View source for Islam in Hungary

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[[File:Malkocs bég dzsámija.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Malkoç Bey Mosque in [[Siklós]], built in the 16th century.]]
{{Islam in Europe by country}}
{{Islam by country}}
'''Islam in Hungary''' dates back to the foundation of the state in the late 9th century, with [[Muslims]] constituting a portion of the conquering [[Magyar tribes|Hungarian tribes]]. The influence of [[Sunni Islam]] was especially pronounced in the 16th and 17th centuries during the [[Ottoman Hungary|Ottoman period in Hungary]].

==History==

===Early history===
{{main|Böszörmény|Ismāʿīlī}}
According to reports in the 9th and 10th centuries, Islam was practiced by a sizeable minority of the [[Magyar tribes|conquering Hungarians]].<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Pap |first1=Nobert |last2=Reményi |first2=Péter |last3=Császár |first3=Zsusza |last4=Végh |first4=Andor |date=December 2014 |title=Islam and the Hungarians |url=https://austriaca.at/0xc1aa5572%200x0031e2ab.pdf |pages=193–196}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Drobný |first=Jaroslav |date=April 2022 |title=Muslims in Medieval Hungary |url=https://jwadi.journals.ekb.eg/article_233796_1fc680439cf7b7bce845ebd9bc1c3717.pdf |pages=841–842}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Çoban |first=Erdal |date=2012 |title=Eastern Muslim Groups among Hungarians in the Middle Ages |url=https://bilig.yesevi.edu.tr/yonetim/icerik/makaleler/2457-published.pdf }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Semenov |first=Kirill |title=Boszormeny: A little-known history of Muslims of medieval Hungary |url=https://www.trtworld.com/opinion/boszormeny-a-little-known-history-of-muslims-of-medieval-hungary-60404 |access-date=2025-04-12 |website=TRT World |language=en}}</ref> In the old form of the Hungarian language, Muslims were often called ''Böszörmény'', cognates with ''Turkish'' Bozulmamış, which in turn descends from {{langx|ar|مسلم}}, ''Muslim''. This term is preserved as both a [[family name]], and as that of the town [[Hajdúböszörmény]].<ref>[http://www.hajduporta.hu/english/index.php?id=page1300 Hajduboszormeny | HajduPorta<!-- Bot generated title -->]{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Amongst other names of Muslims in early Hungary were [[Khalyzians]], [[Saracen]] and [[Ishmaelites]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Veszprémy |first=László |date=2023-01-14 |title=Medieval Hungary and the Islamic World |url=https://www.hungarianconservative.com/articles/culture_society/medieval-hungary-and-the-islamic-world/ |access-date=2025-04-12 |website=Hungarian Conservative |language=en-US}}</ref>

The first [[Islam]]ic author to speak of this Muslim community was [[Yaqut al-Hamawi]] (575-626 [[Muslim calendar|AH]]/1179-1229 [[Christian Era|CE]]), he writes about a famous Hungarian student who studied in [[Aleppo]]. According to the student, there were 30 Muslim villages in [[Hungary]].<ref>(cf. "The Islamic Review", London, February 1950, 38th vol., No.2).</ref> Yaqut writes in his famous geographical dictionary, "Mu'ajam al-Buldan",<ref>(comp. 625/1228, vide also Wustenfeld's edition, Leipzig, 1866, 1st vol., p. 469)</ref> 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 the country, the first being the Böszörmény and the second being the Khalyzians ([[Khwarezm]]ians). He reported that [[Géza II of Hungary]] expressed a great fondness of Muslims.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last= |date=2023 |title=Medieval Hungary and the Islamic World |url=https://www.hungarianconservative.com/articles/culture_society/medieval-hungary-and-the-islamic-world/ |access-date=2023-12-21 |website=Hungarian Conservative |language=}}</ref>

In the 11th century, [[St. Ladislaus]] and later [[Coloman, King of Hungary|Coloman]] passed laws against the non-Christians ([[Synod of Szabolcs]]). These laws subdued Islam by coercing Muslims to eat pork, go to Church, intermarry, and to forbid them from celebrating Friday. Some of Coloman's laws include:<ref>[https://www.angelfire.com/zine/pantagruel/KalmanI.htm#masodik8 Coloman's Laws]  very free translation from Hungarian (original Latin).</ref>

{{quote|§ 46 If someone catches [[Ismāʿīlī|Ismaelites]] in fasting or eating or on keeping away from pork or in ritual washing or in other false practices these [[Ismāʿīlī|Ismaelites]] have to be sent to the king and whoever sued them shall receive a share from their properties.

§ 47 We command all [[Ismāʿīlī|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 become similar to us in living together and also in Christ and in Church (i.e. become similar in faith).

§ 48 [[Ismāʿīlī|Ismaelites]] should not marry their daughters to their nation but only to our nation.

