Ronda (Spain) ibn Arabi the great saint visited this town and spoke much about the sufi centers and Sufis of the Town.

Ronda came under Arab rule in 713, who named it Hisn Ar-Rundah (“Castle of Rundah”) and made it the capital of the Takurunna province during which it was the hometown of the polymath Abbas Ibn Firnas, an inventor, engineer, alleged aviator, physician, Muslim poet, and Andalusian musician.

After the fall of the caliphate of Córdoba, Ronda became the capital of a small kingdom ruled by the Berber Banu Ifran, the taifa of Ronda. During this period Ronda received most of its Islamic architectural heritage. In 1065 the city was conquered by the taifa of Seville led by Abbad II al-Mu’tadid. During this era, both the poet Salih ben Sharif al-Rundi and the Sufi scholar Ibn Abbad al-Rundi were born in Ronda.

The Islamic rule of Ronda ended in 1485, when it was conquered by the Marquis of Cádiz after a brief siege. Most of the city’s old edifices were renewed or adapted to Christian roles. It is believed that there were 8 mosques in the city, none of which survive today except for the Minaret of San Sebastian which was converted into a bell tower after the mosque was converted to a church. The minaret has similarities to some still remaining in northern Africa. The original mosque was small, but located in the center of town and frequented by rulers and elite families. Some historians have speculated the minaret may have been preserved by Moriscos (Muslims who were forcibly converted to Christianity), and who did not want to destroy all remnants of their city.

The Spanish Inquisitions affected the Muslims living in Spain greatly. Shortly after 1492, when the last outpost of Muslim presence in the Iberian Peninsula, Granada, was conquered, the Spanish decreed that all Muslims and Jews must either vacate the peninsula without their belongings or convert to Christianity. Many people overtly converted to keep their possessions, while secretly practicing their religion. Muslims who converted only overtly were called Moriscos and required to wear upon their caps and turbans a blue crescent. Traveling without a permit meant a death sentence. This systematic suppression forced the Muslims to seek refuge in mountainous regions of southern Andalusia; Ronda was one such refuge.

On May 25, 1566 Philip II decreed the use of the Arabic language (written or spoken) illegal, doors to homes to remain open on Fridays to verify that no Muslim Friday prayers were conducted, and heavy taxation on Morisco trades. This led to several rebellions, one of them in Ronda under the leadership of Al-Fihrey who defeated the Spanish army sent to suppress them under the leadership of Alfonso de Aguilar. The massacre of the Spaniards prompted Phillip II to order the expulsion of all Moriscos in Ronda to North Africa.

The Church of San Sebastian was destroyed in the 1600s during the Morisco uprisings that led to their expulsion. It is possible the minaret was purposely left standing as a permanent reminder.

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Sahifah Hammam ibn Munabbih (Arabic: صَحِيفَة هَمَّام ٱبْن مُنَبِّه‎)

The Earliest Extant Work on the Hadith : Comprising As-Sahifah As-sahihah of Abu-Hurairah (d. 58 H./677) Prepared for His Pupil Hammam Ibn Munabbih (d. 101 H./719).

Hammam ibn Munabbih was one of the 9 students of Abu Hurairah. Abu Hurairah used to narrate the hadith he heard from the Prophet to his 9 students. Out of all 9 students, only Sahifah Hammam ibn Munabbih's book is quoted by some sources^[2] though it had not survived. The first quote of the Sahifah Hammam ibn Munabbih's book is in the Musannaf. And currently the whole book is copied into Hadith book Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal.

It is sometimes quoted as one of the earliest known hadith collections compiled by Islamic Scholar Hammam ibn Munabbih (d. 101 AH/719 CE). Its original form has not been preserved. It was composed by 8th century scholar Hammam ibn Munabbih. It has been translated, in the 20th century, by Muhammad Hamidullah. Two copies of Sahifa Hammam bin Munabbih manuscripts were discovered; one in a Damascus library and the other in a library in Berlin. Dr. Hamidullah published it after carefully comparing the two manuscripts.

Hammam bin Munabbih (b. 19 h.) was a disciple of Abu Hurairah R.A.. It was generally known that the Sahifah had been completely included in the Musnad Ahmad. He was the son of Munabbih ibn Kamil, and Wahb ibn Munabbih was his brother. His main student was Ma'mar b. Rashid who transmitted Hammad's material to Abd al-Razaq al-San'ani and Abdullah b. al-Mubarak among others.

I met Dr. Hamidullah in 1976 at the time he was working on the introduction to a second edition of this work.

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Yusuf ibn Abdallah ibn Mohammed ibn Abd al-Barr, al-Andalusi al-Qurtubi al-Maliki, commonly known as Ibn Abd-al-Barr was an eleventh-century Maliki judge and scholar in Lisbon.^[3] He died in December 2, 1071 (aged 93).

Ibn Abd al-Barr was born in 978 and died in 1071 in Xàtiva in Al-Andalus.

