A growing number of Muslim refugees in Europe are converting to Christianity, according to churches, which have conducted mass baptisms in some places.
- Does England Have More Christians Churches Than Muslims Mosques In The United States
- Does England Have More Christians Churches Than Muslims Mosques Today
Reliable data on conversions is not available but anecdotal evidence suggests a pattern of rising church attendance by Muslims who have fled conflict, repression and economic hardship in countries across the Middle East and central Asia.
Sims 4 mod folder.
Sims 4 mod folder.
Complex factors behind the trend include heartfelt faith in a new religion, gratitude to Christian groups offering support during perilous and frightening journeys, and an expectation that conversion may aid asylum applications.
At Trinity church in the Berlin suburb of Steglitz, the congregation has grown from 150 two years ago to almost 700, swollen by Muslim converts, according to Pastor Gottfried Martens. Earlier this year, churches in Berlin and Hamburg reportedly held mass conversions for asylum seekers at municipal swimming pools.
The Austrian Catholic church logged 300 applications for adult baptism in the first three months of 2016, with the Austrian pastoral institute estimating 70% of those converting are refugees.
At Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral in the UK, a weekly Persian service attracts between 100 and 140 people. Nearly all are migrants from Iran, Afghanistan and elsewhere in central Asia.
One in four confirmations conducted by the bishop of Bradford, Toby Howarth, over the past year were of converts from Islam. Most were Iranian and most of those were asylum seekers.
Mohammad Eghtedarian, a curate at Liverpool Cathedral and a refugee from Iran who converted to Christianity and was later ordained, said the church was helping people to develop their faith and to apply for refugee status. “These two are intertwined. Most people apply for asylum on the basis of their religion,” he said.
Maybe, I thought, Islam was a religion that began with violence
Islam in England is the largest non-Christian religion, with most Muslims being immigrants from South Asia (in particular Bangladesh, Pakistan and North India) or descendants of immigrants from that region. Many others are from Muslim-dominated regions such as the Middle East, Afghanistan, Malaysia and Somalia, and other parts of African countries such as Nigeria, Uganda and Sierra Leone.[1]
According to the 2011 Census, 2.7 million Muslims live in England and Wales, up by almost 1 million from the previous census, where they form 5.0% of the general population[2] and 9.1% of children under the age of five.[3]
- 1History
- 3Denominations
- 4Ethnic groups
- 6Position in society
- 7Notable mosques
History[edit]
Middle Ages[edit]
A mancus / gold dinar of king Offa, copied from the dinars of the Abbasid Caliphate (774); it includes the Arabic text Muhammad is the Apostle of Allah, a line from the Shahada.
Although Islam is generally thought of as a recent arrival in England, there was minor contact between the English and Muslims for many centuries.
An early example is the decision of Offa, the 8th-century King of Mercia (one of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms existing at that time), to have a coin minted with an Islamic inscription - largely a copy of coins issued by a contemporary Muslim ruler, CaliphAl-Mansur. These coins may have been minted simply for prestige or to facilitate trade with the expanding Caliphate of Córdoba, as Islamic gold dinars were the most important coinage in the Mediterranean at the time. Offa's coin looked enough like the original that it would be readily accepted in southern Europe, while at the same time his own name was clearly visible.[4]
References to Britain are also found in early Islamic geographical literature, such as the 9th century work of Ahmad ibn Rustah, which describes the islands of 'Bratiniya'.[5]
Muslim scholarship, especially early Islamic philosophy and Islamic science, was well known through Latin translation among the learned in England by 1386, when Geoffrey Chaucer was writing. In the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, there is among the pilgrims wending their way to Canterbury a 'Doctour of Phisyk' whose learning included Rhazes (Al-Razi), Avicenna (Ibn Sina, Arabic ابن سينا) and Averroes (Ibn Rushd, Arabic ابن رشد). In the Pardoner's Tale, Chaucer mentions part of Avicenna's work concerning poisons.[6] Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine (1025), in Latin translation, was a standard text for medical students up until the 18th century.[7]Roger Bacon, one of the earliest European advocates of the scientific method,[8] is known to have studied the works of several early Muslim philosophers.[9][10] In particular, his work on optics in the 13th century was influenced by the Book of Optics (1021) by Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen).[11]
Professor John Makdisi's article 'The Islamic Origins of the Common Law', published in the North Carolina Law Review,[12] curiously suggested that Englishcommon law was inspired by medieval Islamic law.[13] Makdisi drew comparisons between the 'royal English contract protected by the action of debt' and the 'Islamic Aqd', the 'English assize of novel disseisin' (a petty assize adopted in the 1166 at the Assizes of Clarendon) and the 'Islamic Istihqaq', and the 'English jury' and the 'Islamic Lafif' in the classical Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence, and argued that these institutions were transmitted to England by the Normans,[12] 'through the close connection between the Norman kingdoms of Roger II in Sicily — ruling over a conquered Islamic administration — and Henry II in England.'[14] Makdisi also argued that the 'law schools known as Inns of Court' in England (which he asserts are parallel to Madrasahs) may have also originated from Islamic law.[12] He states that the methodology of legal precedent and reasoning by analogy (Qiyas) are also similar in both the Islamic and common law systems.[15] Other legal scholars such as Monica Gaudiosi, Gamal Moursi Badr and A. Hudson have argued that the English trust and agency institutions, which were introduced by Crusaders, may have been adapted from the Islamic Waqf and Hawala institutions they came across in the Middle East.[16][17][18] Paul Brand also notes parallels between the Waqf and the trusts used to establish Merton College by Walter de Merton, who had connections with the Knights Templar, but Brand also points out that the Knights Templar were primarily concerned with fighting the Muslims rather than learning from them, making it less likely that they would imitate Muslim legal institutions.[13]
Early modern period[edit]
The first English convert to Islam mentioned by name is John Nelson.[19] The 16th-century writer Richard Hakluyt claimed he was forced to convert, though he mentions in the same story other Englishmen who had converted willingly.
- This king had a son which was a ruler in an island called Gerbi, whereunto arrived an English ship called the Green Dragon, of the which was master one M. Blonket, who, having a very unhappy boy on that ship, and understanding that whosoever would turn Turk should be well entertained of the a yeoman of our Queen's guard, whom the king's son had enforced to turn Turk; his name was John Nelson.[20]
Does England Have More Christians Churches Than Muslims Mosques In The United States
Portrait of Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud, a Moorish ambassador to Queen Elizabeth I in 1600
Captain John Ward of Kent was one of a number of British sailors who became pirates based in the Maghreb who also converted to Islam (see also Barbary pirates).
Unitarians became interested in the faith, and Henry Stubbes wrote so favourably about Islam that it is thought he too had converted to the faith.
From 1609 to 1616, England lost 466 ships to Barbary pirates, who sold the passengers into slavery in North Africa.[21] In 1625, it was reported that Lundy, an island in the Bristol Channel which had been a pirate lair for much of the previous half century, had been occupied by three Ottoman pirates who were threatening to burn Ilfracombe; Algerine rovers were using the island as a base in 1635, although the island had itself been attacked and plundered by a Spanish raid in 1633.[22] In 1627, Barbary pirates under command of the Dutch renegade Jan Janszoon operating from the Moroccan port of Salé occupied Lundy, before they were expelled by Sir John Pennington.[22][23] During this time there were reports of captured slaves being sent to Algiers and of the Islamic flag flying over Lundy.[24][25]
The Muslim Moors had a noticeable influence on the works of George Peele and William Shakespeare. Some of their works featured Moorish characters, such as Peele's The Battle of Alcazar and Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Titus Andronicus and Othello, which featured a Moorish Othello as its title character. These works are said to have been inspired by several Moorish delegations from Morocco to Elizabethan England around 1600.[26] A portrait was painted of one of the Moorish ambassadors, Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud ben Mohammed Anoun, who had come to promote an Anglo-Moroccan alliance.
Turbans were worn in Renaissance England. While friendly relations were formed between England and the Islamic civilizations of the Middle East in the early 16th century, Persian and Turkish style fashions were sometimes worn by the higher classes as a form of party or fancy dress.
Elizabeth I of England was one of the earliest British monarchs to establish relations, alliances and trade with Muslim majority countries.