§ 49 If an [[Ismāʿīlī|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:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.angelfire.com/zine/pantagruel/LaszloI.htm|title=Szent László törvényei|access-date=13 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150113014948/http://www.angelfire.com/zine/pantagruel/LaszloI.htm|archive-date=2015-01-13|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{quote|§ 9 on the merchants called [[Ismāʿīlī|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 discriminated severely against the small minority.

Muslims in Hungary were reported to have often worked in the field of trade and finance. A ring with an Arabic inscription was found in the grave of [[Béla II of Hungary]]. Furthermore, Hungarian royal coins from between the 12th and 13th centuries were found to have Arabic inscriptions. Whilst the presence of Arabic inscriptions does not directly imply a connection with Islam, Arabic-speaking populations were predominantly Muslim. 

[[Káliz Road]], named after the Muslim [[Khalyzians]], was a trade route between [[Szeged]] and the [[Danube]] used for the transport of salt from [[Transylvania]]. 

[[Jenő Szűcs]] states that prior to the [[Mongol invasion of Hungary (disambiguation)|Mongol invasions]] of the 13th century, "the country was pretty much strewn with military and merchant colonies of Muslim religious groups".<ref name=":0" />

===Turkish rule in Hungary===
{{main|Ottoman Hungary}}
[[File:Jakováli Hasszán dzsámija.JPG|thumb|160px|right|[[Yakovalı Hasan Paşa Mosque]] in [[Pécs]]]]
From the late 14th century, Hungarians were faced with the growing presence of the [[Ottoman Empire|Turkish Empire]] in neighbouring parts of the Balkans.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Zemplényi |first=Lili |date=2022-06-09 |title=Ottoman Architectural Heritage in Hungary |url=https://www.hungarianconservative.com/articles/culture_society/ottoman-architectural-heritage-in-hungary/ |access-date=2025-01-30 |website=Hungarian Conservative |language=en-US}}</ref>

The Muslim Turks began to establish control in the Kingdom of Hungary after the [[Battle of Mohács]] in 1526. In 1541, they gained control of the centre of the former kingdom, establishing [[Ottoman Hungary|Macaristan]] (Ottoman Hungary), beginning with the [[Budin Eyalet|Budin]] [[eyalet]]. They later established the [[Temeşvar Eyalet|Temeşvar]], [[Eğri Eyalet|Eğri]], [[Kanije Eyalet|Kanije]] and [[Varat Eyalet|Varat]] eyalets, and the [[Vassal and tributary states of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman vassal states]] of the [[Principality of Transylvania (1570–1711)|Principality of Transylvania]] and the short-lived [[Principality of Upper Hungary]] (present-day Slovakia). 

[[File:Minaret (5528. számú műemlék) 4.jpg|left|thumb|180px| [[Eger minaret|Minaret of Eger]]]]

In the 16th and 17th centuries, numerous Muslim personalities were born in Hungary. Among them, the most important were the Ottoman [[Grand Vizier]], [[Kanijeli Siyavuş Pasha]] (from [[Nagykanizsa]]) who held the function three times between 1582 and 1593, the Ottoman historian [[İbrahim Peçevi]] (Ibrahim of Pécs), and the famous [[Mevlevi]]an [[dervish]] [[Pecsevi Árifi Ahmed Dede]], also a Turk native of [[Pécs]]. 

Most Islamic studies in Hungary were taught according to the [[Hanafi]] [[madhhab]], or Hanafi school of thought, of [[Sunni Islam]]. Churches in Hungary were repurposed as mosques, which sometimes involved architectural changes, although Islamic architectural features were removed from the vast majority of churches following the Ottoman retreat.<ref name=":1" />

Turkish rule in the Hungarian lands ended definitively in 1718, with the signing of the [[Treaty of Passarowitz]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wq7kw |title=The Peace of Passarowitz, 1718 |date=2011 |publisher=Purdue University Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctt6wq7kw |jstor=j.ctt6wq7kw |isbn=978-1-55753-594-8}}</ref> The Ottoman period left behind a legacy of Turkish architecture such as mosques, [[türbe]]s, and public baths ([[hamam]]s), as well as changes in the local cuisine, such as the popularization of coffeehouses and the introduction of [[paprika]], an essential spice in Hungarian dishes.