While initially having been an adherent of the Zahirite school of Muslim jurisprudence, Ibn Abd al-Barr later switched to the Malikite rite, which was the officially recognized legal code of the Umayyad dynasty, under which he lived. His book on the three great Sunni jurists Malik ibn Anas, Al-Shafi'i and Abu Hanifa noticeably excluded both his former patron Dawud al-Zahiri and Ahmad ibn Hanbal.

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Abu Nasr Al-Farabi Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al Fārābī; known in the West as Alpharabius; c. 872 between 14 December, 950 and 12 January, 951 was a renowned early Islamic philosopher and jurist who wrote in the fields of political philosophy, metaphysics, ethics and logic. He was also a scientist, cosmologist, mathematician and music scholar.

In Islamic philosophical tradition he was often called "the Second Teacher", following Aristotle who was known as "the First Teacher". He is credited with preserving the original Greek texts during the Middle Ages because of his commentaries and treatises, and influencing many prominent philosophers, such as Avicenna and Maimonides. Through his works, he became well-known in the West as well as the East.

Al-Farabi spent almost his entire life in Baghdad. In the auto-biographical passage preserved by Ibn Abī Uṣaibiʿa, Farabi stated that he had studied logic, medicine and sociology with Yūḥannā bin Ḥaylān up to and including Aristotle's Posterior Analytics, i.e., according to the order of the books studied in the curriculum, Fārābī was claiming that he had studied Porphyry's Eisagoge and Aristotle's Categories, De Interpretatione, Prior and Posterior Analytics. His teacher, bin Ḥaylān, was a Nestorian cleric. This period of study was probably in Baghdad, where Al-Masudi records that Yūḥannā died during the reign of Al-Muqtadir (295-320/908-32).

He was in Baghdad at least until the end of September 942, as recorded in notes in his Mabādeʾ ārāʾ ahl al-madīna al-fāżela. He finished the book in Damascus the following year (331), i.e., by September 943). He also studied in Tétouan, Morocco^[34] and lived and taught for some time in Aleppo. Farabi later visited Egypt, finishing six sections summarizing the book Mabādeʾ in Egypt in 337/July 948 – June 949 when he returned to Syria, where he was supported by Sayf al-Dawla, the Hamdanid ruler. Al-Masudi, writing barely five years after the fact (955-6, the date of the composition of the Tanbīh), says that Farabi died in Damascus in Rajab 339 (between 14 December 950 and 12 January 951)

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Qadi ‘Iyad ibn Musa (1083–1149) formally ‘Iyad ibn Amr ibn Musa ibn ‘Iyad, born in Ceuta,^[3] then belonging to the Almoravid dynasty, was the great imam of that city and, later, a qadi in the Emirate of Granada.

Qadi Iyaḍ was born into an established family of Arab origin in Ceuta. As a scion of a notable scholarly family, ʿIyad was able to learn from the best teachers Ceuta had to offer. The judge Abu ʿAbd Allah Muhammad b. ʿIsa (d. 1111) was ʿIyad’s first important teacher and is credited with his basic academic formation. Growing up, ʿIyad benefited from the traffic of scholars from al-Andalus, the Maghrib, and the eastern Islamic world. He became a prestigious scholar in his own right and won the support of the highest levels of society.

In his quest for knowledge, Iyad spent part of 1113 and 1114 visiting Cordoba, Murcia, Almeria, and Granada. He received ijāzas from the most important traditionist of his time, Abū ʿAlī al-Ṣadafī (d. 1120) in Murcia, and met with some of the most celebrated scholars of the moment, such as Ibn al-Hajj (d. 1134), Ibn Rushd (d. 1126), and Ibn Hamdin (d. 1114)

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Muslim Contribution to Modern Civilization

Muslim scientists and scholars have contributed immensely to human knowledge especially in the period between the 8th and 17th century. However, their contributions have been largely ignored, forgotten or have gone un-acknowledged by the modern Western writers. In this series adapted from the book of same name you can read fascinating accounts of some of the most talented Muslim scholars in history whose contributions have left lasting marks in the annals of almost all modern sciences and disciplines.

Introduction

The names of Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein are popular. The chances are that if you try to remember which scientists you were taught about at school, these names will be on your list. But how many students will learn about scholars from non-western civilisations, such as Ibn al Haitham, a Muslim scholar of optics who first developed the laws of light reflection and invented the pinhole camera in the 11th century? Or Ibn Nafis, who first recorded observations on pulmonary blood circulation, a theory attributed to William Harvey 300 years later? How about Abbas ibn Firnas, who made the first recorded attempt of human flight in the 9th century, using adjustable wings covered with feathers, and how many would know of Zang He, the Chinese Muslim admiral who used refined technology to construct fleets of massive non-metal ship, five centuries ago.

Many are unaware of the extent to which our modern civilisation has been enriched by a series of past great civilisations, which include a largely unacknowledged and untaught Muslim heritage. This heritage has become part of European mainstream culture over the centuries and is manifest, for example, in our treasured architectural icons such as the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral in London and in the horseshoe arches and gothic ribs of Al Hambra in Granada, Spain.

