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Muslims in Spain: Andalusian Roots, Growing Presence, and Ongoing Challenges

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In the past thirty years, the Muslim population in Spain has doubled, reaching 2.5 million.

In the past thirty years, the Muslim population in Spain has doubled, reaching 2.5 million.

a year ago

Lamine Yamal, the Muslim football star for Spain’s national team and FC Barcelona, decided to fast during Ramadan in 2025, coinciding with his team’s preparations for the UEFA Nations League quarterfinals against the Netherlands.

For the first time in history, the Spanish team will face a situation where a player needs a special diet because of fasting.

Yamal represents the Muslim community in Spain, which practices its religious customs as an integral part of Spain’s diverse population, composed of various ethnicities and cultures.

Muslims in Spain aim for integration, self-expression, and to combat challenges such as racism or being pigeonholed as mere immigrants. Their roots are deeply intertwined with the Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal, Andorra, and Gibraltar), where they ruled and lived for eight centuries.

Muslims in Spain

Global data platform Statista estimated in January 2025 that Spain’s Muslim population stood at 1.085 million, with Moroccan-origin Muslims accounting for 880,000, followed by 100,000 of Pakistani descent and 83,000 from Senegal.

Despite this, Muslims in Spain face significant challenges, especially waves of racism and Islamophobia. On February 9, 2025, the Moroccan Association for Immigrant Integration in Spain published a study revealing that 47.5% of Muslims surveyed had been victims of racist attacks in Spain, though only 6% dared to file a formal complaint. Discrimination and Islamophobia, particularly targeting Moroccan migrants, remain concerning.

The study highlighted instances of discrimination, such as six out of ten Muslim women being excluded from job offers because they refused to remove their hijabs for interviews. Seven out of ten Muslims faced rejection from real estate agencies due to their accents.

In various regions, teachers in educational centers have made Muslim students feel inferior, undermining their academic performance or limiting their educational aspirations. Seven out of ten individuals admitted to experiencing stress, anxiety, low self-esteem, and a sense of alienation or frustration after facing Islamophobic attacks at some point in their lives.

The Moroccan Association revealed that this study was funded by Spain’s Ministry of Social Rights and Consumption, as part of the 2030 Agenda.

Big Challenges

Muslim communities in Spain reject being solely identified as “immigrant religion.” Over the past 30 years, the Muslim population in Spain has increased tenfold, reaching 2.5 million, according to Mohamed Ajana al-Wafi, Secretary of the Islamic Commission of Spain.

In an interview with Anadolu Agency on March 26, 2023, al-Wafi stated that “unofficial estimates suggest the number of Muslims in Spain is around 3 million.”

“In the past, most Muslims were immigrants, but now they make up a significant portion of the Spanish population.”

There are about one million Spanish citizens who are Muslims, some of whom have acquired Spanish citizenship, while others have Spanish roots,” he added.

“53 Islamic unions are active in Spain, with 15 having wide-reaching activities, and the number of mosques is around 2,000.”

Muslims in Spain, like their counterparts around the world, celebrate the arrival of the holy month of Ramadan, organizing Iftar programs and gathering for Taraweeh prayers at mosques and large Islamic centers.

Al-Wafi confirmed that the Islamic Commission of Spain invites non-Muslim neighbors to join them in celebrations and Iftar during Ramadan.

“We demonstrate solidarity together during this month, sending a message of the importance of spreading this spirit as a model for coexistence throughout the year,” he said.

Al-Wafi referred to a report by the Commission that found a noticeable increase in the number of Spaniards wishing to convert to Islam in cities like Seville, Cordoba, and Barcelona.

He also pointed out that Spaniards living in the cities of Ceuta and Melilla, which have a Muslim-majority population, are increasingly converting to Islam.

Great Impact

The Islamic Commission is one of the largest entities representing the Muslim community in Spain.

In 1992, the Commission, along with associations representing Evangelicals and Jews, signed a cooperation agreement with the state, securing legal and social rights for Muslims.

This agreement marked a significant achievement in recognizing the rights of Spain’s growing Muslim community, addressing various issues such as education, mosque construction regulations, marriage, and religious holidays.

However, the Islamic Commission argues that the Spanish state did not fully anticipate the extent of the requirements to maintain these rights, including the need to teach Islamic religious education in schools for future generations.