Diplomatic relations were also established with the Ottoman Empire with the chartering of the Levant Company and the dispatch of the first English ambassador to the Porte, William Harborne, in 1578.[27] For the first time, a Treaty of Commerce was signed in 1580.[28] Numerous envoys were dispatched in both directions and epistolar exchanges occurred between Elizabeth and Sultan Murad III.[27] In one correspondence, Murad entertained the notion that Islam and Protestantism had 'much more in common than either did with Roman Catholicism, as both rejected the worship of idols', and argued for an alliance between England and the Ottoman Empire.[29] To the dismay of Catholic Europe, England exported tin and lead (for cannon-casting) and ammunition to the Ottoman Empire, and Elizabeth seriously discussed joint military operations with Murad III during the outbreak of war with Spain in 1585, as Francis Walsingham was lobbying for a direct Ottoman military involvement against the common Spanish enemy.[30][31] Although she never did receive any assistance from the Ottomans, her relations with the sultans did not waver.[31]
In 17th-century England, there was a 'second wave' of interest in the study of Arabic science and Islamic philosophy. Arabic manuscripts were considered the key to a 'treasure house' of ancient knowledge, which led to the founding of Arabic chairs at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, where Arabic was taught. A large collection of Arabic manuscripts were acquired, collected in places such as the Bodleian Library at Oxford. These Arabic manuscripts were sought after by natural philosophers for their research in subjects such as observational astronomy or mathematics, and also encompassed subjects ranging from science, religion, and medicine, to typography and garden plants.[32]
Besides scientific and philosophical literature, works of Arabic fictional literature were also translated into Latin and English during the 17th and 18th centuries. The most famous of these was the One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights), which was first translated into English in 1706 and has since then had a profound influence on English literature. Another famous work was Ibn Tufail's philosophical novel[33][34]Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, which was translated into Latin as Philosophus Autodidactus by Edward Pococke the Younger in 1671 and then into English by Simon Ockley in 1708. The English translation of Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, set on a desert island, may have inspired Daniel Defoe to write Robinson Crusoe, considered the first novel in English, in 1719.[35][36][37][38] Later translated literary works include Layla and Majnun and Ibn al-Nafis' Theologus Autodidactus.
Bengal (now Bangladesh and West Bengal), an affluent province of Mughal India with a Muslim majority and Hindu minority, was conquered by the British East India Company at the Battle of Plassey in 1757. The plunder of Bengal directly contributed to the Industrial Revolution in England,[39][40][41][42] with the capital amassed from Bengal used to invest in British industries such as textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution and greatly increase British wealth, while at the same time leading to deindustrialization in Bengal.[39][40][41] With the establishment of British India, the British Empire ruled over a large Muslim population.[43][44][45]
By the time of Union with Scotland in 1707, only small numbers of Muslims were living in England. The first large group of Muslims to arrive, in the 18th century, were lascars (sailors) recruited from the Indian subcontinent (largely from the Bengal region) to work for the British East India Company, many of whom settled down and took local wives.[46] 38 lascars are reported arriving in British ports in 1760.[47][48] Between 1803 and 1813, there were more than 10,000 lascars from the Indian subcontinent visiting British port cities and towns.[49] By 1842, 3,000 lascars visited the UK annually, and by 1855, 12,000 lascars were arriving annually in British ports. In 1873, 3,271 lascars arrived in Britain.[50] Throughout the early 19th century lascars visited Britain at a rate of 1,000 every year,[49] which increased to a rate of 10,000 to 12,000 every year throughout the late 19th century.[51][52]
Due to the majority being lascars, the earliest Muslim communities were found in port towns. Naval cooks also came, many of them from the Sylhet Division of what is now Bangladesh. One of the most famous early Bengali Muslim immigrants to England was Sake Dean Mahomet, a captain of the British East India Company who in 1810 founded London's first Indian restaurant, the Hindoostane Coffee House. He is also reputed for introducing shampoo and therapeutic massage to the United Kingdom.[53]
Modern era[edit]
By 1911, the British Empire had a Muslim population of 94 million, larger than the empire's 58 million Christian population.[45] By the 1920s, the British Empire included roughly half of the world's Muslim population.[44] More than 400,000 Muslim soldiers of the British Indian Army fought for Britain during World War I, where 62,060 were killed in action,[54] and half a million Muslim soldiers of the British Indian Army fought for Britain against the Nazis in World War II.[55]David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922, stated: 'we are the greatest Mahomedan power in the world and one-fourth of the population of the British Empire is Mahomedan. There have been no more loyal adherents to the throne and no more effective and loyal supporters of the Empire in its hour of trial.' This statement was later reiterated by Gandhi in 1920.[43]
Muslim mass immigration to Britain began after World War II, as a result of the destruction and labour shortages caused by the war.[56][57] Muslim migrants from former British colonies, predominantly India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh,[56] were recruited in large numbers by government and businesses to rebuild the country.[58] Large numbers of doctors recruited from India and Pakistan, encouraged by health minister Enoch Powell in the early 1960s, also played a key role in the establishment of the NHS health service.[59]
British Asian Muslims faced discrimination and racism following Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood speech and the establishment of the National Front in the late 1960s. This included overt racism in the form of Paki bashing, predominantly from white power skinheads, the National Front, and the British National Party, throughout the 1970s and 1980s.[60] Drawing inspiration from the Indian independence movement, the black power movement, and the anti-apartheid movement, young British Pakistani and British Bangladeshi activists began a number of anti-racist Asian youth movements in the 1970s and 1980s, including the Bradford Youth Movement in 1977, the Bangladeshi Youth Movement following the murder of Altab Ali in 1978, and the Newham Youth Movement following the murder of Akhtar Ali Baig in 1980.[61]
Demography and ethnic background[edit]
According to the 2011 Census, 2.7 million Muslims live in England and Wales, where they form 5.0% of the population.[2]
Number of Muslims | Muslims as % of ethnic group | Ethnic group as % of Muslims | |
---|---|---|---|
White | 179,733 | 0.4 | 11.6 |
White British | 63,042 | 0.1 | 4.1 |
White Irish | 890 | 0.1 | <0.1 |
Other White | 115,841 | 8.6 | 7.5 |
Mixed | 64,262 | 9.7 | 4.2 |
White & Black Caribbean | 1,385 | 0.6 | 0.1 |
White & Black African | 10,523 | 13.3 | 0.7 |
White & Asian | 30,397 | 16.1 | 2.0 |
Other Mixed | 21,957 | 14.1 | 1.4 |
Asian or Asian British | 1,139,065 | 50.1 | 73.7 |
Indian | 131,662 | 12.7 | 8.5 |
Pakistani | 657,680 | 92.0 | 42.5 |
Bangladeshi | 261,776 | 92.5 | 16.8 |
Other Asian | 90,013 | 37.3 | 5.8 |
Black or Black British | 106,345 | 9.3 | 6.9 |
Black Caribbean | 4,477 | 0.8 | 0.3 |
Black African | 96,136 | 20.0 | 6.2 |
Other Black | 5,732 | 6.0 | 0.4 |
Chinese | 752 | 0.3 | <0.1 |
Other Ethnic Group | 56,429 | 25.7 | 3.7 |
Total | 1,546,626 | 3.0 | 100 |
The settlements with large number of Muslims are Bradford, Luton, Blackburn, Birmingham, London and Dewsbury. There are also high numbers in High Wycombe, Slough, Leicester, Derby, Manchester and the mill towns of Northern England.
Muslim population in English local authority areas. 0.0%-0.9%
2%-4.9%
10%-19.9%
The local authorities with a Muslim population greater than 10 percent in 2001 were:
- London Borough of Tower Hamlets 36.4% 71,389
- London Borough of Newham 24.3% 59,293
- Blackburn with Darwen 19.4% 26,674
- City of Bradford 16.1% 75,188
- London Borough of Waltham Forest 15.1% 32,902
- Luton 14.6% 26,963
- Birmingham 14.3% 139,771
- High Wycombe 14.1%, 9,708
- London Borough of Hackney 13.8% 27,908
- London Borough of Enfield 13.5% 37,388
- Pendle 13.4% 11,988
- Slough 13.4% 15,897
- London Borough of Brent 12.3% 32,290
- London Borough of Redbridge 11.9% 28,487
- City of Westminster 11.8% 21,346
- London Borough of Camden 11.6% 22,906
- London Borough of Haringey 11.3% 24,371
- Metropolitan Borough of Oldham 11.1% 24,039
- Leicester 11.0% 30,885
- London Borough of Ealing 10.3% 31,033
- Kirklees 10.1% 39,312
Most large cities have one area that is majority Muslim even if the rest of the city has a fairly small Muslims population; see, for example, Harehills in Leeds. In addition, it is possible to find small areas that are almost entirely Muslim: for example, Savile Town in Dewsbury.[63]
In September 2009, the ONS published information showing that Mohammed (or variations of it) was the third most popular boys' name in England and Wales.[64]
Some 38% of England's Muslims live in London, where 1,012,823 identified as Muslim in 2011, representing 12.4% of London's population of 8,173,941.[2]
Denominations[edit]
Ahmadiyya[edit]
The headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Community are currently in London. It established itself there in 1912. Ahmadis are especially common in Morden. Alton, Hampshire acts as Annual International Conventions of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.[65] Other mosques of the group include the Jamia Ahmadiyya and Baitul Ikram Mosque in Leicester.