Even the way we speak shows the influence of languages from other cultures: many English words used in science, such as alchemy, algorithm, alkali, amalgam and zero, have their roots in the Arabic language and are a small demonstration of the cultural interconnectivity that has enriched western civilisation over many centuries. The history of astronomy also reveals conspicuous examples of Muslim influences, such as in the naming of stars. Betelgeuse, Rigel, Vega, Aldebaran and Fomalhaut are among the names that are directly Arabic in origin or are Arabic translations of Ptolemy’s Greek descriptions. Other terms, such as azimuth (al sumut), nadir (nazir), and zenith (al samt) are also derived from Arabic.

The discoveries described above were made during a period commonly misconstrued in history textbooks as the Dark Ages. In fact, in the Muslim world, the period from circa 600-1600 was a prolific era of creative enquiry into science, technology and engineering and a time of advancement in civilisation, which would later act as a catalyst for the Western Renaissance. Amongst European scholars who were profoundly influenced and inspired by Muslim scholars were Roger Bacon, Leonardo da Vinci, Kepler, Michelangelo, Copernicus, Andreas Veselius and Galileo.

Many other advances were made by Muslim scientists in the biological sciences of anatomy, botany, evolution, physiology and zoology; the earth sciences of anthropology, cartography, geodesy, geography and geology; the psychological sciences of experimental psychology, psychiatry, psychophysics and psychotherapy; and the social sciences of demography, economics, sociology, history and historiography. We enumerate a few with their relevant scholars.

An Article from the Muslim Contribution to Modern Civilization: Authored by Dr. Yunoos Osman

For further information on this Topic please consultthe book 'Muslim Contribution To Modern Civilization' by Dr Yunoos Osman

Also Some Observation During My Trip to Cyprus and Other European Countries.

A Few Points will be publish here to highlight the History of Islam in Europe as Researched by Maulana Dr. Yunoos Osman

Islam gained its first foothold in continental Europe in 711 with the Umayyad conquest of Hispania. They advanced into France but in 732, were defeated by the Franks at the Battle of Tours. Over the centuries the Umayyads were gradually driven south and in 1492 the Moorish Emirate of Granada surrendered to Ferdinand V and Isabella. Muslim civilians were expelled from Spain and by 1614 none remained in Spain.

Islam entered Eastern and Southeastern Europe in what are now parts of Russia and Bulgaria in the 7th[3] and 13th century, respectively. Following the Muslim conquest of Persia, Islam for the first time penetrated into regions that would later become part of Russia.[4] The Ottoman Empire expanded into Europe taking huge portions of the Byzantine Empire in the 14th and 15th centuries. Over the centuries, the Ottoman Empire also gradually lost almost all of its European territories, until the empire collapsed in 1922. However, parts of the Balkans (such as Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Sandzak (Serbia and Montenegro) and Bosnia) continue to have large populations of native, European Muslims. This is also the case in a number of regions within the Russian Federation such as the Northern Caucasus(Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, Stavropol Krai, Adygea), Crimea, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and the Astrakhan Oblast. Transcontinental countries, such as Turkey, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have large Muslim populations.

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries substantial numbers of non-native Muslims immigrated to Western Europe. By 2010 an estimated 44 million Muslims were living in Europe (6%), including an estimated 19 million in the EU.

Islam In England

A mancus / gold dinar of king Offa, copied from the dinars of the Abbasid Caliphate (774); it includes the Arabic text Muhammad is the Apostle of Allah, a line from the Shahada. Is part of the ancient treasures of England.

Although Islam is generally thought of as being a recent arrival in England, there has been minor contact between the English and Muslims for many centuries.

An early example would be the decision of Offa, the 8th-century King of Mercia (one of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms existing at that time), to have a coin minted with an Islamic inscription - largely a copy of coins issued by the contemporary Muslim ruler, Caliph Al-Mansur. These coins may have been minted simply for prestige or to facilitate trade with the expanding Caliphate of Córdoba, as Islamic gold dinars were the most important coinage in the Mediterranean at the time. Offa's coin looked enough like the original that it would be readily accepted in southern Europe, while at the same time his own name was clearly visible.

References to Britain are also found in early Islamic geographical literature, such as the 9th century work of Ahmad ibn Rustah (died 910) which describes the islands of "Bratiniya".

Muslim scholarship, especially early Islamic philosophy and Islamic science, was well-known through Latin translation among the learned in England by 1386, when Geoffrey Chaucer was writing. In the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, there is among the pilgrims wending their way to Canterbury, a 'Doctour of Phisyk' whose learning included Rhazes (Al-Razi), Avicenna (Ibn Sina, Arabic ابن سينا) and Averroes (Ibn Rushd, Arabic ابن رشد). In the Pardoner's Tale, Chaucer mentions part Avicenna's work concerning poisons.[6]Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine (1025), in Latin translation, was a standard text for medical students up until the 18th century.[7]Roger Bacon, one of the earliest Europeanadvocates of the scientific method,[8] is known to have studied the works of several early Muslim philosophers.[9][10] In particular, his work on optics in the 13th century was influenced by the Book of Optics (1021) by Ibn al-Haytham(Alhazen).

