Islam and Muslims in Europe

EICRI is the front-runner in observing the muslim population in Western-Europe. As of 2016, the situation in which the muslims live is changing like never before. Islamophobia, terrorism, hate-crimes; these and other subjects have a large impact on the lives of muslim inhabitants in Europe. It’s important for all to know that Islam gained its first foothold in continental Europe in 711 with the Umayyad conquest 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. Muslim civilians were expelled from Spain and by 1614 none remained in Spain.[2] Islam entered Eastern and Southeastern Europe in what are now parts of Russia and Bulgaria in the 7th[3] and 13th century, respectively. Following the Muslim conquest of Persia, Islam for the first time penetrated into regions that would later become part of Russia.[4] 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 (such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Montenegro) continue to have large populations of native, European Muslims. Transcontinental countries, such as Turkey, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have large Muslim populations.