Shia[edit]
Shia mosques are usually Twelvers but cater to Zaydis and Ismailis also and they usually to include facilities for women. There are 200,000 Shias in Britain from Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey and elsewhere.[66] Various Shia mosques include the Husseini Islamic Centre in Stanmore, Harrow which acts as one of the main Shia Muslim mosques in Britain. Others include Al Masjid ul Husseini in Northolt, Ealing, Imam Khoei Islamic Centre in Queens Park, Brent & Islamic Centre of England, Maida Vale.
Ethnic groups[edit]
Sadiq Khan, a British Pakistani and the first Muslim elected as Mayor of London.
Pakistanis[edit]
The single largest group of Muslims in England and Wales are of Pakistani descent. Pakistanis from Mirpur District were one of the first South Asian Muslim communities to permanently settle in the United Kingdom, arriving in Birmingham and Bradford in the late 1930s. Immigration from Mirpur grew from the late 1950s, accompanied by immigration from other parts of Pakistan especially from Punjab which included cities like Sialkot, Jhelum, Gujar Khan and Gujrat and also from the north-west Punjab including the ChhachhiPathans from Attock District, and some from villages of Ghazi, Nowshera and Peshawar. There is also a fairly large Pakistani community from Kenya and Uganda found in London. People of Pakistani extraction are particularly notable in West Midlands (Birmingham), West Yorkshire (Bradford), London (Waltham Forest, Newham), Lancashire/Greater Manchester, and several industrial towns like Luton, Slough, High Wycombe and Oxford.
Bangladeshis[edit]
People of Bangladeshi descent are one of the largest Muslim communities (after Pakistanis), 16.8% of Muslims in England and Wales are of Bangladeshi descent, the ethnic group in the UK with the largest proportion of people following a single religion, being 92% Muslim.[67] Majority of these Muslim come from the Sylhet region of Bangladesh, mainly concentrated in London (Tower Hamlets and Newham), Luton, Birmingham and Oldham. The Bangladeshi Muslim community in London form 24% of the Muslim population, larger than any other ethnic group.[68]
Initial limited mosque availability meant that prayers were conducted in small rooms of council flats until the 1980s when more and larger facilities became available. Some synagogues and community buildings were turned into mosques and existing mosques began to expand their buildings. This process has continued down to the present day with the East London Mosque recently expanding into a large former car park where the London Muslim Centre is now used for prayers, recreational facilities and housing.[69][70] Most people regard themselves as part of the ummah, and their identity based on their religion rather than their ethnic group.[71]Cultural aspects of a 'Bengali Islam' are seen as superstition and as un-Islamic.[71] The identity is far stronger in comparison to the native land. Younger Bangladeshis are more involved in Islamist activities and movement groups, whereas the older generation practice with Islamic rituals mixed with the Bengali culture.[citation needed] Many Bangladeshi women wear the burqa and many young women or girls also wear the headscarf.[citation needed]
There are groups which are active throughout Bangladeshi communities such as The Young Muslim Organization. It is connected to the Islamic Forum Europe, associated with the East London Mosque and the London Muslim Centre – all of which have connections with the Bangladesh Islamic party, the Jamaat-e-Islami (linked with some community mosques, which also linked with the Dawat-e-Islami).[citation needed] Other groups also attract a few people, the Hizb ut-Tahrir – which calls for the Khilafah (caliphate) and influences by publishing annual magazines, and lectures through mainly political concepts,[72] and the other which is a movement within Sunni Islam is the Salafi – who view the teachings of the first generations as the correct one,[73] and appeals to younger Muslims as a way to differentiate themselves towards their elders.[69][74] Other large groups include another Sunni movement, the Barelwi – mainly of a Fultoli movement[citation needed] (led by Abdul Latif Chowdhury in Bangladesh), and the Tablighi Jamaat – which is a missionary and revival movement,[75] and avoids political attention. All these groups work to stimulate Islamic identity among local Bengalis or Muslims and particularly focus on the younger members of the communities.[70][76][77]
Indians[edit]
8% of Muslims in England and Wales are of Indian descent, especially those who are from Gujarat, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The Gujarati Muslims from Surat and Bharuch districts in India started to arrive from the 1930s, settling in the towns of Dewsbury and Batley in Yorkshire and parts of Lancashire. There are large numbers of Gujarati Muslims in Dewsbury, Blackburn (inc. Darwen), Bolton, Preston, Nuneaton, Gloucester and London (Newham, Waltham Forest and Hackney). Immigration of Muslims into UK, was primarily started off by Indians during the colonial rule.
Somalis[edit]
The United Kingdom, with 43,532 Somalia-born residents in 2001,[78] and an estimated 101,000 in 2008,[79] is home to the largest Somali community in Europe. A 2009 estimate by Somali community organisations puts the Somali population figure at 90,000 residents.[80] Although most Somalis in the UK are recent arrivals, the first Somali immigrants were seamen and traders who arrived and settled in port cities in the late 19th century.[80] Established Somali communities are found in Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool and London, and newer ones have formed in Leicester, Manchester and Sheffield.[81][82] It has been estimated that between 7,000 and 9,000 Somalis live in Liverpool.[83][84]
Turks[edit]
Turks first began to emigrate in large numbers from the island of Cyprus for work and then again when Turkish Cypriots were forced to leave their homes during the Cyprus conflict.[citation needed] Turks then began to come from Turkey for economic reasons. Recently, smaller groups of Turks have begun to immigrate to the United Kingdom from other European countries.[85] As of 2011, there is a total of about 500,000 people of Turkish origin in the UK,[86] made up of approximately 150,000 Turkish nationals and about 300,000 Turkish Cypriots.[87] Furthermore, in recent years, there has been a growing number of ethnic Turks with Bulgarian, German, Greek, Macedonian, and Romanian citizenship who have also migrated to the United Kingdom.[87] The majority live in London.
White (European)[edit]
Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, author of The Meaning of the Glorious Koran.
The 2001 census stated that there were 179,733 Muslims who described themselves as 'white' in the 2001 census. 65% of white Muslims described themselves as 'other white', and would likely have originated from locations such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Adyghe, Chechnya, Albania, Macedonia and Turkey. The remainder of white Muslims identified themselves as White British and White Irish.
Nigerian[edit]
There are also a number of Muslim immigrants in England that arrived from Nigeria. Nigerian Muslims in the UK are represented by several community organizations, including the Nigeria Muslim forum, which is affiliated with the Council of Nigerian Muslim Organisations in UK and Ireland (CNMO) and the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB).[88]
Maghrebis[edit]
Although data is short, findings indicate Maghrebis make up a substantial community in Europe and England. Britain has long ties with Maghrebis, through contact with the Moors. Nevertheless, Britain has a far lower count of Maghrebis in comparison to France, the Netherlands and Spain, where the majority of Muslims are Maghrebi.[89]
Terrorism[edit]
Social disturbance began in the Muslim community in England in 1988 with the publication of the satirical novel The Satanic Verses in London. Ayatollah Khomeini condemned the book with a fatwa in 1989.[90]The Satanic Verses controversy led to Muslim men first in Bolton[91] and then in Bradford[92] organised book-burnings.
The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of coordinated blasts that hit the public transport system during the morning rush hour, killing 52 people and also the four bombers. The latter were British Muslims, three of Pakistani and one of Jamaican heritage. They were apparently motivated by Britain's involvement in the Iraq War and other conflicts.[93][94]
In March 2010, a Fatwa against terrorism was pronounced by a leading Sufi scholar in London.[citation needed]
In May 2013, British soldier Lee Rigby was publicly killed in Woolwich, London. Two converts to Islam of Nigerian heritage were found guilty of the murder, one of them having claimed to be a soldier of Allah as his unsuccessful legal defence.[95]
In 2017, there were four terrorist attacks: the Westminster attack, the Manchester Arena bombing, the 2017 London Bridge attack and the Parsons Green train bombing.