Professor John Makdisi's "The Islamic Origins of the Common Law" in the North Carolina Law Review,[12] curiously suggested that Englishcommon law was inspired by medieval Islamic law.[13] Makdisi drew comparisons between the "royal English contract protected by the action of debt" and the "Islamic Aqd", the "English assize of novel disseisin" (a petty assize adopted in the 1166 at the Assizes of Clarendon) and the "Islamic Istihqaq", and the "English jury" and the "Islamic Lafif" in the classical Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence, and argued that these institutions were transmitted to England by the Normans, "through the close connection between the Norman kingdoms of Roger II in Sicily — ruling over a conquered Islamic administration — and Henry II in England."

Makdisi also argued that the "law schools known as Inns of Court" in England (which he asserts are parallel to Madrasahs) may have also originated from Islamic law, although they bear more similarity to the much closer-to-home Oxbridge Colleges (at which most students would have previously studied) and arose in concentration in Holborn after the clergy were forbidden to teach common law by the Pope, and law schools were banished from the City of London (their current location being between the old City and the courts at Westminster).

He states that the methodology of legal precedent and reasoning by analogy (Qiyas) are also similar in both the Islamic and common law systems,[15] although the English practice arises from the methodology of Bracton, resulting in the subsequent publication of law reports.[citation needed] Other legal scholars such as Monica Gaudiosi, Gamal Moursi Badr and A. Hudson have argued that the English trust and agency institutions, which were introduced by Crusaders, may have been adapted from the Islamic Waqf and Hawala institutions they came across in the Middle East.

Early modern period

The first English convert to Islam mentioned by name is John Nelson.[19] The 16th-century writer Richard Hakluyt claimed he was forced to convert, though he mentions in the same story other Englishmen who had converted willingly.
This king had a son which was a ruler in an island called Gerbi, whereunto arrived an English ship called the Green Dragon, of the which was master one M. Blonket, who, having a very unhappy boy on that ship, and understanding that whosoever would turn Turk should be well entertained of the a yeoman of our Queen's guard, whom the king's son had enforced to turn Turk; his name was John Nelson.

Captain John Ward of Kent was one of a number of British sailors who became pirates based in the Maghreb who also converted to Islam (see also Barbary pirates). Captain John Ward was obsessed with little birds during his time in Tunisia (where he fled). So much that the locals would call him "Jack Asfur" being Arabic for sparrow. This is where the name "Captain Jack Sparrow" comes from.

Unitarians became interested in the faith, and Henry Stubbes wrote so favourably about Islam that it is thought he too had converted to the faith.

From 1609 to 1616, England lost 466 ships to Barbary pirates, who sold the passengers into slavery in North Africa.[21] In 1625, it was reported that Lundy, an island in the Bristol Channel which had been a pirate lair for much of the previous half century, had been occupied by three Ottoman pirates who were threatening to burn Ilfracombe; Algerine rovers were using the island as a base in 1635, although the island had itself been attacked and plundered by a Spanish raid in 1633.

In 1627, Barbary pirates under command of the Dutch renegade Jan Janszoon operating from the Moroccan port of Salé occupied Lundy, before they were expelled by Sir John Pennington. During this time there were reports of captured slaves being sent to Algiers and of the Islamic flag flying over Lundy.

The Muslims had a noticeable influence on the works of George Peele and William Shakespeare. Some of their works featured Muslim characters, such as Peele's The Battle of Alcazar and Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Titus Andronicus and Othello, which featured a Muslim Othello as its title character. These works are said to have been inspired by several Muslim delegations from Morocco to Elizabethan England around 1600.[26] A portrait was painted of one of the Moorish ambassadors, Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud ben Mohammed Anoun, who had come to promote an Anglo-Moroccan alliance.

Turbans were worn in Renaissance England. While friendly relations were formed between England and the Islamic civilizations of the Middle East in the early 16th century, Persian and Turkish style fashions were sometimes worn by the higher classes as a form of party or fancy dress.

Elizabeth I of England was one of the earliest British monarch's to establish relations, alliances and trade with Muslim majority countries.

Diplomatic relations were also established with the Ottoman Empire with the chartering of the Levant Company and the dispatch of the first English ambassador to the Porte, William Harborne, in 1578.