“The Muslim population in Spain was less than 200,000 at the time, and there were barely any Muslim students in schools. This is why they put article number 10 — the one on Islamic religious education — as something very difficult to materialize,” Ihab Fahmy, Education Coordinator at the Commission, told The New Arab.

The early Muslims who settled in Spain left a profound legacy, including the famous Great Mosque of Cordoba, established by Abd al-Rahman al-Dakhil in 170 AH.

It is one of the most iconic Islamic landmarks and was listed as one of Spain’s 12 treasures in 2007. Many Spaniards have been deeply influenced by this mosque and heritage, with some even converting to Islam after exploring their roots.

One such person is Umar del Pozo, the head of the Spanish Islamic Society Association, who spoke about the Great Mosque of Cordoba and the rich Muslim history of al-Andalus.

“We must change the image that depicts Islam in Spain and Europe as just a religion of migrants,” del Pozo told Al-Jazeera on May 8, 2021.

He stated that he was the son of a Spanish family who converted to Islam.

Del Pozo told Anadolu Agency in 2021 that at least one person embraces Islam every Friday at the Great Mosque of Granada, where nearly 3,000 Muslim Spaniards reside.

He also highlighted a noticeable increase in Spaniards converting to Islam in cities like Seville, Cordoba, and Barcelona.

Returning to Andalusian Roots

Muslims in Spain sometimes face waves of racist attacks, like in 2020, when over 30 human rights organizations in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta organized mass protests. This was in response to a song considered racist against Muslims, who make up half of the city’s population, according to Spanish media.

The song, written by a police officer and member of the far-right Vox party, was used to defend the city against Muslims, claiming that Ceuta’s soil is Spanish.

On August 26, 2024, the Catalonian government fined the mayor of Ripoll, Girona, 10,000 euros ($11,000) for anti-Muslim comments made during a TV program.

The fine was imposed under a law aimed at combating Islamophobia and xenophobia in Catalonia.

However, these issues do not deter Spaniards from converting to Islam. On April 27, 2022, Anadolu Agency interviewed some Spaniards who converted, including 77-year-old Jadia Martinez, who had been Muslim for 42 years. She explained that her conversion was part of a long process of searching for self-identity and roots, driven by dissatisfaction with Western culture.

Martinez shared that for a Westerner, finding Islam as a path to inner peace is often unexpected, especially given the pressure from the media and society on Islam.

She also pointed out that the Grand Mosque, located across from the Alhambra in Granada, is one of the most important Islamic buildings in Andalusia. To Muslims in Spain, it represents “a meeting point between the past and the present.”

Rational Voices

Amidst the challenges, some voices are celebrating Muslims and their civilization. Spanish documentary filmmaker Isabel Fernandez, at the premiere of Building the Alhambra on December 27, 2023, stated, “If there were no Muslims in Spain, Europe’s history would have been different.” 

“The Andalusian period was crucial because it brought knowledge to Europe.”

On October 21, 2024, the 44th edition of the International Tourism Fair (Fitur 2024) took place in Madrid, where Spanish academic Encarna Gutierrez, curator of the Islamic Culture Foundation, shared her perspective. “Sadly, at school, they only teach you about 800 years of history in two pages, so we wanted to reclaim that and explore our Andalusian heritage and identity. This was our primary focus,” she said.

“Spaniards seem to have a split personality. On one hand, they are extremely proud of the Andalusian heritage they inherited. These monuments boost the tourism industry and attract visitors from around the world. We have the Alhambra, Granada, Almeria, Andalusian palaces, Seville [..] and more.”

“On the other hand, Spain joined Europe late due to its Islamic past, making this situation very complex,” Gutierrez added.

“Many people don’t know about Madrid’s Islamic history, or if they do, they forget it. They don’t remember that Mayrit is the only European capital founded by Muslims.”

