1.
Islam in Europe
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Islam first gained a foothold in continental Europe in 711 with the Umayyad invasion of Hispania. They advanced into France but in 732, were defeated by the Franks at the Battle of Tours, over the centuries the Umayyads were gradually driven south and in 1492 the Moorish Emirate of Granada surrendered to Ferdinand V and Isabella. Islam entered Eastern Europe in what are now parts of Russia and Bulgaria in the 7th and 13th century, following the Muslim conquest of Persia, Islam for the first time penetrated into regions that would later become part of Russia. The Ottoman Empire expanded into Europe taking huge portions of the Byzantine Empire in the 14th and 15th centuries, over the centuries, the Ottoman Empire also gradually lost almost all of its European territories, until the empire collapsed in 1922. However, parts of the Balkans continue to have populations of native. Transcontinental countries, such as Turkey, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have large Muslim populations and this is also the case in a number of regions within the Russian Federation such as the Northern Caucasus, Crimea, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and the Astrakhan Oblast. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries substantial numbers of non-native Muslims immigrated to Western Europe, by 2010 an estimated 44 million Muslims were living in Europe, including an estimated 19 million in the EU. They are projected to comprise 8% by 2030 and they are often the subject of intense discussion and political campaigns. Such events have also fueled growing debate on Islamophobia, attitudes toward Muslims, Muslim forays into Europe began shortly after the religions inception, with a short lived invasion of Byzantine Sicily by a small Arab and Berber force that landed in 652. Islam gained its first genuine foothold in continental Europe from 711 onward, al-Andalus has been estimated to have had a Muslim majority by the 10th century after most of the local population converted to Islam. This coincided with the La Convivencia period of the Iberian Peninsula as well as the Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain, pelayo of Asturias began the Christian counter-offensive known as the Reconquista after the Battle of Covadonga in 722. Slowly, the Christian forces began a conquest of the taifa kingdoms of al-Andalus. By 1236, practically all that remained of Muslim Spain was the province of Granada. In the 8th century, Muslim forces pushed beyond Spain into Aquitaine, in southern France, in 725 Muslim forces captured Autun in France. From 719 to 759, Septimania was one of the five 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 century. At the same time, Muslim forces managed to capture Sicily and portions of southern Italy, Sicily was gradually conquered by the Arabs 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, the Christians belonged to the Eastern Rite
2.
Islam in Armenia
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Islam began to make inroads into the Armenian Plateau during the seventh century. Arab, and later Kurdish, tribes began to settle in Armenia following the first Arab invasions, with the Seljuk invasions of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Turkic element eventually superseded that of the Arab and Kurdish. Many Armenians were also forced to convert to Islam, on the penalty of death, the Muslim Arabs first invaded Armenia in 639, under the leadership of Abd ar-Rahman ibn Rabiah,18,000 Arabs penetrated the district of Taron and the region of the Lake of Van. Prince Theodoros Rshtuni led the Armenian defense, in about 652, a peace agreement was made, allowing Armenians freedom of religion. Prince Theodoros traveled to Damascus, where he was recognized by the Arabs as the ruler of Armenia, Georgia, by the end of the seventh century, the Caliphates policy toward Armenia and the Christian faith hardened. Special representatives of the Caliph called ostikans were sent to govern Armenia, the governors made the city of Dvin their residence. Although Armenia was declared the domain of the Caliph, almost all Armenians, although not all, the Muslim element in Armenia grew progressively stronger during the medieval period. The Ottoman Empire ruled in accordance to Islamic law, as such, the People of the Book had to pay a tax to fulfill their status as dhimmi and in return were guaranteed religious autonomy. While the Armenians of Constantinople benefitted from the Sultans support and grew to be a prospering community, during times of crisis the ones in the remote regions of mountainous Western Armenia were mistreated by local Kurdish chiefs and feudal lords. They often also had to suffer raids by nomadic Kurdish tribes, Armenians, like the other Ottoman Christians, had to transfer some of their healthy male children to the Sultans government due to the devşirme policies in place. The boys were converted to Islam and educated to be warriors in times of war, the Persians Safavids, established definite control over Armenia and far beyond since the time of Shah Ismail I in the early 16th century. Many Armenians joined the Safavid functions, in the civil administration, especially amongst these elite soldier units, the ghulams, many of them were converted Armenians, alongside the masses of Circassians and Georgians. His successors continued to do more of these deportations and replacements with Turcomans, by the time the Persians had to cede their centuries long suzerainty over Armenia, the majority of the population in what is now Armenia were Muslims. With the historical provinces being subsumed within the borders of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, since Armenia gained its independence in 1991, the majority of Muslims still living in the country are temporary residents from Iran and other countries. In 2009, the Pew Research Center estimated that less than 0. 1% of the population, in the territory of the modern Armenian republic, only a single mosque, that of the Blue Mosque, has survived to the present-day. The first printed version of the Quran translated into the Armenian language from Arabic appeared in 1910, in 1912 a translation from a French version was published. Both were in the Western Armenian dialect, a new translation of the Quran in the Eastern Armenian dialect was started with the help of the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran located in Yerevan. The translation was done by Edward Hakhverdyan from Persian in three years, a group of Arabologists have been helping with the translation
3.
Islam in Belarus
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Islam in Belarus has a long history. It was introduced into the lands which now constitute Belarus by Lipka Tatars in the 14th -16th centuries, today, there are 45,000 Muslims in Belarus representing 0. 5% of the total population. In 1994, the First All-Belarusian Congress of Muslims was held, as a result, the Muslim Religious Community of the Republic of Belarus was founded. Ever since it has been headed by Dr. Ismail Aleksandrovich, in 1997 there were 23 communities including 19 of those in the Western regions of Belarus. Belarus is the country in Europe to have jailed a newspaper editor for publishing the Danish cartoons of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. On January 18,2008, Alexander Sdvizhkov was jailed for three years for incitement of religious hatred, today there are mosques in Smilovichi, Ivye, Slonim, and Novogrudok in the Grodno region, in Kletsk in the Minsk region, and in Vidzy in the Vitebsk region. From 1900 to 1902 a mosque was constructed in Minsk, sixty years later it was destroyed by the Communists. On November 11,2016 a replica of the mosque was opened in Minsk, Religion in Belarus Freedom of religion in Belarus Belarusian Cathedral Mosque site Islamic Religion & Culture in Belarus
4.
Islam in the Czech Republic
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According to the 2010 census, there are around 3500 Muslims in the Czech Republic, compared to 495 in 1991. First documented visit of a person with knowledge of Islam was made by Íbrahím ibn Jaqúb and his memoirs were later published to become one of the first accounts about Central Europe in Islamic world. During both sieges of Vienna, reconnaissance groups of Ottoman armies reached Moravia, strong trade links between Austria-Hungary and Ottoman Empire emerged during 19th century. Traditionally, influence of Islam on culture of Czech lands has been small, a law 1912 by the Austro-Hungarian monarchy recognised Islam as a state religion and officially allowed its presence in what is now the Czech Republic. The first community was established in 1934 and disbanded in 1949, an attempt to set up a new community in 1968 failed. In 1991, the Center of Muslim communities was established, in 1998 the first mosque was opened, in Brno and a year later another, in the capital, Prague. Attempts to open mosques in cities have been stopped by local citizens. In 2004 Islam was officially registered in the Czech Republic, the community is eligible to obtain funds from the state. Most of the Muslims are from Bosnia-Herzegovina and former countries of Soviet Union, a significant and influential part are the middle-class people of Egyptian, Syrian and other Middle Eastern ancestries. A few hundred Muslims are Czech converts, president Miloš Zeman is among those who have expressed fear that Islamic terrorism could threaten the Republic. In August 2016, for the first time, a Czech citizen was charged on suspicion of trying to join the forces of the so-called Islamic State, Czech society has also seen discrimination towards Muslims. Miloš Mendel, Jiří Bečka, Islám a české země, Olomouc, ISBN 80-7220-034-8 Miloš Mendel, Bronislav Ostřanský, Tomáš Rataj, Islám v srdci Evropy, Praha, Academia,2008. ISBN 978-80-200-1554-9 Portal of Islam in the Czech Republic History of Islam in the Czech Republic
5.
Islam in Estonia
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Estonia has one of the smallest Muslim communities in Europe. According to the census of 2011, the number of people who profess Islam was 1,508 in Estonia, the number of practicing Muslims is small and, in the absence of a mosque, the Turath Islamic Cultural Center serves as a center of worship. The overwhelming majority of Muslims immigrated to Estonia during the Soviet occupation of Estonia between 1940 and 1991, since 1860, the Tatar community started showing activity, the centre being in the city of Narva. A Muslim congregation was registered there under the independent Republic of Estonia in 1928, a house built for funds received as donations was converted into a mosque in Narva. In 1940, the Soviet authorities banned both congregations, and the buildings of the congregations were destroyed during World War II, there are no mosques in Estonia, in Tallinn an apartment is adapted for prayer purposes. The Muslim community in Estonia is politically moderate and, unusually in the global context, mis on Islam islam. ee Overview of Islam in Estonia Halal food in Estonia
6.
Islam in Finland
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Islam is a minority religion in Finland. The first Muslims were Tatars who immigrated mainly between 1870 and 1920, after that there were decades with generally a small number of immigration in Finland. Since the late 20th century the number of Muslims in Finland has increased due to immigration. Nowadays, there are dozens of Islamic communities in Finland, there are about 50, 000–60,000 Muslims in Finland. There is also an indigenous Finnish Muslim community, the Muslim geographer Al-Idrisi accurately mentions Finland in his works, he also noted that the King of Finland has possessions in Norway. Al-Idrisi also mentions the Port of Turku reflecting the Port of Turkus status as a capital city, the Baltic Tatars arrived in Finland as merchants and soldiers at the end of the 19th century. They were later joined by family members. The Finnish Islamic Association was founded in 1925, in practice, this society only accepts people from Tatar origin, or Turkic origin in general, as members, excluding non-Turkic speaking Muslims. The Finnish Tatarss Islamic congregations have a total of about 1,000 members these days, the number of immigrants, and Muslims as well, in Finland rose dramatically in the early 1990s. Soon new immigrants established their own mosques and societies, in 1996 these groups came together to form a cooperative organ - the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Finland. It is estimated that approximately 1,000 Finns have converted to Islam, the vast majority of these are women who have married Muslim men. There are dozens of independent Islamic societies in Finland, the oldest one is Finnish Islamic Association which was established in 1925. It has about 700 members of all are Tatars. The society has mosques in Helsinki, Tampere and Lahti, the only building established only as mosque in Finland is Järvenpää mosque. The Islamic Society of Finland was established in 1987 and its members are mainly Arabs, but also Finnish converts. The society has a mosque and Koran school in Helsinki, the Helsinki Islamic Center is currently the biggest society with almost 2,000 members. Furthermore, there are a dozen other Islamic societies in Helsinki region, most of mosques are multilingual, but the most commonly used languages are usually English and Finnish. Religious services are held in Arabic, numbers are based on the Statistics Finland
7.
Islam in Hungary
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Islam in Hungary has a long history that dates back to at least the 10th century. The influence of Sunni Islam was especially pronounced in the 16th century during the Ottoman period in Hungary, in the old form of the Hungarian language, Muslims were called Böszörmény, a term preserved as both a family name, and as that of the town Hajdúböszörmény. The Spaniard Muslim traveler Abu Hamid al Garnati wrote of two types of Muslims in Hungary, the first being the Böszörmény of the Carpathian Basin, in the 11th century, St. Ladislaus and later Coloman passed laws against the non-Christians. These laws subdued Islam by coercing Muslims to eat pork, go to Church and intermarry, §47 We command all Ismaelite villages to build a church and finance it. After the church is built the village should move and settle elsewhere in order to become similar to us in living together and also in Christ. The Turks entered Hungary after the Battle of Mohács in 1526, from 1541 they started to control the central part directly and organized five vilayets, Buda, Kanije, Eğri, Várad and Temesvár. In the 16th century, during the Ottoman rule, numerous Muslim personalities were born in Hungary, most Islamic studies in Hungary were taught at the Hanafi madhhab or school of Sunni Islam. In the 19th century, after the collapse of the revolution of 1848-9, more than 6,000 emigrated Poles, among them were such Hungarian officers such as Richard Guyon, György Kmety and Maximilian Stein. These personalities were afterwards raised to the post of General, the council of Újbuda has given permission for Muslim community in Hungary, to build the first Islamic centre in Budapest. The new Islamic centre will hold a library containing 50,000 volumes, in 2013 Hungarian Islamic Council requested for the Grand Mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina Husein Kavazović to also become Grand Mufti of Hungary. Hungarys new Law on the Right to Freedom of Conscience and Religion, Islam is not included in this list and Muslims have to apply to get official recognition under the new law. On 27 February 2012, Hungarys parliament amended the countrys law on religious organizations to expand the list of officially recognized the Hungarian Islamic Council. According to the 2011 Hungarian census, there were 5,579 Muslims in Hungary, of these,4,097 declared themselves as Hungarian, while 2,369 as Arab by ethnicity. In Hungary people can more than one ethnicity, so some people declared Hungarian. According to the Magyarországi Muszlimok Egyháza there are c.32,000 Muslims in Hungary, Islam History in Hungary History of Islam in Hungary
8.