Position in society[edit]
Poverty[edit]
According to analysis based on the 2001 census, Muslims in England face poor standards of housing, poorer levels of education and are more vulnerable to long-term illness,[96] and that Muslims in the UK had the highest rate of unemployment, the poorest health, the most disability and fewest educational qualifications among religious groups.[97] The figures were, to some extent, explained by the fact that Muslims were the least well-established group, having the youngest age profile.[97]
Conversely, there are estimated to be around 10,000 British Muslim millionaires.[98] There is a growing substantial British Muslim business community, led by multi-millionaires such as Sir Anwar Pervez.[99]
Education[edit]
On a study of more than 13,000 young people, approximately 53% of British Muslims choose to attend university.[100] This is higher than the figure for Christians (45%) and Atheists (32%), but lower than the figure of Hindus and Sikhs, who score 77% and 63% respectively.[100]
Muslim schools regularly outperform those of other faiths. For example, in 2008, 86.5% of pupils attending Muslim schools achieved five GCSEs, compared to a figure of 72.8% of Roman Catholic schools and 64.5% of Secular schools.[citation needed]
Discrimination[edit]
There have been cases of threats,[101] one alleged fatal attack,[102] and non-fatal attacks on Muslims and on Muslim targets, including attacks on Muslim graves[103] and mosques.[104] In January 2010, a report from the University of Exeter's European Muslim Research Centre noted that the number of anti-Muslim hate crimes has increased, ranging from 'death threats and murder to persistent low-level assaults, such as spitting and name-calling,' for which the media and politicians have been blamed with fueling anti-Muslim hatred.[105][106][107]
The British media has been criticised for propagating negative stereotypes of Muslims and fueling anti-Muslim prejudice.[108] In 2006, British cabinet ministers were criticised for helping to 'unleash a public anti-Muslim backlash' by blaming the Muslim community over issues of integration despite a study commissioned by the Home Office on white and Asian-Muslim youths demonstrating otherwise: that Asian-Muslim youths 'are in fact the most tolerant of all' and that white British youths 'have far more intolerant attitudes,' concluding that intolerance from the white British community was a greater 'barrier to integration.'[109][110] Another survey by Gallup in 2009 also found that the Muslim community claimed to feel more patriotic about Britain than the general British population,[111][112] while another survey found that Muslims assert that they support the role of Christianity in British life more so than Christians themselves.[113] In January 2010, the British Social Attitudes Survey found that the general British public 'is far more likely to hold negative views of Muslims than of any other religious group,' with 'just one in four' feeling 'positively about Islam,' and a 'majority of the country would be concerned if a mosque was built in their area, while only 15 per cent expressed similar qualms about the opening of a church.'[114] The 'scapegoating' of Muslims by the media and politicians in the 21st century has been compared in the media to the rise of antisemitism in the early 20th century.[115]
After high-profile cases in provincial England, allegations of religiously motivated paedophilia by Muslims has been described as the 'most significant right-wing propaganda technique'.[116] An ITV investigation in 2013 found that of 56 mosques surveyed (pre-dominantly South Asian), 18 were willing to perform a forced marriage of a minor, whilst around 66% 'refused outright'.[117]
Views on Islam in London[edit]
A poll by the London Evening Standard in December 2007, which surveyed a range of the capital's communities, including Muslims, found that 49% of those surveyed considered Islam as generally intolerant, while 44% saw it as generally tolerant. A total of 51% felt that Muslims were isolated from other communities to a degree, with 12% believing that the majority of them were. A large majority (81% to 7%) believed that the most holy day in Islam, Eid, should not be celebrated by the British state, and 88% opposed Muslim teachers covering their faces at work (see British debate over veils). A majority (55%) wanted immigration of Muslims to be cut, with 33% wanting it cut greatly. Islam was seen as the cause of the 7 July attacks on the city in 2005 by 52% of the population, with 35% seeing it as a major factor. Views from the survey which were not in line with the largely negative views included that 71% would vote for a Muslim Mayor of London if they were the best candidate (with 16% against such a vote).[118]
Notable mosques[edit]
In London[edit]
The London Central Mosque, built in 1977.
London's Baitul Futuh Mosque of the Ahmadiyya Muslims - the largest Ahmadi mosque complex in Europe.[119]
- Fazl Mosque, the first mosque in London, built in 1926 and residence of the Caliph Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the de facto world headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Muslims
- The Baitul Futuh mosque
- Finsbury Park Mosque, de-radicalised
- London Central Mosque, aka the Islamic Cultural Centre in Regent's Park
Elsewhere[edit]
Jamea Masjid in Preston, known for its architectural design.
- Jamea Masjid in Preston
- Shah Jahan Mosque in Woking was the first purpose built mosque in Britain
- Markazi mosque in Dewsbury
- Al-Rahma mosque in Liverpool
- Al Mahdi Mosque in Bradford
- Medina Mosque in Sheffield
- Darul Barakaat Mosque in Birmingham
See also[edit]
Literature[edit]
- Lewis, Philip: Islamic Britain: religion, politics and identity among British Muslims; Bradford in the 1990s, London: Tauris, 1994. ISBN1-85043-861-7
- Matar, Nabil Turks, Moors, and Englishmen in the Age of Discovery, Columbia University Press, 2000. ISBN0-231-11015-4
References[edit]
- ^'Born Abroad - Countries of birth'. BBC. 2005-09-07. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
- ^ abc'2011 Census: KS209EW Religion, local authorities in England and Wales'. ons.gov.uk. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
- ^The Daily Telegraph: 'Almost a tenth of babies and toddlers in England and Wales are Muslim, census figures show' By Keith Perry January 10, 2013
- ^Gold imitation dinar of OffaArchived 2012-09-12 at Archive.today, British Museum
- ^Bernard Lewis (1957). 'The Muslim Discovery of Europe'. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. Cambridge University Press. 20 (1/3): 409–416 [410]. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00061954. JSTOR610392
- ^Chaucer The Canterbury Tales Harmondsworth Penguin 1951 p280 and note p522
- ^Ziauddin Sardar, Science in Islamic philosophyArchived 2009-05-05 at the Wayback Machine
- ^Randall Noon (1992). Introduction to Forensic Engineering. CRC Press. ISBN0849381029
- ^Glick, Thomas F.; Livesey, Steven John; Wallis, Faith: Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: An Encyclopedia, first edition, Routledge, 29 September 2005, ISBN978-0-415-96930-7
- ^Moorstein, Mark: Frameworks: Conflict in Balance, page 237, iUniverse, Inc., 9 June 2004, 308 pp, ISBN978-0-595-31824-7
- ^Lindberg, David C. (1996). 'Roger Bacon and the Origins of Perspectiva in the Middle Ages'. Clarendon Press: 11
- ^ abc(Makdisi 1999)
- ^ abMukul Devichand (24 September 2008). 'Is English law related to Muslim law?'. BBC News. Retrieved 2008-10-05
- ^Hussain, Jamila (2001). 'Book Review: The Justice of Islam by Lawrence Rosen'. Melbourne University Law Review. 30
- ^El-Gamal, Mahmoud A. (2006). Islamic Finance: Law, Economics, and Practice. Cambridge University Press. p. 16. ISBN0-521-86414-3
- ^Gaudiosi, Monica M. (April 1988). 'The Influence of the Islamic Law of Waqf on the Development of the Trust in England: The Case of Merton College'. University of Pennsylvania Law Review. 136 (4): 1231–1261. doi:10.2307/3312162. JSTOR3312162
- ^Badr, Gamal Moursi (Spring 1978). 'Islamic Law: Its Relation to Other Legal Systems'. The American Journal of Comparative Law. 26 (2 – Proceedings of an International Conference on Comparative Law, Salt Lake City, Utah, February 24–25, 1977): 187–198 [196–8]. doi:10.2307/839667. JSTOR839667
- ^Hudson, A. (2003). Equity and Trusts (3rd ed.). London: Cavendish Publishing. p. 32. ISBN1-85941-729-9
- ^'BBC - Error 404 : Not Found'. Archived from the original on 2013-10-22. Retrieved 2013-10-20.
- ^Voyager's Tales, 3, The voyage made to Tripolis in Barbary,1584, Richard Haklyut
- ^Rees Davies, British Slaves on the Barbary Coast, BBC, 1 July 2003
- ^ ab'Lundy'.
- ^Konstam, Angus (2008). Piracy: the complete history. Osprey Publishing. p. 91. ISBN978-1-84603-240-0. Retrieved 2011-04-15
- ^de Bruxelles, Simon (2007-02-28). 'Pirates who got away with it'. Study of sails on pirate ships. London. Retrieved 2007-11-25
- ^Davies, Norman (1996). Europe a History. Norman Davis. ISBN978-0-19-820171-7. Retrieved 2007-11-25
- ^Professor Nabil Matar (April 2004), Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Stage Moor, Sam Wanamaker Fellowship Lecture, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (cf.Mayor of London (2006), Muslims in LondonArchived June 26, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, pp. 14-15, Greater London Authority)
- ^ abKupperman, p.39
- ^The Encyclopedia of world history by Peter N. Stearns, p.353. Google Books. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
- ^Kupperman, p.40
- ^Kupperman, p.41
- ^ abNabil I. Matar, 'Renaissance England and the Turban.'
- ^G. A. Russell (1994). The Arabick interest of the natural philosophers in seventeenth-century England. Brill Publishers. ISBN90-04-09888-7
- ^Jon Mcginnis, Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology of Sources, p. 284, Hackett Publishing Company, ISBN0-87220-871-0.