For the first time, a Treaty of Commerce was signed in 1580.[28] Numerous envoys were dispatched in both directions and epistolar exchanges occurred between Elizabeth and Sultan Murad III. In one correspondence, Murad entertained the notion that Islam and Protestantism had "much more in common than either did with Roman Catholicism, as both rejected the worship of idols", and argued for an alliance between England and the Ottoman Empire.[29] To the dismay of Catholic Europe, England exported tin and lead (for cannon-casting) and ammunitions to the Ottoman Empire, and Elizabeth seriously discussed joint military operations with Murad III during the outbreak of war with Spain in 1585, as Francis Walsingham was lobbying for a direct Ottoman military involvement against the common Spanish enemy. Although she never did receive any assistance from the Ottomans, her relations with the Sultan's did not waver.

In 17th-century England, there was a second wave of interest in the study of Arabic scienceand Islamic philosophy. Arabic manuscripts were considered the key to a treasure house of ancient knowledge, which led to the founding of Arabic chairs at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, where Arabic was taught. A large collection of Arabic manuscripts were acquired, collected in places such as the Bodleian Libraryat Oxford. These Arabic manuscripts were sought after by natural philosophers for their research in subjects such as observational astronomy or mathematics, and also encompassed subjects ranging from science, religion, and medicine, to typography and garden plants.

Besides scientific and philosophical literature, works of Arabic fictional literature were also translated into Latin and English during the 17th and 18th centuries. The most famous of these was the One Thousand and One Nights(Arabian Nights), which was first translated into English in 1706 and has since then had a profound influence on English literature. Another famous work was Ibn Tufail's philosophical novel[33][34] Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, which was translated into Latin as Philosophus Autodidactus by Edward Pococke the Younger in 1671 and then into English by Simon Ockleyin 1708. The English translation of Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, set on a desert island, may have inspired Daniel Defoe to write Robinson Crusoe, considered the first novel in English, in 1719. Later translated literary works include Layla and Majnun and Ibn al-Nafis' Theologus Autodidactus.

By the time of Union with Scotland in 1707, only small numbers of Muslims were living in England. The first large group of Muslims to arrive, in the 18th century, were lascars (sailors) recruited from the Indian subcontinent (largely from the Bengal region) to work for the British East India Company, most of whom settled down and took local wives.[39] Due to the majority being lascars, the earliest Muslim communities were found in port towns. Naval cooks also came, many of them from the Sylhet Division of what is now Bangladesh. One of the most famous early Bengali Muslim immigrants to England was Sake Dean Mahomet, a captain of the British East India Company who in 1810 founded London's first Indian restaurant, the Hindoostane Coffee House. He is also reputed for introducing shampoo and therapeutic massage to the United Kingdom.

Islam In Greece

Islam in Greece is represented by a number of indigenous communities, mainly in Ottoman-era Crete, Epirus, and western Greek Macedonia and in present-day East Macedonia and Thrace in Northern Greece. In more recent years immigrant communities from the Muslim world who have mainly settled in Athens have added to the numbers of Greece's Muslims.

Most of the areas which today are within modern Greece's borders were at some point in the past a part of the Ottoman Empire. This period of Ottoman rule in Greece, lasting from the mid-15th century until the successful Greek War of Independence that broke out in 1821 and the establishment of the modern Greek state in 1832, is known in Greek as Tourkokratia (Greek: Τουρκοκρατία, "Turkish rule"; English: "Turkocracy". Some regions, however, like the Ionian islands or Maniin Peloponese were never part of the Ottoman administration, although the latter was under Ottoman suzerainty.

The Byzantine Empire, the remnant of the ancient Roman Empire who ruled most of the Greek-speaking world for over 1100 years, had been fatally weakened since the sacking of Constantinople by the Latin Crusaders in 1204.

The Ottoman advance into Greece was preceded by victory over the Serbs to its north. First the Ottomans won the Battle of Maritsa in 1371. The Serb forces were then led by the King Vukasin Mrnjavcevic, the father of Prince Marko and the co-ruler of the last emperor from the Serbian Nemanjic dynasty. This was followed by another Ottoman victory in the 1389 Battle of Kosovo.

With no further threat by the Serbs and the subsequent Byzantine civil wars, the Ottomans captured Constantinople in 1453 and advanced southwards into Greece, capturing Athens in 1458. The Greeks held out in the Peloponneseuntil 1460, and the Venetians and Genoeseclung to some of the islands, but by 1500 most of the plains and islands of Greece were in Ottoman hands. The mountains of Greece were largely untouched, and were a refuge for Greeks to flee foreign rule and engage in guerrilla warfare.

Cyprus fell in 1571, and the Venetians retained Crete until 1669. The Ionian Islands were only briefly ruled by the Ottomans (Kefalonia from 1479 to 1481 and from 1485 to 1500), and remained primarily under the rule of the Republic of Venice.

Ottoman Greece was a multiethnic society as apart from Greeks and Turks, there were many Jews, Italians (especially Venetians), Armenians, Serbs, Albanians, Roma (Gypsies), Bulgariansetc.[3] However, the modern Western notion of multiculturalism, although at first glance appears to correspond to the system of millets, is considered to be incompatible with the Ottoman system.

