Al-Khazneh in Petra, capital of the Nabataean Kingdom, built as a mausoleum to Nabataean King Aretas IV in the first century AD
Receipt for garments sent by boat to Dilmun in the 1st year of Ibbi-Sin's rule, circa 2028 BCE.
