Islamic Religion in Europe

Islam in Europe

Early history

Islam came to Europe in various ways, including conquest, exploration and trade. A wealth of new research has uncovered new details regarding Islamic inhabitants in Europe in the Middle Ages. For example, we now have reports of a Muslim community in 12th century Hungary with roots in Muslim merchants, they were having commerce with Asia over the Silk Road. In addition, there are reports of an Islamic community worshiping in wooden Mosques near Vilnius in the 1500s, under the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Current Position Of Muslims In Europe

According to the German Central Institute Islam Archive, the total number of Muslims in Europe in 2007 was about 53 million, including 16 million in the European Union.
The Muslim population in Europe is extremely diverse with varied histories and origins. Today, the Muslim-majority regions of Europe are Albania, Kosovo, parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and some Russian regions in Northern Caucasus and the Volga region. The Muslim-dominated Sandžak of Novi Pazar is divided between Serbia and Montenegro. They consist predominantly of indigenous Europeans of the Muslim faith whose religious tradition dates back several hundred years. The transcontinental countries of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan also are Muslim majority. The Muslim population in Western Europe is composed primarily of peoples who arrived to the European continent from across the Muslim world during or after the 1950s.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that of the Albanian people, 39% to 70% of those in Albania are Muslim, 91% of them in Kosovo, and 99% of them in Macedonia are Muslim. Bosnia has a Muslim plurality. In transcontinental countries such as 99% in Turkey, 93% in Azerbaijan and 57% in Kazakhstan of the population is Muslim respectively. Muslims also form about one fifth of the population of Montenegro. In Russia, Moscow is home to an estimated 1.5 million Muslims.

Muslims in West Europe settle in largely urban areas. Muslim population in selected European cities is as high as 25% in Rotterdam (Netherlands), 24% in Amsterdam (Netherlands), 20% in Marseille (France), 17% in Brussels (Belgium), 16% in Bradford (UK) and in while in others, like Paris, London and Copenhagen, the figure is 10%

Sources : Wikipedia - BBC 

Last Updated on Tuesday, 09 February 2010 11:36