The Greeks with the one hand were given some privileges and freedom; with the other they were exposed to a tyranny deriving from the malpractices of its administrative personnel over which the central government had only remote and incomplete control.[5] Despite losing their political independence, the Greeks remained dominant in the fields of commerce and business.

The consolidation of Ottoman power in the 15th and 16th centuries rendered the Mediterranean safe for Greek shipping, and Greek shipowners became the maritime carriers of the Empire, making tremendous profits.[6] After the Ottoman defeat at the Battle of Lepanto however, Greek ships often became the target of vicious attacks by Catholic (especially Spanish and Maltese) pirates.

This period of Ottoman rule had a profound impact in Greek society, as new elites emerged. The Greek land-owning aristocracy that traditionally dominated the Byzantine Empire suffered a tragic fate, and was almost completely destroyed. The new leading class in Ottoman Greece were the prokritoi (πρόκριτοι in Greek) called kocabaşis by the Ottomans. The prokritoi were essentially bureaucrats and tax collectors, and gained a negative reputation for corruption and nepotism.

On the other hand, the Phanariots became prominent in the imperial capital of Constantinople as businessmen and diplomats, and the Greek Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarchrose to great power under the Sultan's protection, gaining religious control over the entire Orthodox population of the Empire, Greek and Slavic.

Islam in Cyprus

Cyprus represents a challenge for the study of the role of the Islamic faith for a variety of reasons, the most obvious of which is that in Cyprus, unlike any other European country, Islam is constitutionally recognized as one of the main religions. Another uniqueness of the status of Islam in Cyprus is the fact that while nearly all Turkish Cypriots are adherents of the Islamic faith, they favour a secular state. A third element that should be taken into account is the fact that the interaction of Christian and Muslims in Cyprus has been overshadowed by political aims of foreign countries and division on the basis of ethnic identity. The purpose of the present article is to enlighten you of the lost Islamic history and culture that once dominated this island. We have always studied the historical contributions of Muslim Spain but never heard or studied the same of this small Mediterranean island of Cyprus.

Please contact us with your inquiries, suggestions and any help we can offer. As we have secured partnership with tour operators, property developers and business opening opportunities. This Island offers a great tourist destination and also rich in Islamic History and also exists here great property investment opportunities. Opportunities also exist for those who intend to have a second passport with access to visa free into over 150 countries.

Forgotten History of Islam in Cyprus

Islam was introduced to Cyprus when Hazrat Uthman the 3rd Caliph conquered it in 649. Muslims lived over the whole area of Cyprus but since the1974 events, they are now concentrated in Northern Cyprus. Until 1974, Turkish Cypriots (the Muslim community of Cyprus) made up 18% of the whole islands population. Today there are an estimated 264,172 Muslims based in theTurkish Republic of North Cyprus.

Several important Islamic shrines and landmarks exist on the island including: the Arabahmet Mosque in Lefkosia (built in the 16th century), the Hala Sultan Tekke/Umm Haram Mosque in Larnaka (built in the 18th century), the Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque, Selimiye Mosque and the Haydarpasha Mosque. Islam came to Cyprus early on in the Arab conquests, which at one point had also captured the Greek island of Crete.

Most of the Turks settled in Cyprus during the Ottoman rule in 1572-1878/1914. The Ottoman Empire gave timars (land grants) to soldiers under the condition that they and their families would stay there permanently. During the 17th century the Turkish population grew rapidly, partly because of Turkish immigrants but also due to Greek converts to Islam. Since 1974, the Muslim population has been bolstered by settlers from Turkey who are almost exclusively Muslim.

In the past there were 11 madrasas in Cyprus teaching Islam to a very high level. None of the madrasas have survived but some of the buildings are being used for other purposes. In Lefkosia the madrasa building is now used as a special needs education centre and the remaining part of the biggest in Pafos is used for shops.

Today, the minority Muslim population in the Republic of Cyprus still exists, although it is made up of many different backgrounds, cultures and countries, including Cypriots. Some come from abroad to study, to find work and for a variety of other reasons.

To-date there is no central Muslim/Islamic contact point in the Republic of Cyprus that is accessible and easy to understand for Muslims new to the country and to those Muslims who already live here

The present study is based on the surviving Arabic material in Abū ʿUbayd al-Qāsim b. Sallām's (d. 224/838) Kitāb al-Amwāl, subsequently transmitted in Kitāb Futūḥ al-buldān of al-Balādhurī (d. ca. 278/892).

Umm Haram Bint Milhan (may Allah be pleased with her) was a maternal aunt of Prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and he would often visit her and would sometimes take a nap in her house. One day, the prophet came to visit her and she provided him with food and started grooming his head. The prophet fell asleep and a short while later woke up smiling. Umm Haram asked,

Hazrate Umm Haram Bint Milhan (R.A) was a woman of great excellence and reputation. Hazrate Umm Sulaim (R.A)mother of Hazrta Anis bin Mali r.a., was her sister. In the Battle of Uhud, she lost both her husband and son, but bore this shock with patience and perseverance.

