Louvre Museum in Paris that recently added a wing about Muslims
Source: WorldMag.com
By Angela Lu
Islam has been growing in European countries—especially the urban areas of France, the U.K., and Spain—through increased immigration and higher birth rates. But native Europeans also are converting to Islam, either to fit in to Muslim-dominated neighborhoods, for marriage, or to counter the spiritual emptiness in the secular countries, according to an article in last weekend’s New York Times.
During the past 20 years, the number of Muslims in Europe has increased by nearly 50 percent, from 29.6 million in 1990 to 44.1 million in 2010, according to a 2011 Pew Forum study. By 2030, the number is expected to climb to 58 million, making up 8 percent of the entire European population.
About 100,000 of the six million Muslims in France are thought to be converts, the New York Times article reports. French prisons are considered fertile ground for conversion to Islamic radicalism, with Muslims making up a third of the inmates.
One imam in the southern coast of France told the New York Times that French conversions have “increased at an incredible pace in the last three years.” He signed 130 conversion certificates last year.
“Secularism has become antireligious,” Hassen Chalghoumi, an imam near Paris, told the newspaper. “Therefore, it has created an opposite phenomenon. It has allowed people to discover Islam.”
The increase of immigration also has created Muslim communities in cities like Paris, London, and Barcelona. France had an influx of 66,000 Muslim immigrants in 2010, mostly from North Africa, making up two-thirds of all new immigrants to France. Spain saw 70,000 Muslim immigrants that year, while the U.K. had 64,000.