- ^Samar Attar, The Vital Roots of European Enlightenment: Ibn Tufayl's Influence on Modern Western Thought, Lexington Books, ISBN0-7391-1989-3.[1]
- ^Nawal Muhammad Hassan (1980), Hayy bin Yaqzan and Robinson Crusoe: A study of an early Arabic impact on English literature, Al-Rashid House for Publication.
- ^Cyril Glasse (2001), New Encyclopedia of Islam, p. 202, Rowman Altamira, ISBN0-7591-0190-6.
- ^Amber Haque (2004), 'Psychology from Islamic Perspective: Contributions of Early Muslim Scholars and Challenges to Contemporary Muslim Psychologists', Journal of Religion and Health43 (4): 357-377 [369].
- ^Martin Wainwright, Desert island scripts, The Guardian, 22 March 2003.
- ^ abJunie T. Tong (2016). Finance and Society in 21st Century China: Chinese Culture Versus Western Markets. CRC Press. p. 151. ISBN978-1-317-13522-7.
- ^ abJohn L. Esposito, ed. (2004). The Islamic World: Past and Present. Volume 1: Abba - Hist. Oxford University Press. p. 174. ISBN978-0-19-516520-3.
- ^ abIndrajit Ray (2011). Bengal Industries and the British Industrial Revolution (1757-1857). Routledge. pp. 7–10. ISBN978-1-136-82552-1.
- ^Shombit Sengupta, Bengals plunder gifted the British Industrial Revolution, The Financial Express, February 8, 2010
- ^ abDavid Motadel (2014), Islam and the European Empires, page 267, Oxford University Press
- ^ abFrancis Robinson (2001), The British Empire and the Muslim world, The Oxford History of the British Empire, volume 4, pages 398-420, Oxford University Press
- ^ abBritish Empire, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
- ^Fisher, Michael Herbert (2006). Counterflows to Colonialism: Indian Traveller and Settler in Britain 1600–1857. Orient Blackswan. pp. 111–9, 129–30, 140, 154–6, 160–8, 172, 181. ISBN81-7824-154-4.
- ^'Lascar lives and the east India company - Archaeology - University of Southampton'.
- ^Fisher, Michael Herbert (2006). Counterflows to Colonialism. Orient Blackswan. pp. 111–9, 129–30, 140, 154–6, 160–8, 181. ISBN81-7824-154-4
- ^ abFisher, Michael H. (2004). Counterflows to Colonialism: Indian Travellers and Settlers in Britain, 1600-1857. Delhi: Permanent Black. pp. 140, 154–6, 160–8, 172. ISBN978-81-7824-154-8.
- ^Ansari, Humayun (2004). The Infidel Within: The History of Muslims in Britain, 1800 to the Present. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. p. 35. ISBN1-85065-685-1.
- ^Robinson-Dunn, Diane (February 2003). 'Lascar Sailors and English Converts: The Imperial Port and Islam in late 19th-Century England'. Seascapes, Littoral Cultures, and Trans-Oceanic Exchanges. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2009.
- ^Behal, Rana P.; van der Linden, Marcel, eds. (2006). Coolies, Capital and Colonialism: Studies in Indian Labour History. Cambridge University Press. p. 114. ISBN978-0-521-69974-7.
- ^'Curry house founder is honoured'. BBC News. 29 September 2005. Retrieved 2008-10-09
- ^The 'forgotten' army of 400,000 Muslim soldiers who fought for British freedom in World War I, Daily Mirror, 9 January 2017
- ^Ziauddin Sardar (2012), Critical Muslim 2: The Idea of Islam, page 131, Oxford University Press
- ^ abMariaCaterina La Barbera (2014), Identity and Migration in Europe: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, page 230, Springer Science+Business Media
- ^Richard D. Hecht, Vincent F. Biondo (2010), Religion and Everyday Life and Culture, page 859, ABC-CLIO
- ^Muslim Migration to Europe, University of Minnesota, 17 June 2015
- ^How migrants helped make the NHS, The Guardian, 18 June 2008
- ^Nahid Afrose Kabir (2012), Young British Muslims, Edinburgh University Press
- ^Timothy Peace (2015), European Social Movements and Muslim Activism: Another World but with Whom?, page 55, Springer Science+Business Media
- ^'Home - Office for National Statistics'.
- ^'Development of an Estates Strategy'. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2009-02-25. paragraph 4.3
- ^Max Hastings (11 September 2009). 'Mohammed is now the third most popular boy's name in England. So why this shabby effort to conceal it?'. The Daily Mail. London. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
- ^Ahmadiyya Mosques Around the World, pg. 253
- ^Esther Addley (2003-06-28). 'A glad day for mourning | World news'. The Guardian. Retrieved 2013-10-20.
- ^'Ethnicity and identity'. National Statistics. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
- ^'2001 Census Profiles: Bangladeshis in London'(PDF). Greater London Authority. Archived from the original(PDF) on April 7, 2005. Retrieved 2004-08-01.
- ^ ab'Bangladeshi Diaspora in the UK: Some observations on socio-culturaldynamics, religious trends and transnational politics'(PDF). University of Surrey. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2010-09-23. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
- ^ ab'bdirectory: Islamist politics among Bangladeshis in the UK'. David Garbin – Cronem, University of Surrey. Archived from the original on 2009-01-12. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
- ^ ab'Genetics, Religion and Identity: A Study of British Bangladeshis – 2004-2007'(PDF). School of Social Sciences – Cardiff University – funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. Retrieved 2008-09-15.
- ^'Draft Constitution by Hizb ut-Tahrir'. The Media office of Hizb-ut-Tahrir. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
- ^'Compendium of Muslim texts – Volume 3, Book 48, Number 819'. University of Southern California. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
- ^The Next Attack, By Daniel BenjaminSteven Simon, ISBN0-8050-7941-6 – Page 55
- ^M. Jawed Iqbal; Ebrahim Desai (9 June 2007). 'Inviting to Islam'. www.askimam.org. Archived from the original on 15 January 2009. Retrieved 2008-08-16
- ^'East London Mosque and London Muslim Centre'. East London Mosque. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
- ^'Bangladeshis in east London: from secular politics to Islam'. Delwar Hussain – openDemocracy: free thinking for the world. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
- ^'Country-of-birth database'. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Archived from the original on 2009-06-17. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
- ^'Table 1.3: Estimated population resident in the United Kingdom, by foreign country of birth, 60 most common countries of birth, January 2008 to December 2008'. Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 2011-06-05. Retrieved 2009-10-04. Figure given is the central estimate. See the source for 95 per cent confidence intervals.
- ^ abDissanayake, Samanthi (2008-12-04). 'British Somalis play politics from afar'. BBC News. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
- ^Casciani, Dominic (2006-05-30). 'Somalis' struggle in the UK'. BBC News. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
- ^'Born abroad: Somalia'. BBC News. 2005-09-07. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
- ^[2]
- ^'Integration of the Somali Community into Europe'. Federation of Adult Education Associations. Archived from the original on 16 December 2009. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
- ^Lytra & Baraç 2009, 60
- ^Travis, Alan (1 August 2011). 'UK immigration analysis needed on Turkish legal migration, say MPs'. The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2011-08-01. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
- ^ abHome Affairs Committee 2011, Ev 34
- ^'NMF'.
- ^Inbar, Efraim; Frisch, Hillel (January 2008). Radical Islam and International Security: Challenges and Responses. ISBN9780415444606
- ^'BBC ON THIS DAY | 14 | 1989: Ayatollah sentences author to death'. BBC News. Retrieved 2013-10-20.
- ^Robin Lustig; Martin Bailey; Simon de Bruxelles; Ian Mather (18 February 1989). 'War of the Word'. The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 October 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
- ^Winder, Robert. Bloody Foreigners: The Story of Immigration to Britain. Abacus, London: 2013: p. 414
- ^'Indepth | London Attacks'. BBC News. Retrieved 2013-10-20.
- ^'Al-Qaeda commander linked to 2005 London bombings led attacks on Nato convoys'. The Telegraph. 22 January 2009.
- ^'Lee Rigby killer sues prison service over lost teeth'. The Week.
- ^'Muslim hardship under spotlight'. BBC News. 14 May 2006. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
- ^ abJohn Carvel (12 October 2004). 'Census shows Muslims' plight'. The Guardian. London. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
- ^'Two million Muslims now live in Britain and 10,000 are millionaires, reveals Home Secretary Jacqui Smith during visit to Pakistan'. Mail Online. 2008-04-08. Retrieved 2013-10-20.
- ^'Ten Wealthiest Muslims In The UK'. Islamic Times. Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
- ^ ab'Christian and atheist children least likely to go to university'. Telegraph. 14 May 2006. Retrieved 22 Jul 2011.