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source https://www.alestiklal.net/en/article/muslims-in-spain-andalusian-roots-growing-presence-and-ongoing-challenges

Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Spain

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ahmadiyya is an Islamic branch in Spain, under the spiritual leadership of the caliph in London. The earliest history of the Community in Spain dates back to the period of the Second Caliph, when Malik Mohammad Sharid Gujrati, a missionary of the Community, arrived in Madrid on March 10, 1936.[citation needed] However, in the same year the Spanish Civil War broke out forcing Gujrati to abandon the country. Missionary efforts commenced once again following the Second World War, in 1946 when Karam Ilahi Zafar was sent by the caliph. The Basharat Mosque in Pedro Abad, built by the Ahmadiyya in the 1980s is the first mosque to be built in Spain since the Fall of Granada and the end of Muslim rule at the end of the 15th century.[1][2] Today there are two purpose-built Ahmadi Muslim mosques and roughly 500 adherents in Spain.[3]

History

Early contact

In the 1930s, during the era of the Second Caliphate, Malik Mohammad Sharid Gujrati arrived in Madrid on March 10, 1936. A Community consisting of five Ahmadi Muslims was said to have been established, among whom the first convert was Count Antonio Logothete. He later adopted the name Ghulam Ahmad and his wife adopted the name Amina. That year the Spanish Civil War broke out between the Republicans, the Second Spanish Republic, and the Nationalists. As a consequence Gujrati had to leave the country and the Community became dormant.[4][5]

Establishment

Karam Ilahi Zafar, the first longterm missionary in Spain

Several years after the Civil War, missionary efforts commenced once again. In 1945, following the Second World War, Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad, the Second Caliph, summoned a meeting for a batch of missionaries to be sent to Europe. Though not originally intended, Karam Ilali Zafar was appointed for a mission in Spain. The caravan departed in 1945 from the headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Qadian towards Bombay harbour, via New Delhi. The group embarked on SS Batory and after three weeks landed in Liverpool where they confronted Jalal al-Din Shams, then a pioneering missionary stationed in England. The caravan spent six months in London at the Fazl Mosque. On June 24, 1946, Karam Ilali Zafar arrived in Madrid through the French port of Hendaye.[6][7]

Zafar studied Spanish for six months before he was able to preach to the people of Spain. A noted early convert of this period was Enrique Ku Zhin, an ethnic Russian translator who adopted the name Muhammad Ahmad. A year later, in 1947, the Indian subcontinent was facing a partition. Subsequently, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, then headquartered in Qadian, India, had to be relocated to the newly created Pakistan. Since the Community was primarily concentrated in the Subcontinent during the 1940s, it was facing severe financial difficulties. As a result, the caliph requested many of the missionaries who were then stationed in Europe, to return home.[4] Zafar, having read the message from the caliph, wrote back to him requesting permission to continue to work, but as a self-financed missionary. After receiving permission from the caliph, Zafar worked as a street vendor selling homemade perfumes, primarily in El Rastro an open-air market in Madrid. He often used his stalls as opportunity to introduce the Islamic faith. For example, he reportedly used to chant, “Huelan esta fragancia tan agradable, sin embargo esta fragancia no durará mucho tiempo entre vosotros, pero yo conozco un aroma que es permanente y eterno. Si lo desean, pueden tomar mi tarjeta y contactarme“, meaning that the pleasant fragrance that he is selling does not last long, but there is a scent that is permanent and eternal, i.e. Islamic teachings.[7] Under the rule of Francisco Franco, non-catholic missionary work was banned and as a result Zafar faced several arrests by the state police.[6] Often his perfume stall was subject to vandalism from members of the general public. In spite of this he managed to publish a number of books into Spanish during the Franco era, including Estructura económica de la sociedad islámica (Islamic Economic system) and La filosofía de las enseñanzas del islam a translation of a book by Ahmad, The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam.[6]

In 1969, Zafar wrote a letter to Francisco Franco, the dictator of Spain, about Islam and the claims of Ahmad. The letter discussed eight points with reference to the prevailing Catholic beliefs, including the Islamic teaching on the Unity of God, the status of Muhammad as a prophet, and a number of basic Quranic injunctions. The letter also discussed the Ahmadi belief concerning the survival of Jesus from the Cross and his eventual journey towards India, and also the claims of Ahmad as the spiritual return of Christ.[8] On December 24, 1969, Felipe Polo Martínez Valdés, the secretary to Franco returned his gratitude for the letter.[8]

Two years later, in 1971, following the democratic transition in the 1960s and the 1970s, offering greater religious freedom, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was finally able to register as a non-Catholic religious organization. The Community was registered as La Misión Ahmadia del Islam.[8]

Journeys by caliphs

Basharat Mosque, Pedro Abad

Basharat Mosque, Pedro Abad

Baitur Rahman Mosque, La Pobla de Vallbona

Baitur Rahman Mosque, La Pobla de Vallbona

Locations of the two purpose-built mosques in Spain. One was inaugurated by Caliph IV and the other by Caliph V