Islam in Iceland
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The Nordic country of Iceland has 875 people registered with the official Muslim organisations in the country. This corresponds to 0. 27% of the population of Iceland, the earliest mention of Iceland in Muslim sources originates in the works of Muhammad al-Idrisi in his famous Tabula Rogeriana, which mentions Icelands location in the North Sea. From around the thirteenth century, a fantastical version of the Islamic world is prominent in medieval Icelandic romance. This event is known in Icelandic history as the Tyrkjaránið, an estimated 400-800 Icelanders were sold into slavery. Islam started to gain presence in Icelandic culture around the 1970s, partly through immigration from the Islamic world, some of the immigrants simply came of their own accord, others came as refugees, including groups from Kosovo. The Koran was first translated into Icelandic in 1993, with an edition in 2003. Salmann Tamimi estimates that when he came to Iceland in 1971 there were perhaps seven Muslims living there, as of 2013, however, Muslim Association of Iceland has 465 members. The Islamic Cultural Centre of Iceland has 305 members, the first generation of Muslims born in Iceland probably began with people like Salmanns own children, such as Yousef Ingi Tamimi. Icelands Muslim population is of diverse origins, including people born in the Arab world, Albania, Africa, the Muslim Association of Iceland was founded in 1997 by Salmann Tamimi, a Palestinian immigrant, it was officially recognised on February 25. Since 2010 the chair has been Ibrahim Sverrir Agnarsson, as of 2014, the association has 465 members. More than half were born in Iceland, perhaps 40-50 were born to non-Muslim parents, the Muslim Association of Iceland currently runs the Reykjavík Mosque, a Sunni mosque on the third floor of an office building in Ármúli 38, Reykjavík. It has two imams and offers daily and nightly prayers attended by a mix of local Icelanders and visiting Muslims and it also offers weekly Friday prayers for Jumuah. In 2000 the Muslim Association applied to purpose-build a mosque in Reykjavík, after a long process, prayers are said in Arabic, but English and Icelandic are also widely used due to the diverse nature of the congregation. The Association regularly runs courses in both Arabic and Icelandic, the Islamic Culture Centre of Iceland was founded in 2008 by Karim Askari, originally from Morocco, and as of 2014 has 305 members. The Centre hired Ahmad Seddeeq, originally from Egypt, as Imam in 2011, the Islamic Cultural Centre of Iceland runs a mosque in Ýmishúsið on Skógarhlíð in Reykjavík. Many public expressions of Islamophobia have in the decade of the twenty-first century been focused on opposition to the creation of a purpose-built Reykjavík mosque. Óttar M. Norðfjörðs 2010 novel Örvitinn eða, Hugsjónamaðurinn satirises Islamophobic attitudes, many Icelandic Muslims prefer not to join a formal organisation, considering their relationship with God a personal one. In 2011 the Muslims of Iceland attracted the interest of Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera was interested in how Ramadan is honored in the higher latitudes where the night can be of unusual length when compared to the majority-Muslim lands
9.
Islam in Latvia
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The presence of Muslims in Latvia was first recorded in the early 19th century. The Muslims had mainly Tatar and Turkic backgrounds, and most had been brought to Latvia against their will and these included Turkish prisoners of war from the Crimean War and the Russo-Turkish War of 1877. The total Muslim population in Latvia is estimated at about 2,000 by Pew Forum, virtually all Muslims in Latvia are Sunni. There is also a presence of Ahmadi Muslims. In 1902, a Muslim congregation was established and recognized by the government. The community elected Ibrahim Davidof as its leader and a hall was inaugurated. The majority of Muslims residing in Latvia in the part of the 20th century were conscripted in the Russian army. After release from service, most would leave for Moscow, during the creation of the Soviet Union and amid civil war, many refugees entered Latvia, including Muslims of various ethnicities. They were however known to Latvians as Turks, in 1928, Husnetdinov, a Turkic priest, was elected leader of Riga Muslim community. He held that post until 1940
10.
Islam in Lithuania
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Islam in Lithuania, unlike many other northern and western European countries, has a long history. The medieval Grand Duchy of Lithuania of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, stretching from Baltic to Black seas, a few Muslims migrated to ethnically Lithuanian lands, now the current Republic of Lithuania, mainly under rule of Grand Duke Vytautas. The Tatars, now referred to as Lithuanian Tatars, lost their language over time and now speak Lithuanian, however, in Lithuania, unlike many other European societies at the time, there was religious freedom. Lithuanian Tatars settled in places, such as around Raižiai. Much of the Lithuanian Tatar culture, mosques, graveyards and such were destroyed by the Soviet Union after it annexed Lithuania, after restoration of Lithuanian independence however the government supported the promotion of Lithuanian Tatar culture among those Lithuanian tatars who lost it. That mosque is called Vytautas Didysis Mosque after the Grand Duke Vytautas, in the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, however, no mosque remains, as Russians destroyed the Lukiškės Mosque which was there. The Lithuanian Tatar community is trying to rebuild the mosque, but faces various problems, currently, only several thousand Lithuanian Tatars remain, making up an estimated 0. 1% of the countrys population. However, with the restoration of Lithuanian independence, they are experiencing a kind of revival with evidence to suggest there are several hundred non-Tartar converts to Islam. Halal meat in the remains difficult to obtain, with more observant Muslims slaughtering animals themselves
11.
Islam in Malta
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Today, the main organizations represented in Malta are the Libyan World Islamic Call Society and the minority Ahmadiyya. Prior to Muslim rule, Eastern Christianity had been prominent in Malta during the time of Greek-Byzantine rule, the thesis of a Christian continuity in Malta during Arab rule, despite popular, is historically unfounded. However, it has also argued that the islands were occupied by Muslims earlier in the 9th. The Aghlabids established their capital in Mdina, the old Roman fortification, later to become Fort St Angelo, was also extended. As recognised by the acclaimed Maltese historial Godfrey Wettinger, the Arab conquest broke any continuity with previous population of the island, Malta returned to Christian rule with the Norman conquest in 1127. It was, with Noto on the tip of Sicily. The Arab administration was kept in place and Muslims were allowed to practise their religion freely until the 13th century. The Normans allowed an emir to remain in power with the understanding that he would pay a tribute to them in mules, horses. As a result of favourable environment, Muslims continued to demographically and economically dominate Malta for at least another 150 years after the Christian conquest. In 1122 Malta experienced a Muslim uprising and in 1127 Roger II of Sicily reconquered the islands. In 1224, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, sent an expedition against Malta to establish royal control, the conquest of the Normans would lead to the gradual Latinization and subsequent firm establishment of Roman Catholicism in Malta, after previous respective Eastern Orthodox and Islamic domination. In 1266, Malta was turned over in fiefdom to Charles of Anjou, brother of France’s King Louis IX, eventually, during Charless rule religious coexistence became precarious in Malta, since he had a genuine intolerance of religions other than Roman Catholicism. However, Maltas links with Africa would still remain strong until the beginning of Spanish rule in 1283, by the end of the 15th century all Maltese Muslims would be forced to convert to Christianity and had to find ways to disguise their previous identities. Wettinger goes on to say there is no doubt that by the beginning of Angevin times no professed Muslim Maltese remained either as free persons or even as serfs on the island. During the period of rule under the Knights Hospitaller, thousands of Muslim slaves, in the mid-18th century, there were around 9000 Muslim slaves in Hospitaller-ruled Malta. They were given an amount of freedom, being allowed to gather for prayers. Although there were laws preventing them from interacting with the Maltese people, some slaves also worked as merchants, and at times were allowed to sell their wares in the streets and squares of Valletta. A mosque was built in 1702 during the Order of St John for Turkish slaves within a building of which neither ruins nor description of its architecture now remain
12.
Islam in Moldova
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There is a small community of Muslims in Moldova, numbering several thousand. In March 2011, the Islamic League of Moldova, an NGO representing Moldovas Muslims, was registered by the Moldovan Justice Ministry as the first legally recognized Muslim association in Moldova and it had applied for registration in 2008. The Moldovan Orthodox Church opposed the recognition of Islam and joined protests with conservative groups, as of 2011, officially there were just 2,000 Muslims in Moldova. But the Islamic League of Moldova head Sergiu Sochirca said the number was closer to 17,000, briefing, Moldova’s Unofficial Muslims Moldova, Muslims Vow To Defy Illegal Worship Ban Report on the Implementation of the Minorities Rights in Moldova
13.
Monaco
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Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a sovereign city-state and microstate, located on the French Riviera in Western Europe. France borders the country on three sides while the other side borders the Mediterranean Sea, Monaco has an area of 2.02 km2 and a population of about 38,400 according to the last census of 2015. With 19,009 inhabitants per km², it is the second smallest, Monaco has a land border of 5.47 km, a coastline of 3.83 km, and a width that varies between 1,700 and 349 m. The highest point in the country is a pathway named Chemin des Révoires on the slopes of Mont Agel, in the Les Révoires Ward. Monacos most populous Quartier is Monte Carlo and the most populous Ward is Larvotto/Bas Moulins, through land reclamation, Monacos land mass has expanded by twenty percent, in 2005, it had an area of only 1.974 km2. Monaco is known as a playground for the rich and famous, in 2014, it was noted about 30% of the population was made up of millionaires, more than in Zürich or Geneva. Monaco is a principality governed under a form of constitutional monarchy, although Prince Albert II is a constitutional monarch, he wields immense political power. The House of Grimaldi have ruled Monaco, with brief interruptions, the official language is French, but Monégasque, Italian, and English are widely spoken and understood. The states sovereignty was recognized by the Franco-Monegasque Treaty of 1861. Despite Monacos independence and separate foreign policy, its defense is the responsibility of France, however, Monaco does maintain two small military units. Economic development was spurred in the late 19th century with the opening of the countrys first casino, Monte Carlo, since then, Monacos mild climate, scenery, and gambling facilities have contributed to the principalitys status as a tourist destination and recreation center for the rich. In more recent years, Monaco has become a major banking center and has sought to diversify its economy into services and small, high-value-added, the state has no income tax, low business taxes, and is well known for being a tax haven. It is also the host of the street circuit motor race Monaco Grand Prix. Monaco is not formally a part of the European Union, but it participates in certain EU policies, including customs, through its relationship with France, Monaco uses the euro as its sole currency. Monaco joined the Council of Europe in 2004 and it is a member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie. Monacos name comes from the nearby 6th-century BC Phocaean Greek colony, according to an ancient myth, Hercules passed through the Monaco area and turned away the previous gods. As a result, a temple was constructed there, the temple of Hercules Monoikos, because the only temple of this area was the House of Hercules, the city was called Monoikos. It ended up in the hands of the Holy Roman Empire, an ousted branch of a Genoese family, the Grimaldi, contested it for a hundred years before actually gaining control
14.
Islam in Poland
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A continuous presence of Islam in Poland began in the 14th century. From this time it was associated with the Tatars, many of whom settled in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth while continuing their traditions. The first significant non-Tatar groups of Muslims arrived in Poland in the 1970s, currently the total number of Muslims in Poland is estimated at around 31,000, most of whom are Sunni. Poland had little prolonged contact with Islam until the 14th century with the advent of the first Tatar settlers, in the 14th century, the first Tatar tribes settled in the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Skilled warriors and great mercenaries, their settlement was promoted by the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, among them Gediminas, Algirdas, the Tatars who settled in Lithuania, Ruthenia and modern-day eastern Poland were allowed to preserve their Sunni religion in exchange for military service. The initial settlements were temporary and most of the Tatars returned to their native lands after their service expired. However, in the late 14th century Grand Duke Vytautas and his brother King Władysław Jagiełło started to settle Tatars in the Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic borderlands, the Lipka Tatars, as they are known, migrated from the lands of the Golden Horde and in large part served in the Polish-Lithuanian military. The largest of groups to arrive to the area was a tribe of Tokhtamysh. The Tatars under his command were all granted szlachta status, a tradition that was preserved until the end of the Commonwealth in the 18th century. In the 16th and 17th centuries, additional Tatars found refuge in the lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, mostly of Nogay, after then until the 1980s, the Muslim faith in Poland was associated primarily with the Tatars. It is estimated that in the 17th century there were approximately 15,000 Tatars in the Commonwealth of a population of 8 million. The most notable military clans were granted with Coats of Arms and szlachta status, while other families melted into the rural. The first Tatar settlements were founded near the towns of the Commonwealth in order to allow for fast mobilization of troops. Apart from religious freedom, the Tatars were allowed to marry Polish and Ruthenian women of Catholic or Orthodox faith, finally, the May Constitution granted the Tatars with a representation in the Polish Sejm. Perhaps the only moment in history when the Lipka Tatars fought against the Commonwealth was during the so-called Lipka Rebellion of 1672, the Deluge and the ensuing period of constant wars made the szlachta of central Poland associate the Muslim Lipkas with the invading forces of the Ottoman Empire. The Polish–Ottoman Wars fed into the atmosphere against them and led to anti-Islamic writings. Although King John Casimir of Poland tried to limit the restrictions on their religious freedoms and the erosion of their ancient rights and privileges, the gentry opposed. Although the Lipkas initially fought for the victorious Turks, soon their camp was divided onto the supporters of the Turks, all the Tatars were pardoned by Sobieski and most of them took part in his campaign against Turkey resulting in the brilliant victory in the battle of Vienna
15.