- ^Muslims threatened after bombings BBC News 12 July 2005
- ^Vikram Dood (13 July 2005). 'Islamophobia blamed for attack'. The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-04-04
- ^Muslim graves damaged in cemetery BBC News, 2 November 2006
- ^'Muslim teenager stabbed during attack on UK mosque'. Arabic News. 3 October 2006. Archived from the original on 2011-11-07. Retrieved 2010-04-04
- ^Vikram Dood (28 January 2010). 'Media and politicians 'fuel rise in hate crimes against Muslims''. The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-04-04
- ^Jonathan Githens-Mazer & Robert Lambert (28 January 2010). 'Muslims in the UK: beyond the hype'. The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-04-04
- ^Dr. Jonathan Githens-Mazer & Dr. Robert Lambert. 'Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate Crime: a London Case Study'(PDF). University of Exeter. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2013-05-28. Retrieved 2010-04-08
- ^Richardson, John E. (2004). (Mis)representing Islam: the racism and rhetoric of British broadsheet newspapers. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN90-272-2699-7
- ^Vikram Dood (21 October 2006). 'White pupils less tolerant, survey shows'. The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-04-04
- ^'Muslim students 'more tolerant''. BBC News. 11 October 2006. Retrieved 2010-04-05
- ^Ian Dunt (7 May 2009). 'Muslims more patriotic than Brits'. Politics. Retrieved 2010-04-05
- ^'Poll: European Muslims more patriotic than average populace'. Haaretz. Deutsche Presse-Agentur. 7 May 2009. Archived from the original on 2016-05-29. Retrieved 2010-04-05
- ^Nick Allen (24 February 2009). '79 per cent of Muslims say Christianity should have strong role in Britain'. The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2010-04-05
- ^'Britain divided by Islam, survey finds'. The Daily Telegraph. London. 11 January 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-04
- ^'Login'.
- ^'HOPE not hate magazine: November/December issue'. Hopenothate.org.uk. 2012-11-05. Archived from the original on 2013-10-19. Retrieved 2013-10-20.
- ^'UK Imams agree to perform underage marriages - ITV News'. Itv.com. Retrieved 2013-10-20.
- ^'11.2007 Evening Standard - Is Islam good for London'(PDF).
- ^'Western Europe's largest mosque opens in Morden'. The Guardian. London. 2003-10-02.
External links[edit]
- Reassessing what we collect website – Muslim London History of Muslim London with objects and images
- Private Arrangements: Recognizing sharia in Britain - anthropologist John R. Bowen explores Islamic courts in England
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Islam_in_England&oldid=903003459'
(Redirected from Conversion of non-Muslim places of worship into mosques)
Hagia Sophia, an Eastern Orthodox church converted into a mosque after the Fall of Constantinople; in 1935 it was converted into a museum.
The conversion of non-Islamic places of worship into mosques occurred during the life of prophet Muhammad and continued during subsequent Islamic conquests and under historical Muslim rule. Indigenous population of many subcontinents or regions converted to Islam. As a result, Hindu temples, churches, synagogues, the Parthenon and Zoroastrian temples were converted into mosques. Several such mosques in Muslim or former Muslim lands have since reverted or become museums, such as the Hagia Sophia in Turkey and numerous mosques in Spain.
- 3Hindu, Jain and Buddhist temples
- 5Conversion of church buildings to mosques
- 5.14Churches and synagogues in non-Islamic countries re-arranged as mosques
Ka'aba[edit]
Kaaba | |
---|---|
Religion | |
Affiliation | Islam |
Location | |
Location | Mecca, Saudi Arabia |
Before the rise of Islam the Ka'aba, and Mecca (previously known as Bakkah), were revered as a sacred sanctuary and was a site of pilgrimage.[1] Some identify it with the Biblical 'valley of Baca' from Psalms 84 (Hebrew: בָּכָא).[2][3] At the time of Muhammad (AD 570–632), his tribe the Quraysh was in charge of the Kaaba, which was at that time a shrine containing hundreds of idols representing Arabian tribal gods and other religious figures. Muhammad earned the enmity of his tribe by claiming the shrine for the new religion of Islam that he preached. He wanted the Kaaba to be dedicated to the worship of the one God alone, and all the idols were evicted. The Black Stone (al-Hajar-ul-Aswad), still present at the Kaaba was a special object of veneration at the site. According to tradition the text of seven especially honoured poems were suspended around the Ka'aba.
According to Islam, Muhammad's actions were not strictly a conversion but rather a restoration of the mosque established on that site by Abraham, who is considered to be a prophet in Islam. The Ka'aba thus became known as the Masjid al-Haram, or Sacred Mosque, the holiest site in Islam.[4]
Biblical holy sites[edit]
Mosques were regularly established on the places of Jewish or Christian sanctuaries associated with Biblical personalities who were also recognized by Islam. The Caliph Umar initially built a small prayer house, which laid the foundation for the later construction of the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount, the most sacred site in Judaism, possibly by the Umayyads. The Dome of the Rock was also built on the Temple Mount which was an abandoned and disused area.[5] Upon the capture of Jerusalem, it is commonly reported that Umar refused to pray in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre[6] for fear that later Muslims would then convert it into a mosque in spite of a treaty guaranteeing its safety.[7]
The mosque of Job in Al-Shaykh Saad, Syria, was previously a church of Job.[4] The Herodian shrine of the Cave of the Patriarchs, the second most holy site in Judaism, was converted into a church during the Crusades before being turned into a mosque in 1266 and henceforth banned to Jews and Christians. Part of it was restored as a synagogue after 1967 by Israel.
Hindu, Jain and Buddhist temples[edit]
The destruction of Hindu temples in India during the Islamic conquest of India occurred from the beginning of Muslim conquest until the end the Mughal Empire throughout the Indian subcontinent.In his book 'Hindu Temples - What Happened to Them', Sita Ram Goel claimed to have produced a list of 2000 mosques that he alleges were built on Hindu temples.[8] The second volume of the book excerpts from medieval histories and chronicles and from inscriptions concerning the destruction of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist temples.
In Indonesia, where popular conversion from Hinduism to Islam was slower, it is believed that the minaret of the Menara Kudus Mosque, in Java, was originally part of a Hindu temple according to Goel.[8]
Menara Kudus Mosque[edit]
Minaret is not an original architecture of Indonesian mosque, instead the Menara Kudus Mosque employs a Hindu-Buddhisttemple-like structure for a drum used to call prayer.[9]
One of Indonesia's most famous mosques, Menara Kudus has retained much of its former Hindu character.
Ram Janmabhoomi[edit]
Ram Janmabhoomi refers to a tract of land in the North Indian city of Ayodhya which is claimed to be the birthplace of Lord Rama. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), after conducting excavations at the site, filed a report which stated that a temple stood at the site before the arrival of the Mughals, who constructed the Babri Masjid at the site.[10] Critics of the report state that the 'presence of animal bones throughout as well as of the use of 'surkhi' and lime mortar' that was found by ASI are all characteristic of Muslim presence, which they claim 'rule out the possibility of a Hindu temple having been there beneath the mosque'.[11]From 1528 to 1992 this was the site of the Babri Mosque. The mosque was constructed in 1527 on the orders of Babur, the first Mughal emperor of India, and was named after him. Before the 1940s, the mosque was also called Masjid-i-Janmasthan, translation: ('mosque of the birthplace').The Babri Mosque was one of the largest mosques in Uttar Pradesh, a state in India with some 31 million Muslims. Numerous petitions by Hindus to the courts resulted in Hindu worshippers of Rama gaining access to the site.
The mosque was razed on 6 December 1992 by a mob of some 150,000 Hindus supported by the Hindu organisation as per USA records Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP),[12][13] after a political rally developed into a riot[14] despite a commitment to the Indian Supreme Court by the rally organisers that the mosque would not be harmed.[15]The Sangh Parivaar, along with VHP and the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), sought to erect a temple dedicated to Rama at this site. The 1986 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica stated that 'Rama's birthplace is marked by a mosque, erected by the Moghul emperor Babar in 1528 on the site claimed of an earlier temple'.[16]
On 30 September 2010, Allahabad High Court ruled that the 2.7 acres disputed land in Ayodhya, on which the Babri Masjid stood before it was demolished on 6 December 1992, will be divided into three parts: the site of the Ramlala idol to Lord Ram, Nirmohi Akhara gets Sita Rasoi and Ram Chabutara, Sunni Wakf Board gets a third.[17]
Kashi Vishwanath Temple[edit]
The original Kashi Vishwanath Temple was demolished by Aurangzeb, the sixth Mughal emperor who constructed the Gyanvapi Mosque atop the original Hindu temple. Kashi Vishwanath was among the most renowned Hindu temples of India. Even today the pillars and the structure of the original temple can be clearly seen.
The original temple of Kashi Vishwanath with 'Gyanwapi' mosque standing atop.