She had another terrible shock when her dear brother (R.A) was brutally murdered by the enemies of Islam in the famous incident of Bi'r Ma'una. Hazrate Umm Haram (R.A) was overtaken by grief but submitted patiently to the Will of Allah(S.W.T). The Holy Prophet (S.A.W) also felt this brutal murder of Hazrat Haram (R.A) very much.

The Holy Prophet (S.A.W) had a great regard for Hazrate Umm Haram (R.A) and her sister Hazrate Umm Sulaim (R.A)and He often visited their houses and took meals with them. One day, after the Farewell Pilgrimage, the Holy Prophet(S.A.W) went to Quba and visited Hazrate Umm Haram (R.A) in her house and had a meal and then rested there.

Hazrate Umm Haram (R.A) began to comb His (S.A.W) hair with her fingers when He (S.A.W) went to sleep. But after a while, He woke up and said smilingly, "I saw in a dream some people of my Ummah on a sea journey in the way of Allah(S.W.T)." She (R.A) said, "O Allah's Messenger! Pray that I also may have the honour to be in the company of those people." The Holy Prophet (S.A.W) prayed and again went to sleep. After some time, He woke up smiling and narrated the same dream. She again requested the same prayer. The Holy Prophet (S.A.W) said that she was with this party.

During the third Caliphate, Hazrat Uthman (R.A) sent the governor of Syria Hazrat Maawiya bin Abi Sufyan (R.A) a naval force with some of the most noble of the Holy Prophet's Companion (R.A). The force engaged in a battle named the Thaat al-Sawari (the Battle of Masts), on the 28th year of the Hijra and were greatly victorious. Upon their victory Hazrate Umm Haram (R.A) began to laugh, when asked about why she was laughing she recalled the Hadith of The Holy Prophet(S.A.W) about this very victory that she would take part in.

After the Muslim army entered Cyprus, the nation was peacefully surrendered to Muslim rule. As Hazrate Umm Haram(R.A) and her party prepared to head back to Madina she got on a mule to ride. The mule stirred and threw Hazrate Umm Haram (R.A) off, throwing her onto the ground which consequently killed her. She was buried there in Cyprus while on a mission of Jihad, commissioned by the Commander of the Muslims Caliph Hazrat Uthman bin Affan (R.A) himself.

Imam al-Thahabi writes that Hazrate Umm Haram's (R.A) grave became known of the grave of the righteous woman and was visited by both Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Turkish Cypriot society is markedly secular though, at least formally, adherents to the faith subscribe exclusively to the Sunni branch, with an influential stream of Sufism underlying their spiritual heritage and development. Nazim al-Qubrusi, the leader of theNaqshbandi-Haqqani order, hailed from Larnaca and lived in Lefka. There are a few Ahmadi Muslims in the country.

Battle Of Badr

Every civilisation commemorates certain historic battles which have played a significant role in its history. For the Muslims, the Battle of Badr was a major event in which the Muslims defeated a powerful Quraysh army against all odds after being driven out from their homes in Makkah following economic sanctions and persecution. Below are 6 points regarding this decisive battle:

1. It took place in Ramadan
The Battle of Badr took place on the 17th of Ramadan, two years after Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam migrated to Madinah Munawwarah.
2. Badr is located 70 miles from Madinah

Badr is approximately 70 miles from Madinah and approximately 100 miles by road. It takes over 1hr and 45 mins to reach Badr by car. In the time of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam it would have taken much longer to reach there.

14 companions were martyred in the battle. Their names are listed at the site of the battle:

1) Sayyiduna ‘Umayr ibn Abi Waqas. رضي الله عنه

2) Sayyiduna Safwan ibn Wahb. رضي الله عنه

3) Sayyiduna Dhu-Shimalayn ibn ‘Abdi. رضي الله عنه

4) Sayyiduna Mihja’ ibn Salih. رضي الله عنه

5) Sayyiduna ‘Aqil bin al-Bukayr. رضي الله عنه

6) Sayyiduna ‘Ubaydah ibn al-Harith. رضي الله عنه

7) Sayyiduna Sa’ad ibn Khaythama. رضي الله عنه

8) Sayyiduna Mubashir ibn ‘Abd al-Mundhir. رضي الله عنه

9) Sayyiduna Harithah ibn Suraqah. رضي الله عنه

10) Sayyiduna Rafi’ ibn Mu’ala. رضي الله عنه

11) Sayyiduna ‘Umayr ibn Humam. رضي الله عنه

12) Sayyiduna Yazid ibn al-Harith. رضي الله عنه

13) Sayyiduna Mu’awidh ibn al-Harith. رضي الله عنه

14) Sayyiduna ‘Awf ibn al-Harith. رضي الله عنه

70 men from the army of the Quraysh were killed including Abu Jahl, one of their commanders. Many others were taken as prisoners of war by the Muslims who were later ransomed.