Islam in Portugal
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The majority of Muslims in the country are Sunnis, followed by approximately 5,000 to 7,000 Sevener Ismāīlī Shīʻa Muslims. There is also a number of Ahmadiyya Muslims. Most of the Muslim population originates from the former Portuguese overseas provinces of Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique, from 711 to 1249, much of the territory of what is now Portugal was under Muslim control, and was called Al-Garb Al-Andalus. This presence has some cultural heritage in Portugal, such as Islamic art. The town of Mértola, in the Alentejo, possesses the only remains of a mosque
16.
Islam in Romania
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In present-day Romania, most adherents to Islam belong to the Tatar and Turkish ethnic communities and follow the Sunni doctrine. The Islamic religion is one of the 16 rites awarded state recognition, according to tradition, Islam was first established locally around Sufi leader Sari Saltik during the Byzantine epoch. The Islamic presence in Northern Dobruja was expanded by Ottoman overseeing and successive immigration, in Wallachia and Moldavia, the two Danubian Principalities, the era of Ottoman suzerainty was not accompanied by a growth in the number of Muslims, whose presence there was always marginal. Also linked to the Ottoman Empire, groups of Islamic colonists in other parts of present-day Romania were relocated by the Habsburg expansion or by other political changes. After Northern Dobruja became part of Romania following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 and this changed during the communist regime, when Romanian Muslims were subject to a measure of supervision by the state, but the group again emancipated itself after the Romanian Revolution of 1989. Its interests are represented by the Muftiyat, which was created as the reunion of two such institutions. According to the 2011 census,64,337 people, approx,0. 3% of the total population, indicated that their religion was Islam. The vast majority of Romanias believers in Islam are Sunnis who adhere to the Hanafi school, ethnically, they are mostly Tatars, followed by Turks, as well as Muslim Roma, Albanians, and groups of Middle Eastern immigrants. Members of the Muslim community inside the Roma minority are known as Turkish Romani. Traditionally, they are less religious than people belonging to other Islamic communities, ninety-seven percent of the Romanian Muslims are residents of the two counties forming Northern Dobruja, eighty-five percent live in Constanța County, and twelve percent in Tulcea County. The rest mainly inhabit urban centers such as Bucharest, Brăila, Călărași, Galați, Giurgiu, in all, Romania has as many as eighty mosques, or, according to records kept by the Romanian Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, seventy-seven. The city of Constanța, with its Carol I Mosque and the location of the Muftiyat, is the center of Romanian Islam, Mangalia, near Constanța, is the site of a monumental mosque, there are also 108 Islamic cemeteries in Romania. The nationwide Islamic community is divided into 50 local groups of Muslims. Members provide funding for the institution, which is supplemented by state donations and subsidies. The Muslim clergy in Romania includes imams, imam-hatips, and muezzins, as of 2008, the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs recognizes 35 imams. The Constanța Mufti, who is the main representative, is elected by a secret ballot from among the imams. He is assisted by a body, the Sura Islam. The current Mufti is Murat Iusuf, the first significant numbers of Muslims arrived in Romania with the Pechenegs and Cumans
17.
Religion in San Marino
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San Marino is a small landlocked country with an area of about 61.2 km2 on a rocky promontory at an elevation of 657 meters in central Italy. It is the third smallest country after Vatican and Monaco and it was founded as a Republic in 600 AD and recognized by the Papacy in 1631, and became a member of the United Nations in 1992. As of 2009, it had a population of 31,500, the ethnic composition is about 84. 95% Sammarinese,14. 6% Italians and others. The country does not provide exact statistics of the affiliations of its people. However, it is inferred that at least 95% of the people are Roman Catholics, as in Italy, there are other small groups, including Jehovahs Witnesses, Baháís, Muslims, and Waldensians. San Marinos schools are all public and financial support is provided by the State, the oath of loyalty as prescribed in 1903 demanded that it is to be sworn on the Holy Gospel. Those rules were changed in 1993 to give Parliamentarians the choice to replace the phrase of Holy Gospel to on my honor and this legal formulation has been upheld by the European Court of Human Rights. The traditional formulation is still mandatory for other offices like that of the Captain regent and government minister, San Marino is a predominantly Catholic state, over 97% of the population profess the Catholic faith, but it is not the established religion. Approximately half of those who profess to be Catholic practice the faith, there is no Episcopal see in San Marino. Historically, the parishes in San Marino were divided between two Italian dioceses, mostly in the Diocese of Montefeltro, and partly in the Diocese of Rimini. In 1977, the border between Montefeltro and Rimini was readjusted so that all of San Marino fell within the diocese of Montefeltro, the bishop of San Marino-Montefeltro resides in Pennabilli, in Italy. However, there is a provision under the Income tax rules that the tax payers have the right to request the allocation of 0. 3% of their tax to the Catholic Church or to other charities. The Churches include the two groups of the Waldensians and Jehovahs Witnesses. The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Marino-Montefeltro was until 1977 the historic diocese of Montefeltro and it is a suffragan of the archdiocese of Ravenna-Cervia. The current diocese includes all the parishes of San Marino, the earliest mention of Montefeltro, as Mona Feretri, is in the diplomas by which Charlemagne confirmed the donation of Pepin. The first known bishop of Montefeltro was Agatho, whose residence was at San Leo, under Bishop Flaminios Dondi the see was again transferred to San Leo, but later it returned to Pennabilli. The historic diocese was a suffragan of the archdiocese of Urbino, there are also several convents and monasteries such as the San Francesco convent of Friars, Convent of the Friars Minor Capuchin, Monastery Santa Maria dei Servi, and Monastery Santa Chiara. It is dedicated to the patron of the city and the state of San Marino, the church is built in the neoclassical style, and has a porch of eight Corinthian columns
18.
Islam in Slovakia
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In 2010, there were an estimated 5,000 Muslims in Slovakia representing less than 0. 1% of the countrys population. Turks also had a suzerainty over the Principality of Upper Hungary, later on the Turks seized some further territories in southern central Slovakia and pillaged in territories up to Nitra. Finally, however, when the Turks lost the Battle of Vienna, most of the Muslims in Slovakia are refugees from former Yugoslavia or workers from modern Turkey, beside them a few Arab students. Most of the Muslims live in the capital Bratislava, smaller communities also exist in Košice, Slovakia is the last member state of the European Union without a mosque. In 2000, a dispute erupted about the building of an Islamic centre in Bratislava, in 2015, amidst the European migrant crisis, Slovakia agreed to admit 200 Christian asylum seekers, but refused to accept Muslims under an EU scheme to share migrants between member states. Slovak Ministry of Interior Affairs explained this decision by the absence of Muslim places of worship in Slovakia which will allegedly complicate the refugees integration in Slovak society, the decision was criticised by the EU which doubted its legality and expressed concern for its discriminatory nature. On 30 November 2016, Slovakia passed legislation to effectively block Islam from gaining official status as a religion in the country, Muslims in Slovakia work for positive integration Protestants and Muslims without legal status
19.
Islam in Croatia
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Islam is the second-largest faith in Croatia after Christianity. Islam was first imposed on Croatia by the Ottoman Empire during the Croatian–Ottoman Wars that lasted from 15th to 19th century. During this period some parts of the Croatian Kingdom were occupied which resulted in numerous Croats converting to Islam, some after being taken prisoners of war, in 1519, Croatia was called the Antemurale Christianitatis by Pope Leo X. The Islamic Community of Croatia is the organization of Muslims in Croatia that is officially recognized by the state. The President of the Islamic Community is Aziz Effendi Hasanović, as of 2011,62,977 Muslims live in Croatia. Most of them declare themselves as Bosniaks while others declare themselves as, Croats, Albanians, Roma, Turks, Macedonians, Montenegrins, the first mosque in Croatia was built in Gunja in 1969. Today there are 3 mosques including two Islamic centers, the Turkish Ottoman Empire conquered part of Croatia from the 15th to the 19th century. Numerous Croats converted to Islam, some after being taken prisoners of war, the westernmost border of Ottoman Empire in Europe became entrenched on Croatian soil. In 1519, Croatia was called the Antemurale Christianitatis by Pope Leo X, the historical names of many officials in the Ottoman Empire reveal their origin, Veli Mahmud Pasha, Rüstem Pasha, Piyale Pasha, Memipaša Hrvat, Tahvilpaša Kulenović Hrvat etc. There was some confusion over the terms Croat and Serb in these times. In 1553, Antun Vrančić, Roman cardinal, and Franjo Zay, during the initial ceremonial greetings they had with Rüstem Pasha Hrvat the conversation led in Turkish with an official interpreter was suddenly interrupted. Rustem Pasha Hrvat asked in Croatian if Zay and Vrančić spoke Croatian language, the interpreter was then dismissed and they proceeded in the Croatian language during the entire process of negotiations. Crucially though, the lingua franca at the time among Slavic elites in the Ottoman Empire was still Old Church Slavonic, during the Second World War the mufti of Zagreb was Ismet Muftić. After the war he was tried and eventually hanged by the Partisans in 1945 because of his collaboration with the fascist regime of the Croatian WWII dictator Ante Pavelić. For example, Džemal Bijedić, a communist federal prime-minister was a declared Muslim, based on the figures recorded during the 1931 to 1961 census, it may also be concluded that a certain number of Muslim believers declared themselves as Croats or Yugoslavs. After the dissolution of Yugoslavia, an additional increase can be attributed to the influx of Bosnian Muslims that took place during, the 2001 Croatian census identified a total of 56,777 adherents of Islam, or 1. 3% of the total population of Croatia. During the existence of the Ottoman Empire it had none because Zagreb, as well as most parts of Croatia, the Bosniak imam Ševko Omerbašić, was the long-time leader of the Muslim community of Croatia and the Mufti of Zagreb. A new mosque in Rijeka was opened in May 2013, the Muslim community is also planning to build a mosque in Osijek and Sisak
20.
Islam in the Republic of Ireland
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The documented history of Islam in Ireland dates to the 1950s. The number of Muslims in Ireland has increased since the 1990s, mostly through immigration. The 2011 Irish census found 49,204 Muslims in the Republic of Ireland, constituting 1. 07% of that states population, the earliest mention of Ireland in Muslim sources originates in the works of Al-Idrisi in his famous Tabula Rogeriana mentioned Irlandah-al-Kabirah. On 20 June 1631 a North African pirate ship captained by Jan Janszoon sailed into Roaring Water Bay in West Cork, a crew of slave traders roused the villagers from their beds, slaughtered anyone who resisted, and herded 107 people into the hold of their waiting ship. Men, women and children were taken, even down to babies in the cradle, the villagers were sold into a life of slavery in the Ottoman Empire. In 1845 Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid declared his intention to send £1,000 along with three ships full of food to the Irish people, shipping records relating to the port appear not to have survived. Newspaper reports suggest that ships from Thessaloniki in the Ottoman Empire sailed up the River Boyne in May 1847, a letter in the Ottoman archives of Turkey, written by prominent Irishmen, explicitly thanks the Sultan for his help. The organisational history of Islam in Ireland is complex, not least because of the variety of ethnic backgrounds of Irish Muslims. The first Islamic Society in Ireland was established in 1959 and it was formed by students studying in Ireland and was called the Dublin Islamic Society. At that time there was no mosque in Dublin, the students used their homes and later rented halls for Jumah and Eid prayers. In 1976 the first mosque and Islamic Centre in Ireland was opened in a building at 7 Harrington Street. Among those who contributed to the cost of the Mosque and Islamic Centre was the late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, in 1981 the Ministry of Endowment and Islamic Affairs of Kuwait sponsored a full-time Imam for the Mosque. In 1983, the present building of the Dublin Mosque and Islamic Centre was bought, renovated, in Cork, prayer halls are located in housing estates. Corks Muslim community operates out of an estate, while hoping to raise money to build a new mosque. In 1992, Moosajee Bhamjee became the first Muslim Teachta Dála, according to the 2011 Irish census, there are 49,204 Muslims living in the Republic of Ireland, representing a 51% increase over the figures for the 2006 census. According to the 2006 Irish census, there were 32,539 Muslims living in the Republic of Ireland, in 1991, the number of Muslims was below 4,000. Islam is a minority religion in Ireland, behind Roman Catholicism, the 2006 census recorded the number of Roman Catholics at 3,644,965, with 118,948 Protestants. According to the 2001 census, there are 1,943 Muslims in Northern Ireland, just over 55 per cent of Muslims were either Asian or African nationals with 30.7 per cent having Irish nationality
21.