===Modern era===
In the 19th century, after the collapse of the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1848|revolution of 1848-9]], more than 6,000 emigrated Poles and Hungarians followed General [[Józef Bem]] (Murat Paşa) into Turkish exile. Among them were such Hungarian officers such as [[Richard Debaufre Guyon|Richard Guyon]] (Kurşid Paşa), [[György Kmety]] (Ismail Paşa) and [[Maximilian Stein]] (Ferhad Paşa). These personalities were afterwards raised to the post of General.{{citation needed|date=July 2013}}

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.{{citation needed|date=July 2013}}

In 1913, Austria-Hungary annexed Ada Kaleh, which should have meant Hungarians would administer it. Ada Kaleh was inhabited by Turkish Muslims, and some Turkish Families of them settled in Mainland Hungary. The increasing number of Muslim soldiers in the Austro-Hungarian army in WW1 also necessitated new measures.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.academia.edu/23622641 | title=Mustafa Bego, türkischer Nargileh-Raucher und ungarischer Nationalheld. Nationale Aneignung und internationale Vermarktung der Insel Ada-Kaleh | work=Spiegelungen | date=January 2014 | last1=Blasen | first1=Philippe Henri }}</ref> Since 2007 Romanian Citizens went to Hungary as workers including also Tatars-Turks and Muslim Roma from Dobruja in Romania.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.hrportal.hu/hr/hogyan-vallalhatnak-munkat-magyarorszagon-a-roman-es-bolgar-allampolgarok-20070123.html | title=Hogyan vállalhatnak munkát Magyarországon a román és bolgár állampolgárok? - HR Portál | date=23 January 2007 }}</ref>

The council of [[Újbuda]] has given permission for the Muslim community in Hungary to build the first Islamic centre in Budapest.{{when|date=July 2019}} The new Islamic centre will hold a library containing 50,000 volumes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&id=163462|title=New Islamic Center in Budapest|date=16 June 2009|access-date=13 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225170950/http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&id=163462|archive-date=2012-02-25|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.caboodle.hu/nc/news/news_archive/single_page/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=6805|title=Budapest district green-lights Islamic center|access-date=13 May 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004142505/http://www.caboodle.hu/nc/news/news_archive/single_page/?tx_ttnews|archive-date=4 October 2011}}</ref> 

In 2013, the Hungarian Islamic Council requested for the [[Grand Mufti]] of Bosnia and Herzegovina [[Husein Kavazović]] to also become Grand Mufti of Hungary.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.radiosarajevo.ba/novost/122224/nocache |title=Radio Sarajevo |access-date=2017-05-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231001045/http://www.radiosarajevo.ba/novost/122224/nocache |archive-date=2013-12-31 }}</ref>

====Religious law====
Hungary's new "Law on the Right to Freedom of Conscience and Religion, and on Churches, Religions and Religious Communities" was enacted 12 July 2011 and recognizes only 14 religious groups. Islam is not included in this list and Muslims have to apply to get official recognition under the 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/19/hungary-religion-law_n_902032.html |title=Churches Divided On Hungary's New Religion Law |publisher=Huffington Post |date=19 July 2011 |access-date=2011-08-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110808092009/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/19/hungary-religion-law_n_902032.html |archive-date=2011-08-08 |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 27 February 2012, Hungary's parliament amended the country's controversial law on religious organizations by expanding the list of officially recognized organizations to include the Hungarian Islamic Council.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.adventist.org/en/archive/articles/2012/02/28/in-hungary-amended-religion-law-recognizes-seventh-day-adventist-church |title=In Hungary, amended religion law recognize Hungarian Islamic Council |publisher=Adventist.org |date=28 February 2012 |access-date=2012-11-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109102014/http://news.adventist.org/en/archive/articles/2012/02/28/in-hungary-amended-religion-law-recognizes-seventh-day-adventist-church |archive-date=2012-11-09 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Demographics==
According to the 2011 Hungarian census, there were 5,579 Muslims in [[Hungary]], making up only about 0.057% of the total population. Of these, 4,097 (73.4%) declared themselves as ethnically [[Hungarians|Hungarian]], while 2,369 (42.5%) declared themselves as ethnically [[Arab people|Arab]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ksh.hu/nepszamlalas/tablak_teruleti_00|title=Központi Statisztikai Hivatal|access-date=13 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150509072107/http://www.ksh.hu/nepszamlalas/tablak_teruleti_00|archive-date=2015-05-09|url-status=live}}</ref> In Hungary people can declare more than one ethnicity (which explains why the sum of these percentages is greater than 100%),<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ksh.hu/docs/hun/xftp/idoszaki/nepsz2011/nepsz_03_00_2011.pdf |title=Hungarian census 2011 - final data and methodology |access-date=2013-11-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012033631/http://www.ksh.hu/docs/hun/xftp/idoszaki/nepsz2011/nepsz_03_00_2011.pdf |archive-date=2013-10-12 |url-status=live }}</ref> Data from 2011 does not show the Turkish population (which was 1,565 in the 2001 census).<ref name="HCSO2001">{{cite web|author=Hungarian Central Statistical Office|title=Factors of the nationality of the population based on affiliation with cultural values, knowledge of languages|url=http://www.nepszamlalas2001.hu/eng/volumes/18/tables/load2_39_1.html|access-date=2013-05-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123052737/http://www.nepszamlalas2001.hu/eng/volumes/18/tables/load2_39_1.html|archive-date=2015-11-23|url-status=live}}</ref> However, the majority of Muslims in Hungary are of Arab or Turkish origin.<ref name="Lederer">{{citation|last=Lederer|first=Gyorgy|year=2009|chapter=Hungary|title=Yearbook of Muslims in Europe, Volume 1|editor-last1=Nielsen|editor-first1=Jorgen|editor-last2=Akgönül|editor-first2=Samim|editor-last3=Alibašic|editor-first3=Ahmet|editor-last4=Maréchal|editor-first4=Brigitte|editor-last5=Moe|editor-first5=Christian |page=161|publisher=[[BRILL Publishers]]|isbn=978-9047428503}}</ref> Moreover, there is also a growing number of ethnic Hungarian converts to Islam.<ref name="Lederer"/>