Had it not been for the effort and sacrifices of the blessed Sahaba Radhiyallahu Anhum, the Islam which we so freely practise today would not have been possible. May Allah Ta’ala grant these beloved heroes of Islam the highest rank in Jannah and grant us the ability to emulate them and show the respect and love which they truly deserve. Ameen.

Written by Ibn Jubair

Chronological list

First era: 700-750 (Ibn Zubayr and al-Zuhri's histories no longer exist, but they are referenced in later works).

Second era: 750-800

Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri (d.741)
Ibn Ishaq (d. 761) Sirah Rasul Allah (The Life of the Apostle of God)
Abi Mikhnaf (d. 774) Maqtal al-Husayn

Third era: 800-860

Hisham ibn al-Kalbi (d. 819)
Al-Waqidi (d. 823) Kitab al-Tarikh wa'l-Maghazi (Book of History and Battles).
Ibn Hisham (d. 835)
Ibn Sa'd (d. 845)
Khalifa ibn Khayyat (d. 854)

Fourth era: 860-900

Ibn Abd al-Hakam (d. 871) Futuh Misr wa'l-Maghrib wa akhbaruha
Ibn Qutaybah (d. 889) Uyun al-akhbar, Al-Imama wa al-Siyasa
Al-Dinawari (d. 891) Akbar al-tiwal
Baladhuri (d. 892)
Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari (838CE–923CE) History of the Prophets and Kings

Fifth era: 900-950

Ya'qubi (d. 900) Tarikh al-Yaqubi
Ibn Fadlan (d. after 922)
Ibn A'tham (d. 314/926-27) al-Futuh
Abū Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdānī (d. 945)

The historians of the classical period

Iraq and Iran

Abu Bakr bin Yahya al-Suli (d. 946)
Ali al-Masudi (d. 955) The Meadows of Gold
Sinan ibn Thabit (d. 976)
al-Saghani (d. 990) one of the earliest historians of science
Ibn Miskawayh (d. 1030)
al-Utbi (d. 1036)
Hilal ibn al-Muhassin al-Sabi' (d. 1056)
al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 1071) Tarikh Baghdad (a biographical dictionary of major Baghdadi figures)
Abolfazl Beyhaqi (995–1077) Tarikh-e Mas'oudi (also known as Tarikh-e Beyhaqi).
Abu'l-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi (d. 1201)
Yaqut al-Hamawi (1179–1229) author of Mu'jam al-Buldan ("The Dictionary of Countries")
Ibn al-Athir (1160–1231) al-Kamil fi'l-Tarikh
Muhammad bin Ali Rawandi (c.1204) Rahat al-sudur, (a history of the Great Seljuq Empire and its break-up into minor beys)
Zahiriddin Nasr Muhammad Aufi (d. 1242)
Sibt ibn al-Jawzi (d. 1256)
Hamdollah Mostowfi (d. 1281)
Ibn Bibi (d. after 1281)
Ata-Malik Juvayni (1283)
Ibn al-Tiqtaqa (d. after 1302)
Ibn al-Fuwati (d. 1323)
Wassaf (d. 1323)
Rashid-al-Din Hamadani (d. 1398) Jami al-Tawarikh
Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi (d. 1454)
Mirkhond (d. 1498) Rauzât-us-safâ

Egypt, Palestine and Syria

Al-Muqaddasi (d.1000)
Ẓāhir al-Dīn Nīshāpūrī around 1175
al-Musabbihi (d. 1030), Akhbar Misr
Ibn al-Qalanisi (d. 1160)
Ibn Asakir (d. 1176)
Usamah ibn Munqidh (d. 1188)
Imad al-Din al-Isfahani (d. 1201)
Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi (d. 1231)
Baha al-Din ibn Shaddad (d. 1235) al-Nawādir al-Sultaniyya wa'l-Maḥāsin al-Yūsufiyya (The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin)
Sibt ibn al-Jawzi (d. 1256) Mir'at al-zaman (Mirror of the Time)
Ibn al-Adim (d. 1262)
Abu Shama (AH 599–665/AD 1203–68) full name Abū Shāma Shihāb al-Dīn al-Maqdisī
Ibn Khallikan (d. 1282)
Ibn Abd al-Zahir (d. 1293)
Abu'l-Fida (d. 1331)
al-Nuwayri (d. 1332)
al-Mizzi (d. 1341)
al-Dhahabi (d. 1348) Tarikh al-Islam al-kabir
Ibn Kathir (d. 1373) al-Bidaya wa'l-Nihaya (The Beginning and the End)
Ibn al-Furat (d. 1405)
al-Maqrizi (d. 1442) al-Suluk li-ma'firat duwwal al-muluk (Mamluk history of Egypt)
Ibn Hajr al-Asqalani (d. 1449)
al-Ayni (d. 1451)
Ibn Taghribirdi (d. 1470) Nujum al-zahira fi muluk Misr wa'l-Qahira (History of Egypt)
al-Sakhawi (d. 1497)
al-Suyuti (d. 1505) History of the Caliphs
Mujir al-Din al-'Ulaymi (d.1522)