Aurangzeb's demolition of the temple was motivated by the rebellion of local zamindars (landowners) associated with the temple, some of whom may have facilitated the escape of the Maratha king Shivaji. Jai Singh I, the grandson of the temple's builder Raja Man Singh, was widely believed to have facilitated Shivaji's escape from Agra.[18] The temple's demolition was intended as a warning to the anti-Mughal factions and Hindu religious leaders in the city.[19]
Bindu Madhav (Nand Madho) Temple[edit]
The Alamgir Mosque in Varanasi was constructed by Mughal Emperor Aurnagzeb built atop the ancient 100 ft high Bindu Madhav (Nand Madho) Temple after its destruction in 1682.
The structure of Alamgir Mosque standing atop the original site of Bindu-Madhav temple in Varanasi.
Other references[edit]
Intricate Hindu stone carvings on the cloister columns at Quwwat ul-Islam Mosque, Qutb complex, Delhi.
An inscription at the Quwwat Al-Islam Mosque adjacent to Qutb Minar in Delhi states:
'This Jamii Masjid built in the months of the year 587 (hijri) by the Amir, the great, the glorious commander of the Army, Qutb-ud-daula wad-din, the amir-ul-umara Aibeg, the slave of the Sultan, may God strengthen his helpers! The materials of 27 idol temples, on each of which 2,000,000 Deliwal coins had been spent were used in the (construction of) this mosque.'[20]
An inscription of 1462 A.D.at Jami Masjid at Malan, in Banaskantha District of Gujarat states:
The Jami Masjid was built by Khan-I-Azam Ulugh Khan. He eradicated the idolatrous houses and mine of infidelity, along with the idols with the edge of the sword, and made ready this edifice.He made its walls and doors out of the idols; the back of every stone became the place for prostration of the believer.[21]
Mughal Emperor Jahangir wrote in his Tujuk-i-Jahangiri:
'I am here led to relate that at the city of Banaras a temple had been erected by Rajah Maun Sing, which cost him the sum of nearly thirty-six laks of five methkaly ashrefies. ..I made it my plea for throwing down the temple which was the scene of this imposture; and on the spot, with the very same materials, I erected the great mosque, because the very name of Islam was proscribed at Banaras, and with God’s blessing it is my design, if I live, to fill it full with true believers.'[22]
Zoroastrian temples[edit]
After the Islamic conquest of Persia, Zoroastrian fire temples, with their four axial arch openings, were usually turned into mosques simply by setting a mihrab (prayer niche) on the place of the arch nearest to qibla (the direction of Mecca). This practice is described by numerous Muslim sources; however, the archaeological evidence confirming it is still scarce. Zoroastrian temples converted into mosques in such a manner could be found in Bukhara, as well as in and near Istakhr and other Iranian cities,[4] such as: Tarikhaneh Temple, Jameh Mosque of Qazvin, Heidarieh Mosque of Qazvin, Jameh Mosque of Isfahan, Jameh Mosque of Kashan, Jameh Mosque of Ardestan, Jameh Mosque of Yazd, Jameh Mosque of Borujerd, Great Mosque of Herat.
Conversion of church buildings to mosques[edit]
Hagia Sophia[edit]
Hagia Sophia (from the Greek: Ἁγία Σοφία, 'Holy Wisdom'; Latin: Sancta Sophia or Sancta Sapientia; Turkish: Ayasofya) is a former Orthodoxpatriarchalbasilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. From the date of its dedication in 360 until 1453, it served as the Greek Patriarchal cathedral of Constantinople, except between 1204 and 1261, when it was converted to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople of the Western Crusader established Latin Empire. In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks under Sultan Mehmed II, who subsequently ordered the building converted into a mosque.[23] The bells, altar, iconostasis, and sacrificial vessels were removed and many of the mosaics were plastered over. Islamic features – such as the mihrab, minbar, and four minarets – were added while in the possession of the Ottomans. The building was a mosque from 29 May 1453 until 1931, when it was secularised. It was opened as a museum on 1 February 1935.[24]
Albania[edit]
The Catholic church of Saint Nicholas (Shën Nikollë) was turned into a mosque. After being destroyed in the Communist 1968 anti-religious campaign, the site was turned into an open air mausoleum.
Turkey[edit]
Following the Ottoman conquest of Anatolia, virtually all of the churches of Istanbul were desecrated and converted into mosques except the Church of St. Mary of the Mongols. In Anatolia outside of Istanbul, the following churches were desecrated and converted into mosques:
Does England Have More Christians Churches Than Muslims Mosques Today
- Orthodox
- Hagia Sophia Church in Nicaea (İznik), Turkey
- Hagia Sophia Church in Trebizond (Trabzon), Turkey
- Armenian Apostolic
Cyprus[edit]
Following the Ottoman conquest of Cyprus, a number of Christian churches were desecrated and then converted into mosques.
- St. Nicholas Cathedral in Famagusta, Cyprus was converted by the Ottoman Turks into Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque in 1571; remains in use as mosque today.
- St. Sophia Cathedral in Nicosia, Cyprus was converted by the Ottoman Turks into the Selimiye Mosque, Nicosia; remains in use as mosque today.
Greece[edit]
Painting of the ruins of the Parthenon and the Ottoman mosque built after 1715, in the early 1830s by Pierre Peytier.
Numerous orthodox churches were converted to mosques during the ottoman period in Greece (turkocracy). Among them:
- Church of the Acheiropoietos and Hosios David (Saint David) in Thessaloniki, both built in 5th century. Also the churches of Prophet Elijah (14th c.), Saint Catherine (14th c.), Saint Panteleimon, Holy Apostles (14th c.), Hagios Demetrios (7th c.), all in Thessaloniki. The Cathedral church of Veria in Greek Macedonia, an 11th c. basilica. These were reconsecrated as christian churches after the liberation of Northern Greece (Macedonia) by the Greek Army in 1912.
- Parthenon in Athens: Some time before the close of the fifteenth century, the Parthenon became a mosque. Before that Parthenon was a Greek Orthodox church.
The Rotunda of Galerius in Thessaloniki, initially a Mausoleum of Roman Emperor Galerius, a Christian church (326-1590, then a mosque and again a church after 1912.
- The Rotonda of Galerius in Thessaloniki, originally a Roman building of early 4th c., was consecrated as christian church in 326 and converted to mosque in 1590. After 1912 was converted back to church but the minaret was preserved.
Hungary[edit]
Following the Ottoman conquest of the Kingdom of Hungary, a number of Christian churches were desecrated and then converted into mosques. Those that survived the era of Ottoman rule, were later reconverted into churches after the Great Turkish War.
- Church of Our Lady of Buda, converted into Eski Djami immediately after the capture of Buda in 1541, reconverted in 1686.
- Church of Mary Magdalene, Buda, converted into Fethiye Djami c. 1602, reconverted in 1686.
- The Franciscan Church of St John the Baptist in Buda, converted into Pasha Djami, destroyed in 1686.
Lebanon[edit]
- Al-Omari Grand Mosque in Beirut, Lebanon; built as the Church of St. John the Baptist by the Knights Hospitaller; converted to mosque in 1291.
Morocco[edit]
- Grand Mosque of Tangier; built as Church
Syria[edit]
- Umayyad Mosque in Damascus; built on the site of a Christian basilica dedicated to John the Baptist (Yahya)
- Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Homs; initially a pagan temple for the sun god ('El-Gabal'), then converted into a church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist
- Great Mosque of Hama; a temple to worship the Roman god Jupiter, later it became a church during the Byzantine era
- Great Mosque of Aleppo; the agora of the Hellenistic period, which later became the garden for the Cathedral of Saint Helena
Post-Colonial North Africa[edit]
A number of North African cathedrals and churches were confiscated and/or forcibly converted into mosques in the mid-20th century
- St. Philip Cathedral in Algiers, Algeria (originally a mosque, converted to a church in 1845, reconverted to the Ketchaoua Mosque in 1962)
- Cathédrale Notre-Dame des Sept-Douleurs in Constantine, Algeria
- Tripoli Cathedral in Tripoli, Libya (converted to Maidan al Jazair Square Mosque)
Others were desecrated and later destroyed after the Christian congregants were expelled.
- Benghazi Cathedral in Benghazi, Libya
- Mogadishu Cathedral in Mogadishu, Somalia
Iraq[edit]
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria converted a number of Christian churches into mosques after they occupied Mosul in 2014. The churches were restored into its original functions after Mosul was liberated in 2017.[25]
- Syrian Orthodox Church of St. Ephraim in Mosul, Iraq; converted to the Mosque of the Mujahideen
- Chaldean Church of St. Joseph in Mosul, Iraq
Israel[edit]
- Church of Saint James Intercisus in the Old City of Jerusalem, transformed into Al-Yaqoubi Mosque
- Templum Domini (Dome of the Ascension, Dome of the Rock)
The practice today[edit]
The Aksa mosque in The Hague, Netherlands, was formerly a synagogue.