Islam in Ukraine
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Islam is the fourth-largest religion in Ukraine, representing 0. 6%–0. 9% of the population. The religion has a history in Ukraine dating back to the establishment of the Crimean Khanate in the 15th century. Sunni Islam of the Hanafi school is the largest non-Christian religion in Ukraine, other Turkic peoples indigenous to Ukraine, predominantly found in South and south-east Ukraine, practice other forms of Islam. These include Volga Tatars, Azeris, North Caucasian ethnic groups, in 2012 an estimated 500,000 Muslims lived in Ukraine, including 300,000 Crimean Tatars. In February 2016 Said Ismagilov, the mufti of Ummah, counted one million Muslims in Ukraine, the major Islamic institutions supporting communities are found in Kiev, Crimea, Simferopol and Donetsk. Independent Salafi communities are found in Kiev and Crimea, as well as Shia communities in Kiev, Kharkiv. While ethnic Ukrainians are predominantly Orthodox and Uniate Christians, Muslims have lived in the territory makes up modern Ukraine for centuries. Muslim settlements are concentrated in the southern half, particularly in Crimea. The history of Islam in Ukraine is associated with the Crimean Tatars and they established the Crimean Khanate in southern Ukraine in the 15th century. The Khanate soon lost its sovereignty and fell under the influence of the Ottoman Empire, from the 15th to the 18th centuries, Crimean Tatars frequently raided Eastern Slavic lands to capture their inhabitants, enslaving an estimated three million people, predominantly Ukrainians. The Khanate ended after growing Russian influence led to its annexation into the Russian Empire after the Russo-Turkish Wars in the late 18th century, the Crimean Tatars were Sunnis, and their mufti was regarded as the highest religious figure. Tatar communities were led and represented by local imams, at the time the Khanate was annexed by Russia, its capital of Bakhchysarai had at least 18 mosques along with several madrassas. However, the Russian Empire began persecuting the Muslim population, at the time of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Muslims constituted one-third of Crimeas population. Nearly all major cities in Crimea had significant Muslim populations, Crimean Muslims were subjected to mass deportation in 1944 when Joseph Stalin accused them of collaborating with Nazi Germany. More than 200,000 Crimean Tatars were deported to Central Asia and it is estimated that more than 100,000 deportees died of starvation or disease due to the deportation. The property and territory abandoned by Crimean Tatars was appropriated by the mostly ethnic Russians who were resettled by the Soviet authorities, since the Ukrainian independence in 1991, the return of Crimean Tatars to Crimea has increased compared to the Soviet era. Although Ukraines Muslim population consists of ethnic groups, the majority are of Tatar origin. There has also been a small settlement of Muslim Chechen refugees in Crimea
22.
Islam in Luxembourg
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Muslims in Luxembourg are a super-minority together with, Protestants, Orthodox Christians, and Jews. Since 2015, Islam is legally recognized in the country, according to the NATO report, there are about 4,000 Muslims in Luxembourg. Up until the 1970s, the Muslim population was quite small, in the mid-1970s, the Muslim population counted only 300 people, going up to over 3,000 by the mid-1990s. Since then, the population has doubled due to asylum-seekers from former Yugoslavia and these asylum seekers were never expected to stay more than a few years. Before the 1960s, Muslims were relatively unheard of in Luxembourg, today there are currently six mosques in Luxembourg, Mamer, Esch-sur-Alzette, Wiltz, Diekirch and Luxembourg City. According to the Assembly of the Muslim Community in Luxembourg, it is estimated that about 10.000 to 15.000 Muslims reside in the Grand-Duchy and this means that Islam is now the second religion in Luxembourg, after Catholicism. However, this ranking is just an estimate, and is not corroborated, further, it is unclear if all of these Muslims are citizens or not
23.
Islam in Slovenia
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The Muslims in Slovenia are ethnically mostly Bosniaks and other Slavic Muslims. In 2014, there were 48,266 Muslims in Slovenia, the Muslim community of Slovenia is headed by Nedžad Grabus. 4 during World War I and probably demolished soon after the war, in 2013, works begun to build a mosque in Ljubljana, to be completed in 2016. In September 2013 the foundation stone was laid for a mosque to be 70% funded by Qatar 44 years after the a petition was filed to build a mosque. The mosque will include a cultural centre at a cost of US$16 million to be completed in 2016 with construction commencing in November, there were about 10,000 others in attendance including Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Jankovic and an unnamed government minister from Qatar. Slovenias highest Islamic authority Mufti Nedzad Grabus said, We are happy to be starting this project in Ljubljana, which will thus become a better-known. The ceremony was attended by the Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia. Other attendees were former President of Slovenia Danilo Turk and Mufti of the Islamic Community in Bosnia, the project had faced administrative hurdles and was a political risk in a majority Roman Catholic country. It also faced a possible referendum on the matter in 2004 with 12,000 signatures for it, however and it was also controversial due to the financial crisis afflicting the country. At the ceremony, there was also a sight of women in headscarves
24.
Islam in Spain
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Nevertheless, throughout modern history there has always been a constant presence of Muslims in Spain, many of which were former slaves freed in the early 18th century. Furthermore, Spains proximity to North Africa and its land border with the Kingdom of Morocco made Muslim presence in Spain inevitable. Moroccans did not require a visa to enter Spain until 1985 and this however changed with Spains growing economic development and its entry into the European Union, after which stricter immigration controls were imposed. Immigration to Spain exploded in the 90s, Moroccans of both sexes arriving in numbers and becoming Spains first important economic immigrant community. In the 2000s migrants started arriving in numbers from other Muslim-majority countries. Moroccans are currently Spains oldest and most integrated Muslim immigrant community, a cell of Moroccan terrorists were responsible for the Madrid 2004 bombings, Europes second deadliest terrorist attack in modern history. As of 2016, Spain officially had 1,919,141 Muslims out of a population of 46,438,422 or slightly above 4% of the total population. Out of these 1,115,124, or 58. 7% were immigrants without Spanish citizenship, Spains Muslim community includes 804,017 Spanish citizens and 753,425 Moroccan citizens. Other smaller communities include Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Algerians, Senegalese and Nigerians. A summary of the history of Islam in Spain can be online at Cities of Light, The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain, Part 1. and Cities of Light, The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain. It is frequently stated in historical sources that Spain was one of the former Roman provinces where the Latin language, after the fall of the Empire, the Visigoths continued the tradition by becoming probably the most Romanized of all Teutonic tribes. On April 30,711, Islamic leader Tariq ibn-Ziyad landed at Gibraltar and this campaigns turning point was the battle of Guadalete, where the last Visigothic king, Roderick, was defeated and killed on the battlefield. It is commonly held that the ease that the Arab armies conquered the Iberian Peninsula with was due to the centralized nature of government under the rule of the Visigoths. For example, King Roderick was not considered a ruler by all the inhabitants of the Kingdom. One name frequently mentioned is Count Julian of Ceuta in North Africa, other sources instead consider Count Julian to be the last representative of the Eastern Roman Empire in North Africa. Islamic rule in the Iberian peninsula lasted for varying periods ranging from only 28 years in the extreme northwest to 781 years in the surrounding the city of Granada in the southeast. Moreover, the appearance of Sufism on the Iberian peninsula is especially important because Sufisms greatest shaykh, in time Islamic migrants from places as diverse as North Africa to Yemen and Syria and Iran invaded territories in the Iberian peninsula. The Islamic rulers called the Iberian peninsula Al-Andalus and that was the root for the name of the present-day region of Andalusia, the southernmost region of Spain
25.
Islam in Italy
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Muslim presence in Italy dates back to the 9th century, when Sicily came under control of the Abbasid Caliphate. There was a large Muslim presence in Italy from 827 until the XII century, the Norman conquest of Sicily led to a gradual decline of Islam, due to conversions and emigration of Muslims toward Northern Africa. A small Muslim community however survived at least until 1300, thereafter, until the 20th century, Islam was virtually non-existent in Italy. During the 20th century, the first Somali immigrants from Italian Somaliland began to arrive, in more recent years, there has been migration from Albania, Morocco, Egypt, and Tunisia. Islam is not formally recognised by the state, such recognition does not merely depend on the number of followers of a given religion, and it requires congruence between the proposing religion principles and the Constitution. Official recognition gives an organised religion a chance to benefit from a national religion tax, in 2005, a council composed of Muslim people, the Council for Italian Islam, was founded by the Italian Minister of the Interior. Strong disagreement between Council members slows its work, the Italian island of Pantelleria was conquered by the Arabs in 700. The Arabs had earlier raided Roman Sicily in 652,667 and 720 A. D, according to some sources, the conquest was spurred by Euphemius, a Byzantine commander who feared punishment by Emperor Michael II for a sexual indiscretion. After a short-lived conquest of Syracuse, he was proclaimed emperor but was compelled by forces to flee to the court of Ziyadat Allah in Africa. The latter agreed to conquer Sicily, with the promise to leave it to Euphemius in exchange for a yearly tribute, Palermo fell to them in 831, followed by Messina in 843, Syracuse in 878. In 902 the Ifriqiyan magistrate himself led an army against the island, Reggio Calabria on the mainland fell in 918, and in 964 Rometta, the last remaining Byzantine toehold on Sicily. Under the Muslims, agriculture in Sicily prospered and became export oriented, arts and crafts flourished in the cities. Palermo, the Muslim capital of the island, had 300,000 inhabitants at that time and these conquered people were afforded a limited freedom of religion under the Muslims as dhimmi, but were subject to some restrictions. The dhimmi were also required to pay the jizya, or poll tax, and the kharaj or land tax, the conquered population could avoid this subservient status simply by converting to Islam. Whether by honest religious conviction or societal compulsion large numbers of native Sicilians converted to Islam, however, even after 100 years of Islamic rule, numerous Greek-speaking Christian communities prospered, especially in north-eastern Sicily, as dhimmi. This was largely a result of the Jizya system which allowed co-existence and this co-existence with the conquered population fell apart after the reconquest of Sicily, particularly following the death of King William II of Sicily in 1189. By the mid-11th century, Muslims made up the majority of the population of Sicily, from Sicily, the Muslims launched attacks on the mainland and devastated Calabria. In 835 and again in 837, the Duke of Naples was fighting against the Duke of Benevento, in 840 Taranto and Bari fell to the Muslims, and in 841 Brindisi
26.
Islam in Serbia
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Islam spread to Serbia during the five centuries of Ottoman rule. The Muslims in Serbia are mostly ethnic Bosniaks, Albanians and minor but significant part of Roma people as well as members of the ethnic groups Muslims by nationality. According to 2011 census, there were 228,658 Muslims in Serbia, Bosniaks and Muslims by nationality, mostly living in the Sandžak region, Albanians in south Serbia. Romani, including Serbian-speaking groups from southern Serbia as well as Albanian-speaking groups, in 2012, the reis-ul-ulema Mustafa Cerić of Bosnia published a fatwa against Adem Zilkić, leader of the Islamic Community of Serbia, categorizing his actions as Masjid al-Dirar. The Islamic Community of Serbia, with seat in Belgrade, is administered by reis-ul-ulema Adem Zilkić, Islamic Community in Vojvodina or Muftiship of Novi Sad, with seat in Novi Sad, administered by mufti Fadil Murati. Islamic Community in Preševo Valley or Muftiship of Preševo, with seat in Preševo, Islamic Community in Central Serbia or Muftiship of Belgrade, with seat in Belgrade. Religion in Serbia Islamic community of Serbia Islamic community in Serbia Publishing house of ICinS Faculty of Islamic studies in Novi Pazar
27.
Islam in Austria
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Islam is the second most widely professed religion in Austria, practiced by 7% of the total population according to 2014 estimates and 13. 5% of all newborn in 2014 had muslim mother. The vast majority of Muslims in Austria belong to Sunni denomination, most Muslims came to Austria during the 1960s as migrant workers from Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are also communities of Arab and Afghan origin, most Muslims live in the capital Vienna followed by the westernmost state Vorarlberg. Its industrial small towns and villages have the second highest share of Muslims in the country with 11. 5%, the central states Salzburg, Upper Austria, Tyrol and Lower Austria follow with the share of Muslim population at around the average. The South-eastern states Styria, Carinthia as well as Burgenland in the east have fewer Muslims than the national average, of the 300 Ahmadi Muslims in Austria, about one third reside in Vienna. Austria is unique among Western European countries insofar as it has granted Muslims the status of a religious community. This dates back to the following the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia. Austria has regulated the religious freedoms of the Muslim community with the so-called Anerkennungsgesetz in 1912 and was the first Western European country to do so. This law was of no relevance after the breakdown of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1918 until when the Community of Muslim believers in Austria was founded in 1979 and this organization is entitled to give lessons of religious education in state schools. It is also allowed to collect church tax but so far it has not exercised this privilege and does not build, in 2013 Austria has granted the status of a recognized religious community to Alevism. Parallel structures exist within the Islamic religious group, the religious life takes place in mosques belonging to organisations that represent one of the currents of Turkish, Bosnian and Arab Muslims. In February,2015, a new Islamgesetz was passed by the Austrian parliament, illegalizing foreign funding of mosques and paying salaries of imams. Contrary to reports in the media, the law does not regulate the version of the Koran that may be used in Austria and it also gives Muslims additional rights, such as the rights to halal food and pastoral care in the military. The minister for Integration, Sebastian Kurz, said the changes were intended to combat the influence of radical Islam in Austria. The leader of Central Council of Muslims in Germany, Aiman Mazyek, baron Omar Rolf von Ehrenfels Turks in Austria Syrians in Austria Bosniaks Abid, Lise Jamila. Muslims in Austria, Integration through Participation in Austrian Society, Islam and Muslim Immigrants in Austria, Socio-Political Networks and Muslim Leadership of Turkish Immigrants. Study for Bundesministerium des Innern, Perspektiven und Herausforderungen in der Integration muslimischer MitbürgerInnen in Österreich, Mathias Rohe, Universität Erlangen
28.
