Islam in Hungary
Encyclopedia
Islam in Hungary has a long history that dates back to at least the twelfth century, predating the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. The influence of Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s was especially pronounced in the 16th century during the time of Ottoman Hungary
Ottoman Hungary
History of Ottoman Hungary refers to the history of parts of the Ottoman Empire situated in what today is Hungary, in the period from 1541 to 1699.-History:...
.
Early history
In the old form of the Hungarian language, Muslims were called Böszörmény, a term preserved as both a family name
Family name
A family name is a type of surname and part of a person's name indicating the family to which the person belongs. The use of family names is widespread in cultures around the world...
, and as that of the town Hajdúböszörmény
Hajdúböszörmény
Hajdúböszörmény is a city in North Eastern Hungary with a population of approximately 30,000 people. It has a unique circular plan to the streets that is supposed to have originated as a defense from invasion or attack...
.
The first Islamic author to speak of this Muslim community was Yaqut al-Hamawi
Yaqut al-Hamawi
Yāqūt ibn-'Abdullah al-Rūmī al-Hamawī) was an Islamic biographer and geographer renowned for his encyclopedic writings on the Muslim world. "al-Rumi" refers to his Greek descent; "al-Hamawi" means that he is from Hama, Syria, and ibn-Abdullah is a reference to his father's name, Abdullah...
(575-626 AH/1179-1229 CE), he writs about a famous Hungarian student who studied in Aleppo
Aleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
, according to the student there were 30 Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
villages in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
.
Yaqut writes in his famous geographical dictionary, "Mu'ajam al-Buldan," about his meeting with a Hungarian Muslim youth in Syria who was studying Islam there and brought some details of the history and life of their people in Hungary.
The Spaniard Muslim traveler Abu Hamid al Garnati wrote of two types of Muslims in Hungary, the first being the Böszörmény
Böszörmény
Böszörmény, also Izmaelita or Szerecsen , is a name for the Muslims who lived in the Kingdom of Hungary in the 10-13th centuries. Some of the böszörmény probably joined the federation of the seven Magyar tribes during the 9th century, and later smaller groups of Muslims arrived to the Carpathian...
of the Carpathian Basin and Volga Bulgars (Khwarezmians).
In the 11th century, St. Ladislaus and later Coloman
Coloman
Coloman, , , ; )* Coloman I. the Book-lover* Coloman of Galicia-Lodomeria * Saint Coloman of Stockerau * Colomán Trabado Pérez...
passed laws against the non-Christians (Synod of Szabolcs). These laws subdued Islam by coercing Muslims to eat pork, go to Church and intermarry and to forbid them from celebrating Friday.
Some of Coloman's laws include:
- § 46 If someone catches Ismaelites in fasting or eating or on keeping away from pork or in ritual washing or in other false practices these Ismaelites have to be sent to the king and whoever sued them shall receive a share from their properties.
- § 47 We command all Ismaelite villages to build a church and finance it. After the church is built the half village should move and settle elsewhere in order to became similar to us in living together and also in Christ and in Church (i.e. become similar in faith).
- § 48 Ismaelites should not marry their daughters to their nation but only to our nation
- $ 49 If an Ismaelite has guest, or he invites someone to his house to eat, he and his guests should all eat only pork.
László (Saint Ladislaus) passed the following law
- § 9 on the merchants called Ismaelites, if becomes evident from them then after their baptism they return their old laws based on circumcision they should leave their homes but if they prove innocent they should stay
These laws imposed by the Catholic Church severely discriminated the small minority and eventually led to the disappearance of the community and its professions altogether.
Turkish Rule of mid-Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
after the Battle of Mohács
Battle of Mohács
The Battle of Mohács was fought on August 29, 1526 near Mohács, Hungary. In the battle, forces of the Kingdom of Hungary led by King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia were defeated by forces of the Ottoman Empire led by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent....
in 1526. From 1541 they started to control the middle part directly.And organized five vilayets: Buda
Buda
For detailed information see: History of Buda CastleBuda is the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest on the west bank of the Danube. The name Buda takes its name from the name of Bleda the Hun ruler, whose name is also Buda in Hungarian.Buda comprises about one-third of Budapest's...
, Kanije, Eğri, Várad (Oradea
Oradea
Oradea is the capital city of Bihor County, in the Crișana region of north-western Romania. The city has a population of 204,477, according to the 2009 estimates. The wider Oradea metropolitan area has a total population of 245,832.-Geography:...
) and Temesvár.
In 16th century, during the time of the Ottoman Rule of Hungary
Ottoman Hungary
History of Ottoman Hungary refers to the history of parts of the Ottoman Empire situated in what today is Hungary, in the period from 1541 to 1699.-History:...
