A century of change: the evolution of Islam in Europe

Ottoman rule over most of the Balkans ends. Large Muslim communities in the region become minorities in new nation states.

Hundreds of thousands of Muslim soldiers from North and West Africa and British India fight for France and Britain on European fronts.

The Turkish Grand National Assembly abolishes the Ottoman caliphate, ending a symbolic centre of Sunni authority.

Built in part to honour Muslim soldiers who died for France in the First World War.

The Ahmadiyya community opens the Mobarak Mosque in The Hague.

West Germany signs a recruitment agreement with Turkey; other Western European countries follow.

The Netherlands signs labour recruitment agreements with Turkey (1964) and Morocco (1969).

Recruitment stops after the oil crisis. Family reunification follows, and mosque associations are founded across Europe.

The founding of the Islamic Republic of Iran resonates in debates about political Islam in Europe.

The ISN (Hollanda Diyanet Vakfı) is established in The Hague, linking many Turkish-Dutch mosques to Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs.

The fatwa against Salman Rushdie and the exclusion of headscarf-wearing pupils in Creil bring Islam to the centre of European public debate.

Bosnian Muslims are the main victims of the war. In July 1995, more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys are killed in the Srebrenica genocide.

The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership is launched between the EU and its southern Mediterranean neighbours.

The Charter includes freedom of religion and a ban on discrimination on grounds of religion.

Muslims in Europe face increased security scrutiny, and Islam becomes central to debates on integration.

The Pim Fortuyn List becomes the second-largest party, placing Islam and integration at the centre of Dutch politics.

The Madrid train bombings kill 191 people. In Amsterdam, filmmaker Theo van Gogh is murdered by a jihadist Netherlands. France bans conspicuous religious symbols in state schools.

The 7 July bombings kill 52 people in London. Cartoons of the Prophet in Jyllands-Posten lead to international protests in early 2006.

A Swiss referendum bans the construction of new minarets.

France’s ban on face coverings in public takes effect. In Norway, a far-right terrorist driven by anti-Muslim ideology kills 77 people in Oslo and on Utøya.

ISIS declares a caliphate in Iraq and Syria. Thousands of young Europeans travel to the region as foreign fighters.

Attacks on Charlie Hebdo (January) and in Paris (November, 130 killed). More than a million asylum seekers, many from Syria, arrive in the EU.

Attacks in Brussels, Nice, Manchester, London and Barcelona. The United Kingdom votes to leave the EU.

A ban on face-covering clothing in education, public transport, healthcare and government buildings takes effect.

A racist attack in Hanau kills nine people with migrant backgrounds. Teacher Samuel Paty is murdered near Paris. The pandemic hits many Muslim communities hard. The UN proclaims 4 February the International Day of Human Fraternity.

France adopts the law reinforcing respect for the principles of the Republic, with new rules for religious associations and places of worship.

Quran burnings in Sweden and Denmark lead to diplomatic crises; Denmark bans the improper treatment of religious texts. The Gaza war brings mass protests and a rise in antisemitic and anti-Muslim incidents. The PVV becomes the largest party in the Dutch election Netherlands.

The EU adopts the Pact on Migration and Asylum. Riots in England target mosques and asylum hotels. A Dutch cabinet including the PVV takes office Netherlands.

The Dutch cabinet collapses after the PVV withdraws over asylum policy; in the October election D66 wins the most votes Netherlands. Pope Leo XIV makes his first journey abroad to Türkiye and Lebanon, marking 1,700 years since the Council of Nicaea.

A Paris court suspends the police ban on the annual gathering of Muslims of France at Le Bourget (April). The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum becomes applicable on 12 June.