The actual number of Muslims in Hungary is likely to be above 5,579 Muslims. Following the war in Syria, an important influx of [[European migrant crisis|asylum seekers]] arrived in 2014, 2015 and 2016 where more than 200,000 asylum applications were filed in Hungary.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/infographs/asylum/asylum_2015/ |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=ec.europa.eu}}</ref> However, from 2017 and onwards, Hungarian authorities have registered less than few hundred applications.<ref>{{Cite web |title=First-time asylum applicants in the EU |url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/infographs/asylum/asylum_2018/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180723152207/http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/File:Number_of_(non-EU)_asylum_seekers_in_the_EU_and_EFTA_Member_States,_2014_and_2015_(thousands_of_first_time_applicants)_YB16-de.png |archive-date=2018-07-23 |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=Eurostat}}</ref>

==Notable people==
*[[Gyula Germanus]], writer and politician, islamologist
*[[István Horthy Jr.]], physicist and architect, grandson of Admiral [[Miklós Horthy]]
*[[Ibrahim Muteferrika]], [[Printer (publisher)|publisher]], economist, historian, [[Kalam|Islamic theologian]], [[sociologist]]

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Gül baba türbéje.JPG|The [[türbe]] of [[Gül Baba]], several works of Islamic art can be visited
File:Idrisz Baba türbéje (1780. számú műemlék).jpg|The [[türbe]] of Idrisz Baba in [[Pécs]]
File:Minaret in Érd. S. - Hungary.JPG|[[Érd minaret]] seen in 2015
File:Pécs - Yakovali Hassan Mosque 01.jpg|The [[Yakovalı Hasan Paşa Mosque]] in Pécs
File:GaziKaszimFotoThalerTamas1.jpg|Former [[mosque of Pasha Qasim]] in [[Pécs]], now used as a Catholic church
File:Zelesny Károly Pécs 1880s.jpg|Mosque of Pasha Qasim in the 1880s
File:Eger 16. század.jpg|[[Eger]] city in 16th century with mosques and minarets
File:Minaret (5528. számú műemlék) 4.jpg|[[Eger minaret]]
File:Malkocs bég dzsámija belső.jpg|Interior of Malkoç Bey Mosque in [[Siklós]]
File:Esztergom.Dzsami-Nyugat.jpg|The ruins of the mosque in [[Esztergom]]
File:Rác Gyógyfürdő, Budapest 02.jpg|The Turkish bath in the [[Rác Thermal Bath]]
File:Rokusdomb well.jpg|Idrisz Baba's well
File:Dunafoldvar-Var6-a.jpg|Transformed [[Dunaföldvár]] church fortress
File:Yakovali Hassan minbar.jpg|[[Minbar]] of the [[Yakovalı Hasan Paşa Mosque]], Pécs, Hungary
File:SzolnokFahíd.jpg|The remains of the Ottoman wooden bridge pile marks in Szolnok
</gallery>

==See also==
{{Portal|Islam|Hungary}}
{{colbegin}}
* [[Hungarian Islamic Council]]
* [[Gül Baba (poet)|Gül Baba]]
* [[Almış|Almış (Almas) iltäbär]]
* [[Khalyzians|Kaliz]]
* [[Islam in Romania]]
* [[Islam in Slovakia]]
* [[Turks in Hungary]]
* 'Magyar törzsek', title translated into English 'Hungarian tribes'; URL: https://hu.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magyar_t%C3%B6rzsek (page in Hungarian)
{{colend}}

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080201055304/http://www.magyariszlam.hu/eng/history.html Islamic history in Hungary]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071029100020/http://www.imamreza.net/eng/imamreza.php?id=3889 History of Islam in Hungary]

{{Hungarian religions}}
{{Islam in Europe}}
{{Hungary articles}}

[[Category:Islam in Hungary| ]]