, numerous Muslim personalities were born in Hungary. Among them,the most important were the Ottoman Grand Vizier
Grand Vizier
Grand Vizier, in Turkish Vezir-i Azam or Sadr-ı Azam , deriving from the Arabic word vizier , was the greatest minister of the Sultan, with absolute power of attorney and, in principle, dismissable only by the Sultan himself...
came from Hungary, Kanijeli Siyavuş Pasha (from Nagykanizsa) who held the function three times between 1582 and 1593, and the famous Mevlevi
Mevlevi
The Mevlevi Order, or the Mevlevilik or Mevleviye are a Sufi order founded in Konya by the followers of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi-Rumi, a 13th century Persian poet, Islamic jurist, and theologian. They are also known as the Whirling Dervishes due to their famous practice of whirling as a form...
an dervish
Dervish
A Dervish or Darvesh is someone treading a Sufi Muslim ascetic path or "Tariqah", known for their extreme poverty and austerity, similar to mendicant friars in Christianity or Hindu/Buddhist/Jain sadhus.-Etymology:The Persian word darvīsh is of ancient origin and descends from a Proto-Iranian...
Pecsevi Árifi Ahmed Dede, a Turk native of Pécs
Pécs
Pécs is the fifth largest city of Hungary, located on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the south-west of the country, close to its border with Croatia. It is the administrative and economical centre of Baranya county...
.
Most of Islamic studies in Hungary was taught at Hanafi
Hanafi
The Hanafi school is one of the four Madhhab in jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after the Persian scholar Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , a Tabi‘i whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani...
madhhab
Madhhab
is a Muslim school of law or fiqh . In the first 150 years of Islam, there were many such "schools". In fact, several of the Sahābah, or contemporary "companions" of Muhammad, are credited with founding their own...
or school of Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....
.
Modern era
In the 19th century, after the collapse of the revolution 1849, more than 6.000 emigrated Poles and Hungarians followed General Josef Bem in Turkish exile. For example the Hungarian officers such as Richard GuyonRichard Debaufre Guyon
Richard Debaufre Guyon , British soldier, general in the Hungarian revolutionary army and Turkish pasha , was born at Walcot, near Bath, Somerset....
(Kurshid Pasha), György Kmety
György Kmety
György Kmety was a general in the Hungarian army, and in the Ottoman army under the name Isma'il pasha.- Career :...
(Ismail Pasha) and Maximilian Stein (Ferhad Pasha) followed Josef Bem .These mentioned personalities were raised to the post of General,afterwards.
- Guyon is described in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as "the first Christian to obtain the rank of pasha and a Turkish military command without being obliged to change his religion", a sign of modernizing meritocracy under the 19th-century Ottomans.
According to the 2001 official Hungarian census, there were 3,201 Muslims living in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
at the time, making up 0.03% of the population. Hungarian Islam Society leader Zoltan Bolek estimated in 2004 that there were around 20,000 Muslims in Hungary (0.2% of the total population).
The council of Újbuda
Újbuda
Újbuda is the 11th district of Budapest , Hungary. Currently it is the most populous district of Budapest with 137,426 inhabitants . Until the 1890s Újbuda's present territory was a field south to the historical town of Buda. The construction of a new residential area started in the 1900s, the...
had given permission for Muslim community in Hungary, to build the first Islamic centre in Budapest. The new Islamic centre will hold a library containing 50,000 volumes.
Hungary's new religious law
Hungary's new "Law on the Right to Freedom of Conscience and Religion, and on Churches, Religions and Religious Communities" was enacted July 12, 2011 and it recognizes only 14 religious groups. IslamIslam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
is not included in this list and Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s have to apply to get official recognition under new law. Under the law, only 14 of 358 registered churches and religious associations will be granted legal recognition, while others will have to reapply for legal registration after two-thirds approval in parliament.
See also
- Gül BabaGül Baba (poet)Gül Baba , also known as Cafer, was an Ottoman Bektashi dervish poet and companion of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent who took part in a number of campaigns in Europe from the reign of Mehmed II onwards....
- Almış (Almas) iltäbärAlmisAlmış iltäbär was the first Muslim ruler of Volga Bulgaria.Almış was a son of Şilki . He was a ruler of one of the Bulgar duchies, probably, the Bolghar Duchy. Initially, a vassal of the Khazars, he struggled for independence and unification of all Bulgar tribes and duchies. He sent ambassadors...
- KalizKhalyziansThe Chalyzians or Khalyzians or Khalis or Khwalis The Chalyzians or Khalyzians or Khalis or Khwalis The Chalyzians or Khalyzians or Khalis or Khwalis (Arabic: Khwarezmian, Byzantine Greek: Χαλίσιοι, Khalisioi, Magyar: Kaliz were a people mentioned by the 12th-century Byzantine historian John...
- Islam in RomaniaIslam in RomaniaIslam in Romania is followed by only 0.3 percent of population, but has 700 years of tradition in Northern Dobruja, a region on the Black Sea coast which was part of the Ottoman Empire for almost five centuries . In present-day Romania, most adherents to Islam belong to the Tatar and Turkish ethnic...
- Islam in SlovakiaIslam in SlovakiaThe number of Muslims in Slovakia according to the 2001 census is negligible...
- Turks in HungaryTurks in HungaryTurks in Hungary refers to the Turks living in Hungary which includes immigrants or the descendants of immigrants from the Ottoman Empire , as well as immigrants from today's Turkey, or from neighbouring countries once part of the Ottoman Empire that still have a population whose language is...