Islam in Europe facts for kids

Islam is the second-largest and fastest-growing religion in Europe. Most Muslim communities in Europe formed recently, but certain areas on the Balkans have a long Muslim history.

Islam entered southern Europe through the invading "Moors" of North Africa in the 8th–10th centuries. Many kingdoms and duchies in Spain, Portugal, Southern Italy and Malta have existed for centuries. After a series of conflicts and wars known as the Reconquista, these areas became Christian. Islam expanded into the Caucasus through the Muslim conquest of Persia in the 7th century. The Ottoman Empire expanded into southeastern Europe; it conquered large parts of the Byzantine Empire in the 14th and 15th centuries. Later, the power of the Ottoman empire faded, and it lost most of its territories in Europe. It collapsed in 1922. The countries of the Balkans still have large populations of native Muslims. Many of these Muslims have become secular.

The term "Muslim Europe" is used for the Muslim-majority countries of Albania, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Transcontinental countries, such as Turkey, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have large Muslim populations, as does Russia in the North Caucasus.

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, large numbers of Muslims immigrated to Western Europe. By 2010, an estimated 44 million Muslims were living in Europe (6%), including an estimated 19 million in the EU (3.8%). They are projected to be 8% by 2030. They are often the subject of intense discussion and political controversy created by events such as terrorist attacks, the cartoons affair in Denmark, debates over Islamic dress, and ongoing support for populist right-wing parties that view Muslims as a threat to European culture. Such events have also fueled growing debate regarding the topic of Islamophobia, attitudes toward Muslims and the populist right.

The country where most Muslims live in western Europe today is France, where they account for 12.5% of the population. In the European Union, Bulgaria probably has the largest Muslim population, about 15 % of Bulgarians said they were Muslims.

• Hourani, Albert (2002). A History of the Arab Peoples. Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-21591-2.

Images for kids

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  Alhambra in Granada, Spain.

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  Arab-Norman art and architecture in the Emirate of Sicily combined Occidental features (such as the Classical pillars and friezes) with typical Arabic decorations and calligraphy.

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  "Araz" coat of arms of Polish Tatar nobility. Tatar coats of arms often included motifs related to Islam.

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  Averroes was influential in the rise of secular thought in Western Europe.

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  Log pod Mangartom Mosque, the only mosque ever built in Slovenia, constructed in the town of Log pod Mangartom during World War I.

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  The Ottoman campaign for territorial expansion in Europe in 1566, Crimean Tatars as vanguard.

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  The King's Mosque in Pristina, Kosovo

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  The Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent awaits the arrival of the Greek Muslim Grand Vizier Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha at Buda, in the year 1529.

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  Medieval Bulgaria particularly the city of Sofia, was the administrative centre of almost all Ottoman possessions in the Balkans also known as Rumelia.

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  Painting of the bazaar at Athens, Ottoman Greece, early 19th century

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  Registration of Christian boys for the tribute in blood. Ottoman miniature painting, 1558.

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  Muslim-majority areas in Europe

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  Mosque of Twenty-Five Prophets in Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia

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  Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

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  The Great Mosque of Paris, built after World War I.

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  According to the Pew Research Center, Europe's population was 6% Muslim in 2010, and is projected to be 8% Muslim by 2030. (The data does not take into account population movements from the Middle East and Africa since the migration crisis.)

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  Islam in the Balkans, density of mosques and major highways highlighting the major works of Yugoslavia's Brotherhood and Unity motorway.

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  Mosque of Rome, the largest in the European Union

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  The East London Mosque was one of the first in Britain to be allowed to use loudspeakers to broadcast the adhan.

See also

In Spanish: Islam en Europa para niños