Following the democratic transition in the 1970s, offering greater religious freedom, the Community under the directions of Caliph III stepped up efforts to proselytize and began to search for a plot of land to build a mosque.[6] On October 9, 1980, the caliph laid the foundation stone for the mosque in Pedro Abad, northeast of Córdoba, to which he gave the name “Basharat Mosque“. It was the first time in the history of Ahmadiyya that an Ahmadi caliph had visited Spain.[5] Most notably, it was also in this occasion of the ceremony that the caliph coined the motto of the Community, “Love for All, Hatred for None“. This was also the caliph’s final journey to Spain.

In 1982, just a few months into his caliphate, Caliph IV landed in Spain to inaugurate the Basharat Mosque. Over 3,000 guests from various countries attended the opening ceremony on September 10, 1982, including a number of public figures, such as the former president of UN General Assembly, Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, Nobel Prize winner Abdus Salam and a vicar representing the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Córdoba. Built at a cost of 30 million pesetas, the mosque is the first purpose-built mosque since the expulsion of Muslims from Spain.[9] Karam Ilali Zafar, then still a missionary in Spain, was sent to Granada, Andalusia, in 1982. After spending five years he was transferred to Portugal in 1987 where he spent nine years. He then returned to Granada and after serving almost 60 years, mostly in Spain, he died in 1996. He is buried in a cemetery in Pedro Abad.[6]

On his first visit to Spain, Caliph V urged local Ahmadis to make special effort to convey the teachings of Islam and Ahmadiyya to the people of Spain.[4] On March 26, 2013, the caliph arrived for another visit in order to inaugurate another mosque of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, in Valencia to which he gave the name Baitur Rahman Mosque. Built at a cost of 1.2 million euros, the mosque can support up to 750 worshippers.[4]

Demographics

Basharat Mosque is the first purpose-built mosque in Spain for over 500 years.

During the 1930s, when Malik Mohammad Sharid Gujrati arrived in Spain a community consisting of five Ahmadi Muslims was said to have been established.[4] During the early period of Karam Ilali Zafar’s ministry in the late 1940s, Ahmadi Muslims were largely concentrated in Madrid and Barcelona.[6] After more than 30 years, the Community had not grown significantly. By the 1970s, there were an estimated 30 Spaniards who had converted to the faith.[8] Today, the Community is established in 13 towns and cities across Spain.[4] In particular, Ahmadi Muslims maintain a presence in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Logroño and a number of towns and cities across the autonomous community of Andalusia.[6] In Andalusia, there are approximately 100 Ahmadi Muslims. Whilst this primarily consists of immigrant populations from Pakistan, there are a few dozen Spaniards.[6] There are roughly 500 Ahmadi Muslim across Spain.[5]

There are two purpose-built mosques; Basharat Mosque in Pedro Abad, northeast of Córdoba and the Baitur Rahman Mosque in La Pobla de Vallbona, northwest of Valencia. The Basharat Mosque is the first purpose-built mosque since the expulsion of Muslims from Spain.

See also

References

  1.  Yvonne Y. Haddad, Jane I. Smith: Mission to America. Five Islamic sectarian communities in North America. University Press of Florida, Gainesville 1993, p. 49
  2.  “Who are The Ahmadi?”. BBC.
  3.  Gerardo Elorriaga (June 24, 2014). “El Islam del amor” (in Spanish). Retrieved August 4, 2015.
  4.  “Re-Emergence of Islam in Spain Through a Peaceful Message”. Review of Religions. 108 (5). May 2013.
  5.  “El Islam del amor” (in Spanish). June 26, 2014. Retrieved August 4, 2015.
  6.  Briones, R (2010). Minorías religiosas en Andalucía (in Spanish). Barcelona: Icaria editorial. pp. 289–347.
  7.  “La Comunidad Ahmadía en España” (in Spanish). Retrieved August 2, 2015.
  8.  “La misión Ahmadia del Islam, sin una sola mezquita” (in Spanish). El País. February 11, 1977. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
  9.  Sebastian Cuevas (September 12, 1982). “Inaugurada la primera mezquita ahmadia en España con presencia de la jerarquía católica” (in Spanish). Retrieved August 5, 2015.

source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmadiyya_in_Spain

Categories: The Muslim Times

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