Historien om den tidlige muslimske tilstedeværelse og dens oprindelse i Europa

Contrary to widespread opinion, Islam is not in any way a new phenomenon in Europe. Its followers, Muslim merchants or armed forces, reached the continent very early, shortly after its creation. Naturally, in the case of armed groups, they were not peace expeditions; still, they helped to elucidate the identity of Europeans in contrast to those who were of foreign faith and origin. The inhabitants of our continent called themselves Europeans for the first time in 732, in a chronicle describing Christians threatened by the Muslim expansion. It is possible to divide the history of the emergence (and disappearance) of Muslims in Europe into two periods: until the second half of the 20th century and from the second half of the 20th century. Communities with roots dating back to the first half of the 20th century are indigenous, while communities that appeared in the second half of the 20th century and later are widely considered allochthons with fresh immigrant roots. As mentioned above, Islam as a religion is not a new phenomenon in Europe. At various times, some European regions were also under Islamic rule, at which time a large part of their population adopted Islam. This is true for a large part of the Iberian Peninsula (between the 8th and 15th centuries), Sicily (9th and 11th centuries), southern Italy (9th and 10th centuries), and later the Balkan Peninsula (13th and 19th centuries). Speaking of Europe, one should also remember the Islamised areas to the east and south of Europe conquered by Russia (in the 16th to 19th centuries).