Islam is thesecond-largest religion inCyprus, afterChristianity, and is also the predominant faith of theTurkish Cypriot community which resides inNorthern Cyprus.[1] Before theTurkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, the Turkish Cypriot community made up18% of the island's population and lived throughout the island. Today, most of the estimated 264,172 Muslims are based in the north of the island.[2][3]
Turkish Cypriot society is formally[clarification needed] relativelysecular; adherents to the faith subscribe mostly to theSunnibranch of Islam, with an influential stream ofSufism underlying their spiritual heritage and development.Nazim al-Qubrusi, the leader of theNaqshbandi-Haqqani Sufi order, hailed fromLarnaca and lived inLefka. Another branch among the Turkish Cypriot Muslims isAlevism.[4] There are also a few Turkish Cypriots who areAhmadi Muslims.[5]
It is rumored that an aunt ofMuhammad,Umm Haram, had accompanied one of the early Arab expeditions to the island. She died during the expedition and was buried at the presentHala Sultan Tekke monument.[6]
In the medieval period,Arabs controlled the island, before the Byzantine reconquest.[7]
Since theTurkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, the Muslim population in the north of the island has been bolstered by settlers fromTurkey who are almost exclusively Sunni Muslims. The status of these settlers is disputed under international law and specifically the prohibition, under theGeneva Convention, on the cross-border transfer of populations by states aiming to engineer changes in the demographic make-up of other states.[8]
The segregation of Cypriot Turks and Greeks has effected that most of the Muslims in the territory controlled by theRepublic of Cyprus are Arab immigrants and refugees, unrelated to the Turks historically living in the area.[9]
Several importantIslamic shrines and landmarks exist on the island including:[10][11][12]