Islam in Sweden
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Among Muslim residents of Sweden, as of 2014,110,000 are registered as member of, or regularly served by, a Muslim faith community. Out of the roughly 500,000 Swedish residents with roots in countries and areas dominated by Muslims, others are cultural Muslims, apostates or converts to other religions. Other sources set the figure at around 6% of the total Swedish population, the first registered Muslim groups in Sweden were Finnish Tatars who emigrated from Finland and Estonia in the 1940s. Islam began to have a presence in Sweden with immigration from the Middle East beginning in the 1970s. Most Muslims in Sweden are either immigrants or descendants of immigrants, the majority are from the Middle East, in particular Iraq and Iran. However,5 out of 6 Iranians in Sweden consider themselves secular rather than Muslim and are in opposition to the Islamic Republic regime in their ancestral home. Most Iranians and Iraqis fled as refugees to Sweden during the Iran–Iraq War from 1980 to 1988, the second-largest Muslim group consists of immigrants or refugees from former Yugoslavia, most of them are Bosniaks, who number 12,000. There is also a community of Somalis, who numbered 40,165 in 2011. Sweden has a number of mosques providing the Muslim communities in Sweden places of worship, the first mosque in Sweden was the Nasir Mosque, built in 1976. It was followed by the Malmö Mosque,1984, and later, more mosques were built during the 2000s, including the Stockholm Mosque, the Umeå Mosque and the Fittja Mosque, among others. The governments of Saudi Arabia and Libya have financially supported the constructions of some of the largest Mosques in Sweden, as of the year 2000, an estimated 300,000 to 350,000 people of Muslim background lived in Sweden, or 3. Regardless of personal religious convictions. ), of whom about 100,000 were second-generation immigrants, in Sweden registration by personal belief is not common and is normally against the law, thus only figures of practising Muslims belonging to an Islamic community can be reported. In 2009, the Muslim Council of Sweden reported 106,327 registered members, in 2007 a documentary film, Aching Heart was released, documenting Muslim Swedes. Pew Research Center estimates the number of Muslims in Sweden at 451,000 for the year 2010 and they project this to increase to 993,000 by the year 2030. Although there are no statistics of Muslims in Sweden, estimates count 200, 000—250,000 people of Muslim background in 2000. Swedish estimates are rather 350,000, including nominal Muslims, sander re-stated in 2004 that we do not think it unreasonable to put the figure of religious Muslims in Sweden at the time of writing at close to 150,000. Professor Mohammad Fazlhashemi at Umeå University estimates a good 100,000, about 25,000 are regarded as devout Muslims, visiting Friday prayers and practising daily prayers. Muslims in Sweden most often originate from Iraq, Iran, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo and they are followed by Muslim refugees from Syria and Somalia, two very rapidly growing groups
29.
Islam in Belgium
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Islam is the second largest religion in Belgium, accounting for 5 to 7% of the total population. Muslims are concentrated in regions of the country, constituting 23. 6% of the population in Brussels. A2008 estimation shows that 6% of the Belgian population, about 628,751, is Muslim, either Sunni, Shia, Alevi, Muslims cover 25. 5% of the population of Brussels,4. 0% of Wallonia and 3. 9% of Flanders. The majority of Belgian Muslims live in the cities, such as Antwerp, Brussels. According to estimates released in 2007 by sociologist Jan Hertogen, the largest group of immigrants in Belgium, the Turks are the third-largest group, and the second-largest Muslim ethnic group, numbering 159,336. Other nationalities represented are mostly Arabs, Pakistanis and West Africans, Moroccan and Turkish immigrants began coming in large numbers to Belgium starting in the 1960s as guest workers. Though the guest-worker program was abolished in 1974, many immigrants stayed, today the Muslim community continues to grow through marriage migration. More than 60% of Moroccan and Turkish youth marry partners from their home countries, since 2009, Mohamed is the most popular given name in Brussels and Antwerp, Belgiums two largest cities. In 1974, Islam was recognized as one of the religions in Belgium. In 2006, the government gave €6.1 million to Islamic groups, according to a 2005 Université Libre de Bruxelles study, about 10% of the Muslim population are practicing Muslims. There are an estimated 328–380 mosques in the country, according to a 2006 opinion poll, 61% of the Belgian population thought tensions between Muslims and other communities would increase in the future. In December 2004, the Belgian government said it was considering a ban on the wearing of any religious symbols for civil servants. However, the board also has the authority to restrict that right for organizational reasons, or for the good functioning of the school. At the end of 2005, approximately twenty municipalities had issued a ban on walking the streets completely veiled, in a few cases women were fined €150 for ignoring the ban. Under a 1993 executive order, persons in the streets must be identifiable, a veil which does not completely cover the body is however allowed. On 30 September 2003, a Belgian court convicted 18 men for involvement in a terror cell, nizar Trabelsi was sentenced to 10 years for plotting a suicide attack against the NATO air base at Kleine Brogel. In October 2004, a Belgian court sentenced eight Sunni Islamic militants to prison terms of up to 5 years for plotting attacks and for links to Al Qaeda. According to prosecutors, Saber Mohammed received three phone calls from senior Al Qaeda figure Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, which he was believed to be forwarding for colleagues
30.
Islam in France
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Islam is the second-most widely professed religion in France behind Catholic Christianity by number of worshippers. With an estimated total of 5 to 7 percent of the national population, the majority of Muslims in France belong to the Sunni denomination. The vast majority of French Muslims are of immigrant origin, while an estimated 100,000 are converts to Islam of indigenous ethnic French background, the French overseas region of Mayotte has a majority Muslim population. Due to a law dating from 1872, the French Republic prohibits performing census by making distinction between its citizens regarding their race or their beliefs, however, that law does not concern surveys and polls, which are free to ask those questions if they wish. A study from INED and the INSEE in October 2010 concluded that France has 2.1 million declared Muslims aged 18–50 including between 70,000 and 110,000 converts to Islam. The government counted all those people in France who migrated from countries with a dominant Muslim population, only 33% of those 5 to 6 million people said they were practicing believers. That figure is the same as obtained by the INED/INSEE study in October 2010. The United States Department of State placed it at roughly 10%, the CIA World Factbook places it at 5–10%. A Pew Forum study, published in January 2011, estimated 4.7 million Muslims in France in 2010, according to Jean-Paul Gourévitch, there were 7.7 million Muslims in metropolitan France in 2011. The French polling company IFOP estimated in 2016 that French Muslims number between 3 and 4 millions, and criticised suggestions of a fr, grand remplacement, IFOP claims that they make up 5. 6% of those older than 15, and 10% of those younger than 25. Among Muslims, 36% described themselves as observant believers, and 20% claimed to go regularly to the mosque for the Friday service, the number of people of Islam observing lineage who are practicing Roman Catholics is negligible. According to Michèle Tribalat, a researcher at INED, an acceptance of 5 to 6 million Muslims in France in 1999 was overestimated and her work has shown that there were 3.7 million people of possible Muslim faith in France in 1999. These 3.7 million people whose ancestry is from countries where Islam is the dominant faith may or may not be observant Muslims themselves, in 2009, she estimated that the number of people of possible Muslim faith in France was about 4.5 million. After their conquest of Spain, Muslim forces pushed into southern France and they were defeated at the Battle of Tours in 732 but held Septimania until 759. In the 9th century, Muslim forces conquered several bases in southern France and they were expelled only in 975. During the winter of 1543–1544, after the siege of Nice, the Christian population was evacuated, and Toulon Cathedral was briefly converted into a mosque before the city was regained by France. After the expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain in 1609–1614, about fifty thousand Moriscos entered France, Muslim immigration, mostly male, was high in the late 1960s and 1970s. Though the French State is secular, in recent years the government has tried to organize a representation of the French Muslims
31.
Islam in Greece
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The Muslim population in Greece is not homogeneous, since it consists of different ethnic, linguistic and social backgrounds which often overlap. Successive Greek governments and officials consider the Turkish-speaking Muslims of Western Thrace as part of the Greek Muslims minority, the term Muslim minority refers to an Islamic religious, linguistic and ethnic minority in western Thrace, which is part of the Greek administrative region of East Macedonia and Thrace. The Muslims of western Thrace and the Christians of Istanbul and the islands of Gökçeada and Bozcaada were the only populations not exchanged, for more information on this community, see Muslim minority of Greece. According to most estimates, about half of the Greek Muslims consider themselves ethnically Turkish, the rest are Slavic speaking Pomaks and Roma. Relics of the Ottoman Empire, this community resides mainly in Western Thrace, in northeastern Greece, in the town of Komotini, it makes up almost 40 percent of the total population, whereas in the town of Xanthi it makes up 23 percent of the population. They number about 3,000, some of whom espouse a Turkish identity and speak Turkish, the community is strongest in the city of Rhodes and on the island of Kos. The Pomaks are mainly located in villages in Western Thraces Rhodope Mountains. While the Greek Roma community is predominantly Greek Orthodox, the Roma in Thrace are mainly Muslim. Estimates of the recognized Muslim minority, which is located in Thrace, range from 98,000 to 140,000. Predominantly in the area of Asea Albanian immigrants to Greece are usually associated with the Muslim faith, the first immigrants of Islamic faith, mostly Egyptian, arrived in the early 1950s from Egypt, and are concentrated in the countrys two main urban centres, Athens and Thessaloniki. However, the bulk of the immigrant Muslim community has come from the Balkans, specifically from Albania and Albanian communities in the Republic of Macedonia, the majority of the immigrant Muslim community resides in Athens. In recognition of their religious rights, the Greek government approved the building of a mosque in July 2006, in addition, the Greek Orthodox Church has donated 300,000 square feet, worth an estimated $20 million, in west Athens for the purpose of a Muslim cemetery. However, both continued to remain dead letters by 2010. Recently, a mosque on Crete was bombed, likely as a result of anti-Muslim sentiments, there has been anti-Muslim rhetoric from certain right-wing circles, including the Golden Dawn party. Muslim Immigrants in Greece, Religious Organization and Local Responses, kritiki Centre for the Research of Minority Groups, Athens, pp. 267–302. “Religious freedom of immigrants, The case of the Muslims”,2004, the legal status of Islam in Greece, 44/3 Die Welt des Islams, pp. 402–431,2004. BBC - Olympic City to Build First Mosque Γκιουλμπεγιάζ Καραχασάν, Παιχνίδι με την φωτιά Greek Muslim Appointed PASOK Candidate for Local Prefecture Islamic Organizations in Greece Pomak Dictionary
32.
Islam in Liechtenstein
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According to a 2009 Pew Research Center report, there are an estimated 2,000 Muslims living in Liechtenstein who constitute approximately 4. 8% of the general population. Though, the Swiss branch of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam is called the Ahmadiyya Movement of Islam in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, in 2004, the government established a working group for the better integration of members of the Muslim community into society. In cooperation with the library, the working group has made accessible to the public a selection of books in Turkish as well as books on Islam. At the working groups suggestion the government made a contribution of US$20,000 to the Muslim community in 2006, since 2001, the government has granted the Muslim community a residency permit for one imam, plus one short-term residency permit for an additional imam during Ramadan
33.
Islam in the Netherlands
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Islam is the second largest religion in the Netherlands after various forms of Christianity, practiced by 4% of the population according to 2012 estimates. The majority of Muslims in the Netherlands belong to the Sunni denomination, most reside in the nations four major cities, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. The early history of Islam in the Netherlands can be traced to the 16th century when Ottoman traders began settling in the port cities. While religious exposure arrived via trade partnerships, improvised Mosques in Amsterdam were first constructed in the early 17th century, in the ensuing timeframe, the Netherlands experienced sporadic Muslim immigration from the Dutch East Indies during its status as a colony of the Netherlands. Starting with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire through the independence of Indonesia, however, the number of Muslims in the Kingdoms European territories was very low, accounting for less than 0. 1% of the population. The Netherlands economic resurgence in the 1960 to 1973 timeframe motivated the Dutch government to recruit migrant labor, chiefly from Turkey, later waves of immigrants arrived through family reunification and asylum seeking. A notable portion of Muslim immigrants also arrived from now-independent colonies, primarily Indonesia, the first traces of Islam in the Netherlands date back to the 16th century. When Dutch forces broke through the Spanish siege of Leiden in 1574, during the Siege of Sluis in Zeeland in 1604,1400 Turkish slaves were freed by Maurice of Orange from captivity by the Spanish army. The Turks were declared free people and the Dutch state paid for their repatriation, to honor the resistance of the Turkish slaves to their Spanish masters, Prince Maurice named a local embankment Turkeye. Around this time the Netherlands also housed a group of Muslim refugees from the Iberian peninsula, called Moriscos. Diplomat Cornelius Haga gained trading privileges from Contantinople for the Dutch Republic in 1612, two years later the Ottomans sent their emissary Ömer Aga to the Netherlands to intensify the relations between the two states with a common enemy. Many sailors converted to slavery after being taken captive, while others went Turk of their own volition. Some of the converted Dutchmen returned home to the Netherlands, however, this was deemed problematic, not so much due to their conversion, but due to their disloyalty to the Dutch Republic and its navy. In the early 17th century a delegation from the Dutch Republic visited Morocco to discuss an alliance against Spain. Sultan Zidan Abu Maali appointed Samuel Pallache as his envoy, and in 1608 Pallache met with stadholder Maurice of Nassau, in the 19th century the Netherlands administered the archipelago that would become Indonesia, a majority-Muslim country with the largest Muslim population in the world. In the first half of the 20th century hundreds of Indonesian students, sailors, baboes and domestic workers lived in the Netherlands, thus constituting the first sizable Muslim community. In 1932, Indonesian workers established the Perkoempoelan Islam, which was an organization that lobbied for the establishment of a Muslim cemetery. After the bloody war of Independence from 1945 to 1949 this community grew, during the 1960s and 1970s the Netherlands needed a larger labour force for the labour intense jobs in the lower educated sectors
34.