The conversion of non-Islamic places of worship into mosques has abated since no major territorial acquisitions have been made by Muslim-majority populations in recent times. However, some of the Greek Orthodox churches in Turkey that were left behind by expelled Greeks in 1923 were converted into mosques.
A relatively significant surge in church-mosque conversion followed the 1974 Turkish Invasion of Cyprus. Many of the Orthodox churches in Northern Cyprus have been converted, and many are still in the process of becoming mosques.
Churches and synagogues in non-Islamic countries re-arranged as mosques[edit]
In areas that have experienced Muslim immigration, such as parts of Europe and North America,[26][27] some church buildings, and those of other religious congregations, that have fallen into disuse have been converted into mosques following a sale of the property. In the U.S., this has been mainly been occurring in the American Rust Belt, where native born Americans have tended to move elsewhere for better economics leaving the population gaps in communities to be replaced by immigrant ones,[28] as well as the American Sun Belt, where both migration and immigration have been rising due to growing economic opportunities since the 1980's.[29]
United Kingdom (not a complete list)
- In London, England the Brick Lane Mosque has previously served as an Orthodox Jewish synagogue.[30]
United States (not a complete list)
- Burlington Masjid[31] in Burlington, NC located in a former UCC church.
- Bosnian Islamic Association of Utica[32] in Utica, NY located in a former Methodist church.
- Masjid Isa Ibn Maryam[33] ('The Mosque of Jesus, son of Mary' in English) in Syracuse, NY located in a former Catholic church.
- Masjid 'Eesa ibn Maryam (NYCMC)[34] in Hollis, Queens, New York, NY located in a former Lutheran church[35].
- Brooklyn Moslem Mosque Inc.[36] in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, NY located in a building that formerly held (at various times) a greenhouse, a Methodist Episcopal church, an Evangelical church, and a Community Board meeting-space[37]. Also noteworthy, said masjid's community itself is the oldest continuously existing Muslim congregation in America (since its founding in 1907), although they did not move into the aforementioned building until the 1920's. (This makes them not the oldest congregation, as they were founded after the Albanian masjid in Maine, and not the oldest purpose built masjid still standing or otherwise due to the Mother Mosque in Cedar Rapids and the now rebuilt Ross, North Dakota masjid.
Germany (not a complete list)[edit]
- Neuapostolische Kirche in Berlin-Tempelhof[38]
- Methodist Church in Mönchengladbach[39]
- Evangelische Notkirche Johannes, Kielstraße, Dortmund, now Merkez Camii (DITIB)
- Kapernaumkirche (Hamburg-Horn)
Further reading[edit]
- Narain, Harsh (1993). The Ayodhya Temple Mosque Dispute: Focus on Muslim Sources. Delhi: Penman Publishers.
- Arun Shourie, Sita Ram Goel, Harsh Narain, Jay Dubashi and Ram Swarup. Hindu Temples - What Happened to Them Vol. I, (A Preliminary Survey) (1990) ISBN81-85990-49-2
See also[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Conversion of non-Islamic places of worship into mosques |
References[edit]
- ^Britannica 2002 Deluxe Edition CD-ROM, 'Ka'bah.'
- ^Daniel C. Peterson (2007). Muhammad, prophet of God. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 22–25. ISBN978-0-8028-0754-0.
- ^Psalms 84:6, King James Version
- ^ abcHillenbrand, R. 'Masdjid. I. In the central Islamic lands'. In P.J. Bearman; Th. Bianquis; C.E. Bosworth; E. van Donzel; W.P. Heinrichs (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam Online. Brill Academic Publishers. ISSN1573-3912.
- ^Orlin, Eric (19 November 2015). Routledge Encyclopedia of Ancient Mediterranean Religions. ISBN9781134625598. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
- ^He was touring the Church and prayer time came around and he requested to be shown to a place where he may pray and the Patriarch said 'Here'.
- ^Adrian Fortescue, 'The Orthodox Eastern Church', Gorgias Press LLC, 1 December 2001, pg. 28 ISBN0-9715986-1-4
- ^ ab'Hindu Temples-What Happened to Them by Sita Ram Goel'. Scribd.com. 7 April 1990. Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
- ^Schoppert, P., Damais, S., Java Style, 1997, Didier Millet, Paris, p. 207, ISBN962-593-232-1
- ^Proof of temple found at Ayodhya: ASI reportArchived 26 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine Rediff News, 25 August 2003 19:35 IST
- ^Ayodhya verdict yet another blow to secularism: SahmatArchived 6 October 2010 at the Wayback MachineThe Hindu, 3 October 2010
- ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 17 January 2008. Retrieved 26 September 2010.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
- ^Uproar over India mosque report: Inquiry into Babri mosque's demolition in 1992Archived 31 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine Al-Jazeera English – 24 November 2009
- ^Babri mosque demolition case hearing today[permanent dead link][permanent dead link]. Yahoo News – 18 September 2007
- ^Tearing down the Babri Masjid – Eye Witness BBC's Mark TullyArchived 27 September 2010 at the Wayback MachineBBC – Thursday, 5 December 2002, 19:05 GMT
- ^15th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, 1986, entry 'Ayodhya', Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.
- ^'Disputed Ayodhya site to be divided into 3 parts- TIMESNOW.tv – Latest Breaking News, Big News Stories, News Videos'. Timesnow.Tv. Archived from the original on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
- ^Truschke, Audrey (16 May 2017). Aurangzeb: The Life and Legacy of India's Most Controversial King. Stanford University Press. ISBN9781503602595.
- ^Catherine B. Asher (24 September 1992). Architecture of Mughal India. Cambridge University Press. pp. 278–279. ISBN978-0-521-26728-1.
- ^Epigraphia Indo Moslemica, 1911–12, p. 13.
- ^Epigraphia Indica-Arabic and Persian Supplement, 1963, Pp. 26–29
- ^'Decisions Involving Urban Planning and Religious Institutions'. Persian.packhum.org. Archived from the original on 30 April 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
- ^'Archnet'. Archived from the original on 5 January 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2009.
- ^Magdalino, Paul; et al. ''Istanbul: Buildings, Hagia Sophia' in Grove Art Online'. Oxfordartonline.com. Archived from the original on 10 December 2010. Retrieved 28 February 2010.
- ^'Iraq: Daesh have robbed and demolished every church'. Independent Catholic News. 6 March 2018. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
- ^Perlez, Jane (2 April 2007). 'Old Church Becomes Mosque in Uneasy Britain'. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 May 2009. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
- ^Applebome, Peter (18 August 2010). 'Utica Welcomes a New Mosque Replacing an Old Church'. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 17 July 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
- ^Karam, Rebecca (4 August 2017). 'Rust Belt Revitalization, Immigration, and Islam: Toward a Better Understanding of Mosques in Declining Urban Neighborhoods'. 'City & Community'- American Sociological Association. 16 (3): 257–262. doi:10.1111/cico.12244.
- ^Glaeser, & Tobio, Edward, & Kristina (April 2007). 'The Rise of the Sunbelt'. 'Public Economics'- the National Bureau of Economic Research. Paper No. 13071. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2019 – via PDF.
- ^'Rav and history – Machzike Hadath'. Archived from the original on 17 August 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
- ^Abernethy, Michael D. 'Bridging faith: Welcomed by Christian church, Muslim mosque comes to Burlington'. The Times-News. Archived from the original on 9 September 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
- ^syracuse.com (8 February 2016). 'How crumbling church became celebrated Utica Mosque (photos)'. NewYorkUpstate.com. Archived from the original on 11 February 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
- ^syracuse.com (16 August 2015). 'From church to mosque: Syracuse Islamic group cuts crosses, tries to connect to neighborhood'. syracuse.com. Archived from the original on 7 December 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
- ^'NYCMC Expansion Project'. NYCMC Expansion Project. Archived from the original on 15 August 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
- ^'Holy Trinity Lutheran Church - Hollis (Queens), N.Y.'www.nycago.org. Archived from the original on 31 May 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
- ^Schuessler, Ryan (12 December 2016). 'They gave her the keys to the mosque — and now she wants to open its doors to the neighborhood'. PRI. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
- ^Siddiqui, Zuha (26 December 2018). 'America's Oldest Surviving Mosque Is in Williamsburg'. Bedford + Bowery. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
- ^Gotteshäuser: Aus Kirchen werden MoscheenArchived 28 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Tagesspiegel, 5. Oktober 2007.
- ^Marion Menne: 'Wirbel um Kirchen-Verkauf'. Archived from the original on 16 May 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2016.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link), WDR, 25. Juni 2012.
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conversion_of_non-Islamic_places_of_worship_into_mosques&oldid=898402891'