ABSTRACT
During certain periods of time the presence of Islam has been strongly felt in southern Europe. This applies in particular to the Iberian peninsula in the Middle Ages and the Balkans under Ottoman rule. Even now, in the early 2000s, there are high numbers of Muslims in countries of south-eastern Europe, especially in Albania and Bosnia. In some southern parts of Russia, Islam has a long and important history too. During recent decades, the number of Muslims in other parts of Europe has increased rapidly, mainly because of labour immigration and the arrival of refugees from predominantly Muslim parts of the world. Countries with a colonial past, particularly France and Great Britain, now have substantial Muslim minorities. While the majority of the British Muslims originally came from South Asia, most of France’s Muslims have a North African, especially Algerian, origin. In Germany, the Muslims have a primarily Turkish background. However, since a large-scale immigration of Muslims to Central, Western and Northern Europe has now continued for more than half a century, the majority of Europe’s Muslims were born here. Thus the influence of second-and third-generation Muslims in the shaping of Islam in this part of the world is now of vital significance.