Islam in Switzerland
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Islam in Switzerland has mostly arrived via immigration since the late 20th century. Numbering below 1% of total population in 1980, the fraction of Muslims in the population of permanent residents in Switzerland has quintupled in thirty years, a majority is from Former Yugoslavia, an additional 20% is from Turkey. The vast majority of Muslims in Switzerland adheres to the Sunni branch, some famous Muslims of Switzerland include Tariq Ramadan, Frithjof Schuon, Titus Burckhardt and Isabelle Eberhardt. The largest concentration of Muslim population is in the German speaking Swiss plateau, another remarkable demographic feature in comparison to other European countries is the relatively equal distribution throughout the country. No administrative unit has more than 8. 55% of Muslim population, the lowest percentage of Muslims in a canton is 1. 82%. 88. 3% of Muslims in Switzerland are foreigners (56. 4% from former Yugoslavia,20. 2% from Turkey,10,000 of the 400,000 Muslims could be converts. In the 10th century, Arabs and Berbers from their Mediterranean Fraxinet base settled in the Valais for a few decades and they occupied the Great St. Bernard Pass and even managed to reach as far as St. Gallen to the north and Raetia in the east. Islam was virtually absent from Switzerland until the 20th century and it appeared with the beginning of significant immigration to Europe, after World War II. A first mosque was built in Zürich in 1963 by the Ahmadiyya community, Muslim presence during the 1950s and 1960s was mostly due to the presence of international diplomats and rich Saudi tourists in Geneva. Substantial Muslim immigration began in the 1970s, and accelerated dramatically over the 1980s to 1990s, in 1980, there were 56,600 Muslims in Switzerland. This ratio quintupled over the thirty years, notably due to the immigration from Former Yugoslavia during the 1990s Yugoslav War. While the Muslim demographics is still growing rapidly, the rate of growth has decreased after the early 1990s. The growth rate corresponded to a factor of 2.7 over the 1980s, a factor of 2.0 over the 1990s, Swiss Muslim organizations begin to form in the 1980s. An umbrella organization was formed in Zürich in 1989, there are two Swiss mosques which predate 1980 and the rapid increase of immigration of Muslims from the Balkans and Turkey over the following decades. These are the Ahmadiyya mosque in Zurich, built in 1963 and also boasting the first minaret built in Switzerland, today, there are numerous further mosques and prayer rooms across the country, predominantly in the urban parts of the Swiss plateau. In 2007 the Bern city council rejected plans to one of the largest Islamic cultural centers in Europe. Four Swiss mosques have minarets, besides the Zurich and Geneva mosques mentioned above, these are a mosque in Winterthur, the latter was erected in 2009 following several years of political and legal disputes. In the wake of the Wangen minaret controversy, a initiative was passed with 57. 5% of the popular vote in November 2009
35.
Islam in the United Kingdom
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Islam is the second largest religion in the United Kingdom, with results from the United Kingdom Census 2011 giving the UK Muslim population in 2011 as 2,786,635,4. 4% of the total population. The vast majority of Muslims in the United Kingdom live in England,2,660,116,76,737 Muslims live in Scotland,45,950 in Wales, and 3,832 in Northern Ireland. In 2011 it was reported that the United Kingdom could have as many as 100,000 converts to Islam, Islam is the fastest growing religious confession in the UK and its adherents have the lowest average age out of all the major religious groups. Between 2001 and 2009 the Muslim population increased almost 10 times faster than the non-Muslim population, the majority of Muslims in United Kingdom belong to the Sunni denomination, while smaller numbers are Shia and Ahmadi. In terms of heritage, the largest groups of British Muslims are Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. Smaller groups are Indians, Arabs, Kurds, and Africans, the first group of Muslims to migrate to the UK in significant numbers, in the 18th century, were lascars recruited from the Indian subcontinent to work for the British East India Company. Due to the majority being lascars, the earliest Muslim communities were found in port towns, naval cooks also came, many of them from the Sylhet Division of British India. He is also reputed for introducing shampoo and therapeutic massage to the United Kingdom, the Shah Jahan Mosque in Woking was the first purpose built mosque, built in 1889. In the same year Abdullah Quilliam installed a mosque in a terrace in Liverpool, the first mosque in London was the Fazl Mosque established in 1924, commonly called the London mosque. The growing number of Muslims resulted in the establishment of more than 1,500 mosques by 2007, the publication of Salman Rushdies novel The Satanic Verses in 1988 caused major controversy. Muslims in Britain condemned the book for blasphemy, on 2 December 1988 the book was publicly burned at a demonstration in Bolton attended by 7,000 Muslims, followed by a similar demonstration and book-burning in Bradford on 14 January 1989. The Muslim population of England and Wales has grown consistently since the 1950s, the settlements with large number of Muslims are Bradford, Luton, Blackburn, Birmingham, London and Dewsbury. There are also high numbers in High Wycombe, Slough, Leicester, Derby, Manchester, Leeds, there are also relatively large concentrations in the Scottish cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. In addition, it is possible to find areas that are almost entirely Muslim. In 2015 Muhammad was the most commonly given name for boys in England and Wales. Initial limited mosque availability meant that prayers were conducted in small rooms of council flats until the 1980s when more, some synagogues and community buildings were turned into mosques and existing mosques began to expand their buildings. Most people regard themselves as part of the ummah, and their identity is based on their religion rather than their ethnic group, cultural aspects of a Bengali Islam are seen as superstition and as un-Islamic. The 2001 census recorded there were 179,733 Muslims who described themselves as white
36.
Islam in Norway
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Islam is the second largest religion in Norway after various forms of Christianity, with Muslims representing 0. 1% of the population according to official statistical data. However, other sources give estimates of 1-3. 7%, the majority of Muslims in Norway are Sunni, with a significant Shia minority. In 2013, government statistics registered 120,882 members of Islamic congregations in Norway,0. 1% more than in 2012, 55% lived in the counties of Oslo and Akershus. Scholarly estimates regarding the number of people of Islamic background in Norway vary between 120,000 and 163,000, the vast majority have an immigrant background, with Norwegians of Pakistani descent being the most visible and well-known group. Icelandic annals relate the arrival of embassies from the Muslim sultan of Tunis in Norway in the 1260s, the population of Muslims in the country has not been noticeable until the latter half of the 20th century, however. Immigration from Muslim countries to Norway began late compared to other western-European countries, in 1975, labor immigration to Norway was halted, but rules for family reunification were relatively relaxed for several more years. The number of Muslims in Norway was first registered in official statistics in 1980 and these statistics are based on membership of a registered congregation, and it is most likely that the low number is due to the fact that few Muslims were members of a mosque. Historian of religion Kari Vogt estimates that 10% of Norwegian Muslims were members of a mosque in 1980, being a member of a mosque was an alien concept to many immigrants from Muslim countries. In Norway, it is necessary for the mosques to register their members, the number of registered members of mosques increased to 80,838 in 2004, but have since dropped to 72,023 in 2006. Part of the reason for the drop could be a new methodology in the compilation of statistics, in the end of the 1990s, Islam passed the Roman Catholic Church and Pentecostalism to become the largest minority religion in Norway, provided Islam is seen as one group. In 2004, the registered Muslims were members of 92 different congregations,40 of these were based in Oslo or Akershus counties. Muslims in Norway are a fragmented group, coming from many different backgrounds. Kari Vogt estimated in 2000 that there were about 500 Norwegian converts to Islam, the rest are mostly first or second generation immigrants from a number of countries. The largest immigrant communities from Muslim countries in Norway are from Pakistan, Iraq and Somalia, An unknown, in other words, the largest group of Norwegian Muslims originate in Pakistan, but no single nationality constitute as much as a quarter of the total population. The Turkish, Pakistani and Iranian communities are established in Norway. 55% of Iranians have lived in Norway more than 10 years, the Iraqis are a more recent group, with 80% of the Iraqi community having arrived in the past 10 years. In the 1990s there was a wave of asylum seekers from the Balkans, in recent years most immigrants arrive as part of family reunification. Mosques have been important, not just as places of prayer, several mosques also do different forms of social work, e. g. importantly, organising the transport of deceased members back to their countries of origin for burial
37.
Islam in Denmark
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Islam in Denmark being the countrys largest minority religion plays an important role in shaping its social and religious landscape. According to the U. S. Department of State, approximately 3. 7% of the population in Denmark is Muslim, other sources, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, cite lower percentages. However, according to reported by the BBC, about 270 thousand Muslims live in Denmark. Majority of Muslims in Denmark are Sunni, with a sizeable Shia minority, other Islamic denominations represented in Denmark include Ahmadiyya. In the 1970s Muslims arrived from Turkey, Pakistan, Morocco, in the 1980s and 90s the majority of Muslim arrivals were refugees and asylum seekers from Iran, Iraq, Somalia and Bosnia. In addition, some ethnic Danes have converted to Islam, an estimated 2,800 Danes have converted, however, an even larger amount of people, about 4,000, have converted to Christianity from Islam. Muslims in Denmark hail from different backgrounds. During the 1980s and 1990s a number of Muslim asylum seekers came to Denmark, in the 1980s mostly from Iraq and in the 1990s mostly from Somalia and Bosnia. Another large Muslim group in Denmark is originally from Turkey, followed in number by refugees and their descendants from Pakistan, Kosovo, Iran, the asylum seekers comprise about 40% of the Danish Muslim population. Previously, the majority of Muslims who immigrated to Denmark did so as part of family reunification, the Danish parliament has passed a law in 2002 making family reunification harder. It was also implemented to counter forced marriages by ensuring that both parties are at least 24 years old and so considered old enough to enter a marriage without being forced to do so. The new law requires the couple to both be above the age of 24 and requires the resident spouse to show capacity to support persons of the couple. In 1967 the Nusrat Jahan Mosque was built in Hvidovre, a Copenhagen suburb and this mosque is used by adherents of the Ahmadiyya faith. Other mosques exist but are not built for the explicit purpose and it is not forbidden to build mosques or any other religious buildings in Denmark but there are very strict zoning laws. One piece of land has been reserved for a mosque at Amager. Danish Muslims have not succeeded in cooperating on the financing of the project and do not agree on whether it should be financed with outside sources, advertisements by the Danish Peoples Party, which promote anti-mosque legislation, contend that Iran and Saudi Arabia are sources of funding. These are considered despotic regimes by the DPP, seven Danish cemeteries have separate sections for Muslims. Most of the Danish Muslims are buried in cemeteries, with about 70 being flown abroad for burial in their countries of origin
38.
Islam in Bulgaria
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Islam is the largest minority religion in Bulgaria. According to the 2011 Census, the number of Muslims in the country stood at 577,139. The Muslim population of Bulgaria, which is made up of Turks, Bulgarians and Roma, lives mainly in parts of northeastern Bulgaria, Shia sects such as the Alians, Kizilbashi and the Bektashi also are present, however. About 27,407 Shia Muslims live mainly in the Razgrad, Sliven and it should be noted that 31. 1% of the overall Bulgarian population did not state a religion during the 2011 census and respectively 10% did not wish to answer the question on ethnic group. In the voluntary census section of self-determination 14,698 persons of the Turkish ethnic group have pointed the answer no religion, and 39,529 have not stated their religion. Though the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is a sect in Bulgaria. The largest mosque in Bulgaria is the Tumbul Mosque in Shumen, during the time of Tsar Simeon insignificant Islamic influences on Bulgarian art began to appear, though it is believed that these can be traced to Byzantine influence. Later during the 11th and 12th centuries, nomadic Turkic tribes such as the Cumans, according to scholars, some of these were Muslim. Migration of Muslim Seljuq Turks to Dobruja during the 13th century is also mentioned, in 1362, Ottoman Empirate captured the city of Adrianople and within the next two years they had advanced as far as Plovdiv. The city of Sofia fell in 1385, according to the office of the Grand Mufti in Sofia during the Turkish Ottoman rule in Bulgaria there were 2,356 mosques,174 tekke,142 madrasah and 400 waqf. After the Russo-Turkish War, many Islamic properties were destroyed or confiscated for civilian use. Currently there are 1458 mosques in Bulgaria, the Bulgarian communist regimes declared traditional Muslim beliefs to be diametrically opposed to secular communist ideology. In 1989,310,000 Turks fled Bulgaria as a result of the communist Zhivkov regimes assimilation campaign and that program, which began in 1984, forced all Turks and other Muslims in Bulgaria to adopt Bulgarian names and renounce all Muslim customs. The motivation of the 1984 assimilation campaign was unclear, however, after the breakdown of communism, Muslims in Bulgaria again enjoyed greater religious freedom. Some villages organized Quran study courses for young people, Muslims also began publishing their own newspaper, Musulmani, in both Bulgarian and Turkish. In 2011, the first study in 25 years found that 48.6 percent of its 850 Muslim respondents described themselves as religious,28.5 percent of which very. Some 41 percent never went to the mosque and 59.3 percent did not pray at home,0.5 percent believed that disputes should be resolved using Islamic Sharia law and 79.6 percent said that wearing a veil in school was unacceptable. 88 percent of respondents said they circumcised their boys and 96 percent observed Muslim burial practices for their relatives, more than half of the respondents said cohabitation without marriage was acceptable,39.8 percent ate pork and 43.3 percent drank alcohol
39.
Islam in Cyprus
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Islam in Cyprus was introduced when the island finally fell to Ottoman invaders in 1571. Prior to this, the Muslim presence on the island was itinerant, before the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, the Turkish Cypriots made up 18% of the islands population and lived throughout the island. Today, most of the estimated 264,172 Muslims are based in the north of the island, nazim al-Qubrusi, the leader of the Naqshbandi-Haqqani order, hailed from Larnaca and lived in Lefka. There are a few Ahmadi Muslims in the country, islam came to Cyprus early on in the Arab conquests though a permanent presence only followed the Ottoman conquest in 1571. It is rumored that an aunt of the Prophet Mohammad, Um Haram, had accompanied one of the early Arab expeditions to the island and she fell off her mule, died and was entombed at the present Hala Sultan Tekke shrine. Since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, the Muslim population in the north of the island has been bolstered by settlers from Turkey who are almost exclusively Sunni Muslims, list of mosques in Cyprus Religion in Cyprus
40.
Islam in Georgia (country)
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Islam in Georgia was introduced in 654 when an army sent by the Third Caliph of Islam, Uthman, conquered Eastern Georgia and established Muslim rule in Tbilisi. Currently, Muslims constitute approximately 9. 9% of the Georgian population, according to other sources, Muslims constitute 10-13% of Georgias population. In July 2011, Parliament of Georgia passed new law allowing religious minority groups with ties to Georgia” to register. The draft of the law specifically mentions Islam and four religious communities. Mosques in Georgia operate under the supervision of the Georgian Muslim Department, until then the affairs of Georgias Muslims had been governed from abroad by the Baku-based Caucasus Muslims Department. In 2010, Turkey and Georgia signed an agreement by which Turkey will provide funding, while Georgia will rehabilitate four Georgian monasteries in Turkey. The Georgia-Turkey agreement will allow the reconstruction of the historical Azize mosque in Batumi, Turkey will rehabilitate the mosques at Samtskhe-Javakheti and Akhaltsikhe regions, Kobuleti District, build the Azize mosque burned down in 1940 and restore the Turkish bathhouse in Batumi. The Arabs first appeared in Georgia in 645 and it was not, however, until 735, when they succeeded in establishing their firm control over a large portion of the country. During the Arab period, Tbilisi grew into a center of trade between the Islamic world and northern Europe, beyond that, it functioned as a key Arab outpost and a buffer province facing the Byzantine and Khazar dominions. Over time, Tbilisi became largely Muslim, between 1386 and 1404, Georgia was subjected to invasions by the armies of Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur, whose vast empire stretched, at its greatest extent, from Central Asia into Anatolia. In the first of at least seven invasions, Timur sacked Georgias capital, Tbilisi, in late 1401, Timur invaded the Caucasus once again. The King of Georgia had to sue for peace, and sent his brother with the contributions, thus, he made peace with George on condition that the king of Georgia supply him with troops. The Safavid dynasty was in constant conflict with the Ottomans over full control and influence in the Caucasus. From the early 16th to the course of the half of the 18th century. These entities often followed divergent political courses, Safavid interests were largely directed at Eastern and Southern Georgia while Western Georgia came under Ottoman influence. These independent kingdoms became vassals of Persia as early as in 1503, on May 29,1555, the Safavids and the Ottoman Empire concluded a treaty at Amasya following the Ottoman–Safavid War by which the Caucasus was divided between the two. Western Georgia and the part of southern Georgia fell to The Ottomans, while Eastern Georgia. The bulk of Georgia and the region which had always been the most dominant stayed therefore in the Iranian sphere
41.
Islam in Montenegro
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Muslims in Montenegro form the largest minority religion in the country. According to the 2011 census, Montenegros 118,477 Muslims make up 20% of the total population, Montenegros Muslims belong to the Sunni branch. Ivans third son Staniša Crnojević was the first prominent Montenegrin of the Muslim faith, Staniša Crnojević took up the name Skenderbeg Crnojević and ruled from his capital at Cetinje. He is well known as one of the most prominent Muslim administrators in the reaches of the Ottoman Empire of Slavic origins during the reign of Sultan Selim I. Staniša Crnojević is known to have commanded an army of approximately 3000 Akıncı he also maintained correspondence with neighboring contemporaries such as Gazi Husrev-beg, the Muslims of Montenegro are mostly Bosniaks and Albanians by ethnicity but also some are declared Muslims by nationality and Montenegrins. The Muslims can be found in the Sandžak region in Montenegro and Ulcinj, Bar. Bosniaks have virtually the same background with the Montenegrin Muslims
42.
Islam in Russia
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Islam is the second most widely professed religion in Russia. Islam is considered as one of Russia’s traditional religions, legally a part of Russian historical heritage, according to a poll by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center, 6% of respondents considered themselves Muslims. Also, according to the Arena Atlas, the found that 6. 5% or 9,400,000 were Muslims. Also, in the middle of the Volga Basin reside populations of Bulgars and Bashkirs, there are over 5,000 registered religious Muslim organizations, which is over one sixth of the number of registered Russian Orthodox religious organizations of about 29,268 as of December 2006. In the mid 7th century AD, following the Muslim conquest of Persia, Islam penetrated into the Caucasus region, the first people to become Muslims within current Russian territory, the Dagestani people, converted after the Arab conquests in the 8th century. The first Muslim state in the future Russia lands was Volga Bulgaria, the Tatars of the Khanate of Kazan inherited the population of believers from that state. Later most of the European and Caucasian Turkic peoples also became followers of Islam, the Tatars of the Crimean Khanate, the last remaining successor to the Golden Horde, continued to raid Southern Russia and burnt down parts of Moscow in 1571. However, Russian policy shifted toward weakening Islam by introducing elements of collective consciousness. Such attempts included methods of eulogizing pre-Islamic historical figures and imposing a sense of inferiority by sending Kazakhs to highly élite Russian military institutions, in response, Kazakh religious leaders attempted to bring religious fervor by espousing pan-Turkism, though many were persecuted as a result. The government of Russia paid Islamic scholars from the Ural-Volga area working among the Kazakhs Russian slavery did not have racial restrictions, Russian girls were legally allowed to be sold in Russian controlled Novgorod to Tatars from Kazan in the 1600s by Russian law. Germans, Poles, and Lithuanians were allowed to be sold to Crimean Tatars in Moscow, in 1665 Tatars were allowed to buy from the Russians, Polish and Lithuanian slaves. Before 1649 Russians could be sold to Muslims under Russian law in Moscow and this contrasted with other places in Europe outside Russia where Muslims were not allowed to own Christians. The Cossack institution recruited and incorporated Muslim Mishar Tatars, Cossack rank was awarded to Bashkirs. Muslim Turkics and Buddhist Kalmyks served as Cossacks, the Cossack Ural, Terek, Astrakhan, and Don Cossack hosts had Kalmyks in their ranks. Mishar Muslims, Teptiar Muslims, service Tatar Muslims, and Bashkir Muslims joined the Orenburg Cossack Host, Cossack non Muslims shared the same status with Cossack Siberian Muslims. Muslim Cossacks in Siberia requested an Imam, Cossacks in Siberia included Tatar Muslims like in Bashkiria. Bashkirs and Kalmyks in the Russian military fought against Napoleons forces and they were judged suitable for inundating opponents but not intense fighting. They were in a non standard capacity in the military, arrows, bows, and melee combat weapons were wielded by the Muslim Bashkirs
43.
Islam in the Republic of Macedonia
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Muslims in the Republic of Macedonia represent one-third of the nations total population, making Islam the second most widely professed religion in the country. Muslims in the Republic of Macedonia follow Sunni Islam of the Hanafi madhhab, some northwestern and western regions of the country have Muslim majorities. A large majority of all the Muslims in the country are ethnic Albanians, with the rest being primarily Turks, Romani, Bosniaks or Torbeš. Albanian Muslims, forming roughly 25% of the total population and most of the Muslim population, live mostly in the Polog. The Turks, who make up about 4% of the total population, are scattered throughout the country. Bosniaks are mostly concentrated within Skopje, Muslims of Macedonian ethnicity number roughly 40,000 to 100,000 and can be found in western Macedonia in the Centar Župa, Debar, Struga and Plasnica areas. The following table shows the Muslim population and percentage for each given year, the Muslim percentage in Macedonia generally decreased from 1904 to 1961 but began to rise again due to high fertility rate among Muslim families, reaching 33. 33% in 2002. According to the 2002 Census,46. 5% of the children aged 0–4 were Muslim, in 2010,39. 3% of the population were Muslim. However, Islam is predicted to be become the largest religion in the country by 2050, with almost half of the country adhering to the faith
44.
Islam in Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Islam is the most widespread religion in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was introduced to the population in the 15th and 16th centuries as a result of the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia. The Bosniaks are predominantly Muslim by religion, for which reason they have also emphasized as Bosnian Muslims throughout their history. There is also a small Sufi community, located primarily in Central Bosnia, Muslims comprise the single largest religious community in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Minority groups of Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina include Albanians, Roma people, Turks, Islam was first introduced to the Balkans on a large scale by the Ottomans in the mid-to-late 15th century who gained control of most of Bosnia in 1463, and seized Herzegovina in the 1480s. Over the next century, the Bosnians - composed of dualists, during the Ottoman era the name Bošnjanin was definitely transformed into the current Bošnjak, with the suffix -ak replacing the traditional -anin. By the early 1600s, approximately two thirds of the population of Bosnia were Muslim, Bosnia and Herzegovina remained a province in the Ottoman Empire and gained autonomy after the Bosnian uprising in 1831. After the 1878 Congress of Berlin it came under the control of Austria-Hungary. In 1908, Austria-Hungary formally annexed the region, Bosnia, along with Albania, were the only parts of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans where large numbers of people were converted to Islam, and remained there after independence. Within the Federation, distinct Muslim and Catholic majority areas remain, throughout Bosnia, mosques were systematically destroyed by Serb and Croat armed forces. Among the most important losses were two mosques in Banja Luka, Arnaudija and Ferhadija mosque, that were on the UNESCO register of world cultural monuments. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, there are eight Muftis located in municipalities across the country, Sarajevo, Bihać, Travnik, Tuzla, Goražde, Zenica, Mostar. The acting head of the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina is Husein Kavazović, in a 1998 public opinion poll,78. 3% of Bosniaks in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared themselves to be religious. Headscarves for women, or the hijab is worn only by a minority of Bosniak women, Bosnians who participate in or are children of ethnically mixed marriages between the Bosniak, Serb and Croat populations in Bosnia and Herzegovina are often irreligious. The State Constitution provides freedom of religion, and individuals generally enjoy this right in ethnically mixed areas or in areas where they were adherents of the majority religion. The governments census bureau today does not collect data on religious affiliation, Development Programs Human Development Report 2002 as quoted by the Bosnia and Herzegovina report. Historically, Bosnian Muslims has always practiced Islam which is influenced by Sufism. Since Bosnian War, however, some remnants of groups of fighters from Middle-east, fighting on the side of Bosnian Army, remained for some time
45.
Islam in Albania
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Islam mainly arrived to Albania during the Ottoman period when the majority of Albanians over time embraced Islam and in particular to two of its denominations, Sunni and Bektashi. Due to this policy as all other faiths in the country. Decades of state atheism which ended in 1991 brought a decline in religious practice in all traditions, according to 2011 census,58. 79% of Albanias population adheres to Islam, making it the largest religion in the country. Due to the communist legacy of religious persecution contemporary Muslim Albanians in Albania are cultural Muslims with religious Muslim practices being minimal for most people. The remaining population either belongs to Christianity, which is the second largest religion in the country practiced by 16. 99% of the population, Albania first came into contact with Islam in the 9th century when Muslim Arabs raided the eastern Adriatic. Islam was first introduced to Albania in the 15th century after the Ottoman conquest of the area, during the 17th and 18th century Albanians in large numbers converted to Islam, often to escape higher taxes levied on Christian subjects. As Muslims, some Albanians attained important political and military positions within the Ottoman Empire, by the 19th century Albanians were divided into three religious groups. Catholic Albanians who had some Albanian ethno-linguistic expression in schooling and church due to Austro-Hungarian protection, Orthodox Albanians under the Patriarchate of Constantinople had liturgy and schooling in Greek and toward the late Ottoman period mainly identified with Greek national aspirations. While Muslim Albanians during this period formed around 70% of the overall Balkan Albanian population in the Ottoman Empire with a population of more than a million. With the rise of the Eastern Crisis, Muslim Albanians became torn between loyalties to the Ottoman state and the emerging Albanian nationalist movement, Islam, the Sultan and the Ottoman Empire were traditionally seen as synonymous in belonging to the wider Muslim community. While the Albanian nationalist movement advocated self-determination and strived to achieve recognition of Albanians as a separate people. In this context, Muslim Albanians of the era were conferred and received the term Turk and these geo-political events nonetheless pushed Albanian nationalists, many Muslim, to distance themselves from the Ottomans, Islam and the then emerging pan-Islamic Ottomanism of Sultan Abdulhamid II. There were intervening areas where Muslims lived alongside Albanian speaking Christians in mixed villages, towns, a Muslim population was also located in Konispol and some villages around the town. While the Ottoman administrative sancaks or districts of Korçë and Gjirokastër in 1908 contained a Muslim population that numbered 95,000 in contrast to 128,000 Orthodox inhabitants. Apart from small and spread out numbers of Muslim Romani, Muslims in these areas that came to constitute contemporary southern Albania were all Albanian speaking Muslims. In central and southern Albania, Muslim Albanian society was integrated into the Ottoman state, when religious conflict occurred it was between clans of opposing faiths, while within the scope of clan affiliation, religious divisions were sidelined. Shkodër was inhabited by a Muslim majority with a sizable Catholic minority, during World War one, northern, central and south-central Albania came under Austro-Hungarian occupation. In the census of 1916–18 conducted by Austro-Hungarian authorities, the results showed that Muslims in the regions of Dibër, Lumë, in the western part of the mountainous areas, Shkodër and in the mountains east of the lake were areas that contained a large Muslim population
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Islam in Kazakhstan
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Islam is the largest religion practiced in Kazakhstan, as 70. 2% of the countrys population is Muslim according to a 2009 national census. Ethnic Kazakhs are predominantly Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school, there are also small number of Shia and few Ahmadi Muslims. Geographically speaking, Kazakhstan is the northernmost Muslim-majority country in the world, Kazakhs make up over half of the total population, and other ethnic groups of Muslim background include Uzbeks, Uyghurs and Tatars. Islam first arrived on the edges of the region in the 8th century from Arabs. Islam was brought to the Kazakhs during the 8th century when the Arabs arrived in Central Asia, Islam initially took hold in the southern portions of Turkestan and thereafter gradually spread northward. Islam also took root due to the missionary work of Samanid rulers. Additionally, in the late 14th century, the Golden Horde propagated Islam amongst the Kazakhs, during the 18th century, Russian influence rapidly increased toward the region. Russian policy gradually changed toward weakening Islam by introducing elements of collective consciousness. Such attempts included methods of eulogizing pre-Islamic historical figures and imposing a sense of inferiority by sending Kazakhs to highly elite Russian military institutions, in response, Kazakh religious leaders attempted to bring religious fervor by espousing pan-Turkism, though many were persecuted as a result. During the Soviet era, Muslim institutions survived only in areas where Kazakhs significantly outnumbered non-Muslims due to everyday Muslim practices, in an attempt to conform Kazakhs into Communist ideologies, gender relations and other aspects of the Kazakh culture were key targets of social change. In more recent times, Kazakhs have gradually employed determined effort in revitalizing Islamic religious institutions after the fall of the Soviet Union, while not strongly fundamentalist, Kazakhs continue to identify with their Islamic faith, and even more devotedly in the countryside. Those who claim descent from the original Muslim warriors and missionaries of the 8th century, Kazakh political figures have also stressed the need to sponsor Islamic awareness. Since independence, religious activity has increased significantly, construction of mosques and religious schools accelerated in the 1990s, with financial help from Turkey, Egypt, and, primarily, Saudi Arabia. In 1991170 mosques were operating, more than half of them newly built, at that time an estimated 230 Muslim communities were active in Kazakhstan. Instead, Nazarbayev created a separate muftiate, or religious authority, with an eye toward the Islamic governments of nearby Iran and Afghanistan, the writers of the 1993 constitution specifically forbade religious political parties. The 1995 constitution forbids organizations that seek to stimulate racial, political, or religious discord, though, Kazakhstan joined the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in the same year. This position was based on the Nazarbayev governments foreign policy as much as on domestic considerations, for example, he initially accepted only observer status in the Economic Cooperation Organization, all of whose member nations are predominantly Muslim. The presidents first trip to the Muslim holy city of Mecca, religion in Kazakhstan Islam in Central Asia Islam in the Soviet Union Khoja Karagiannis, Emmanuel
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Islam in Azerbaijan
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Over 96. 9% of the population of Azerbaijan is nominally Muslim. The rest of the population adheres to other faiths or are non-religious, among the Muslim majority, religious observance varies and Muslim identity tends to be based more on culture and ethnicity rather than religion. The Muslim population is approximately 85% Shia and 15% Sunni, differences traditionally have not been defined sharply, the Republic of Azerbaijan has the second highest Shia population percentage in the world after Iran. Most Shias are adherents of orthodox Ithna Ashari school of Shia Islam, other traditional religions or beliefs that are followed by many in the country are the orthodox Hanafi school of Sunni Islam. Traditionally villages around Baku and Lenkoran region are considered stronghold of Shiism, in some northern regions, populated by Sunni Dagestani people, the Salafi movement gained some following. According to a 2010 Gallup Poll found 49% of Azerbaijanis answering no to the question Is religion an important part of daily life. One of the highest rates among any Muslim-majority country, a 1998 poll estimated the proportion of ardent believers in Azerbaijan at only 7 percent. Islam arrived in Azerbaijan with Arabs in the century, gradually supplanting Christianity. In the sixteenth century, the first shah of the Safavid Dynasty, Ismail I, established Shia Islam as the state religion, the population of what is nowadays Iran and what is nowadays Azerbaijan were converted to Shia Islam at the same moment in history. As elsewhere in the Muslim world, the two branches of Islam came into conflict in Azerbaijan, enforcement of Shia Islam as the state religion brought contention between the Safavid rulers and the ruling Sunnis of the neighboring Ottoman Empire. In the nineteenth century, many Sunni Muslims emigrated from Russian-controlled Azerbaijan because of Russias series of wars with their coreligionists in the Ottoman Empire, thus, by the late nineteenth century, the Shia population was in the majority in Russian Azerbaijan. In 1806, what is now Azerbaijan became occupied by the Russian Empire as the latter invaded Qajar Iran during the Russo-Persian War, in the aftermath, Iran was forced to cede therefore almost all of what is nowadays Azerbaijan according to the Treaty of Gulistan of 1813 to Russia. However, all this came to be confirmed in the aftermath of the next. Before Soviet power was established, about 2,000 mosques were active in Azerbaijan, most mosques were closed in the 1930s, then some were allowed to reopen during World War II. The Soviet rule promoted an Azerbaijani national consciousness as a substitute for identification with the world Islamic community, during the Azerbaijani SSR, there were 17 mosques functioning in the country. In the 1980s only two large and five smaller mosques held services in Baku, and only eleven others were operating in the rest of the country, supplementing the officially sanctioned mosques were thousands of private houses of prayer and many secret Islamic sects. The lone center of conservative Shia Islam, was the town of Nardaran,25 kilometers northeast of central Baku, the now banned Islamic Party of Azerbaijan was founded in this town and its base was centered there. There is some evidence of Sufism in Azerbaijan, gradually, during the Soviet imperial twilight, signs of religious reawakening not only multiplied but surfaced into the open
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Islam in Kosovo
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Islam in Kosovo has a long-standing tradition dating back to the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans, including Kosovo. Before the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, the entire Balkan region had been Christianized by both the Western and Eastern Roman Empire, from 1389 until 1912, Kosovo was officially governed by the Muslim Ottoman Empire and, as such, a high level of Islamization occurred. During the time period after World War II, Kosovo was ruled by secular socialist authorities in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, during that period, Kosovars became increasingly secularized. Today, 96% of Kosovos population are from Muslim family backgrounds, there are also Slavic speaking Muslims, who define themselves as Bosniaks and Gorani, and Turks. Until the sixteenth century the degree of Islamisation in Kosovo was minimal, a phenomenon of crypto-Catholicism developed in Kosovo Albanian society, where large numbers of people would convert officially to Islam but follow Catholic rites in private. From 1703 ecclesiastical decrees banned this practice and did not accept that crypto-Catholics could receive holy rites, Albanians in Kosovo who had been passing as Muslims were declaring themselves Catholics as late as 1845. During the 1999 Kosovo War,218 out of 540 mosques in Kosovo were destroyed by state forces, some of these attacks took place after the Yugoslav signature of the Kumanovo Agreement which put an end to the hostilities. This led to a wave of attacks on churches by Muslim Albanian extremists in which dozens of churches were damaged. These attacks effectively ended after six weeks at the end of August 1999, after appeals by Kosovos political leaders, since Yugoslav times, the official organisation of Muslims in Kosovo has been the Islamic Community of Kosova, led by its Grand Mufti, currently Naim Tërnava. It argued in 2010 for Islamic religious teaching in schools for children from families with a Muslim family background. The AKR coalition itself came in place in the elections with 7. 29% of the total vote. loc. gov/frd/cs/. Islam in Kosovo Qendra për Studime Islame Bashkësia Islame e Kosovës Battle of Kosovo
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Islam in Turkey
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The established presence of Islam in the region that now constitutes modern Turkey dates back to the latter half of the 11th century, when the Seljuks started expanding into eastern Anatolia. According to religiosity polls,99. 8% of the population identifies as Muslim, most Muslims in Turkey are Sunnis, forming about 78% of the overall Muslim denominations. The remaining Ithnaashari-Shia Muslim sects forming about 20% of the overall Muslim population consist of Alevis, Jafaris, during the Muslim conquests of the 7th and early 8th centuries, Arab armies established the Islamic Empire. The Islamic Golden Age was soon inaugurated by the middle of the 8th century by the ascension of the Abbasid Caliphate, the later period saw initial expansion and the capture of Crete. The Abbasids soon shifted their attention towards the East, the Byzantines successfully contested with the Fatimids for influence in the region until the arrival of the Seljuk Turks who first allied with the Abbasids and then ruled as the de facto rulers. Beginning in the century, new waves of Turkic migrants many of whom belonged to Sufi orders. One Sufi order that appealed to Turks in Anatolia after 1300 was the Safaviyya, although the Bektaşi order became accepted as a sect of orthodox Sunni Muslims, they did not abandon their heterodox beliefs. In contrast, the Safavids eventually conquered Iran, shed their heterodox religious beliefs, the conquest of the Byzantine capital of Constantinople—which the Turks called Istanbul—in 1453 enabled the Ottomans to consolidate their empire in Anatolia and Thrace. The Ottomans later revived the title of caliph during the reign of Sultan Selim, despite the absence of a formal institutional structure, Sunni religious functionaries played an important political role. Justice was dispensed by religious courts, in theory, the system of şeriat regulated all aspects of life. The head of the judiciary ranked directly below the sultan and was second in only to the grand vizier. Legal opinions pronounced by the Şeyhülislam were considered definitive interpretations, the secularization of Turkey started in the society during the last years of the Ottoman Empire and it was the most prominent and most controversial feature of Atatürks reforms. Under his leadership, the caliphate—the supreme politico-religious office of Islam, the secular power of the religious authorities and functionaries was reduced and eventually eliminated. The religious foundations were nationalized, and religious education was restricted, the influential and popular mystical orders of the dervish brotherhoods also were suppressed. The withdrawal of Turkey, heir to the Ottoman Empire, as the leader of the world Muslim community was symbolic of the change in the governments relationship to Islam. Indeed, secularism became one of the Kemalist ideology of Mustafa Kemal Atatürks anti-clerical program for remaking Turkey, whereas Islam had formed the identity of Muslims within the Ottoman Empire, secularism was seen as molding the new Turkish nation and its citizens. In 1922 the new nationalist regime abolished the Ottoman sultanate, and in 1924 it abolished the caliphate, thus, for the first time in Islamic history, no ruler claimed spiritual leadership of Islam. Atatürk and his associates not only abolished certain religious practices and institutions but also questioned the value of religion and they regarded organized religion as an anachronism and contrasted it unfavorably with civilization, which to them meant a rationalist, secular culture
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