95–100% | |
90–95% | |
50–70% | |
30–35% | |
10–20% | |
5–10% | |
4–5% | |
2–4% | |
1–2% | |
< 1% |
Islam inRomania is followed by only 0.4 percent of the population, but has 700 years of tradition inNorthern Dobruja, a region on theBlack Sea coast which was part of theOttoman Empire for almost five centuries (ca. 1420-1878). In present-dayRomania, most adherents toIslam belong to theTatar andTurkish ethnic communities and follow theSunni doctrine. The Islamic religion is one of the18 rites awarded state recognition.
According to tradition, Islam was first established locally aroundSufi leaderSari Saltik during theByzantine epoch. The Islamic presence in Northern Dobruja was expanded by Ottoman overseeing and successive immigration, but has been in steady decline since the late 19th century. In Wallachia and Moldavia, the twoDanubian Principalities, the era of Ottomansuzerainty was not accompanied by a growth in the number of Muslims, whose presence there was always marginal. Also linked to the Ottoman Empire, groups of Islamic colonists in other parts of present-day Romania were relocated by theHabsburg expansion or by various other political changes.
After Northern Dobruja became part of Romania following theRusso-Turkish War of 1877–1878, the community preserved its self-determining status. This changed during thecommunist regime, when Romanian Muslims were subject to a measure of supervision by the state, but the group again emancipated itself after the Romanian Revolution of 1989. Its interests are represented by theMuftiyat (Muftiyatul Cultului Musulman din România), which was created as the reunion of two separate such institutions.
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According to the 2022 census, 76,215 people, approximately 0.4% of the total population, indicated that their religion was Islam,[2] marking an increase from 2011, when 64,337 people declared adherence to Islam.[3] The vast majority of Romania's Muslims are Sunnis who adhere to theHanafi school. Ethnically, they are mostly Tatars (Crimean Tatars and a number ofNogais), followed by Turks, as well asMuslim Roma (as many as 15,000 people by one estimate),[4]Albanians (as many as 3,000),[5] and groups ofMiddle Eastern immigrants. Members of the Muslim community inside the Roma minority are colloquially known as "Turkish Roma".[4] Traditionally, they are less religious than people belonging to other Islamic communities, and their culture mixes Islamic customs withRoma social norms.[4]
Ninety-seven percent of the Romanian Muslims are residents of the twocounties forming Northern Dobruja: eighty-five percent live inConstanța County, and twelve percent inTulcea County.[6] The rest mainly inhabit urban centers such asBucharest,Brăila,Călărași,Galați,Giurgiu, andDrobeta-Turnu Severin.[7] A single municipality,Dobromir, has a Muslim majority.[8]
In all, Romania has as many as eightymosques,[5] or, according to records kept by theRomanian Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, seventy-seven.[7] The city of Constanța, with itsGrand Mosque of Constanța and the location of the Muftiyat, is the center of Romanian Islam;Mangalia, near Constanța, is the site of a monumental mosque, built in 1575 (seeEsmahan Sultan Mosque).[5][9][10] The two mosques are state-recognized historical monuments, as are the ones inHârșova,Amzacea,Babadag andTulcea, together with the Babadag tombs of two popularly revered Sufisheikhs—the supposed tomb ofdervish Sari Saltik and that ofGazi Ali Pașa.[7] There are also 108 Islamic cemeteries in Romania.[7]
The nationwide Islamic community is internally divided into 50 local groups of Muslims, each of whom elects its own leadership committee.[7] Members provide funding for the religious institution, which is supplemented by state donations and subsidies, as well by assistance from international Islamic organizations.[7]
TheMuslim clergy in Romania includesimams,imam-hatips, andmuezzins.[7] As of 2008, the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs recognizes 35imams.[7] The Constanța Mufti, who is the community's main representative, is elected by a secret ballot from among theimams.[7] He is assisted by asynodal body, theSura Islam, which comprises 23 members and offers advice on matters of administration and discipline.[7] The current Mufti isMurat Iusuf.[7]
The first significant numbers of Muslims arrived in Romania with thePechenegs andCumans. Around 1061, when the Pechenegs ruled inWallachia and Moldavia, there was a Muslim minority among them, as was among the Cumans.[9] The Cumans followed the Pechenegs in 1171,[9] while theHungarian kings settled the Pechenegs inTransylvania and other parts of their kingdom.
Muslim presence is traditional inDobruja, and partly predates both Ottoman rule and the creation of the neighboringDanubian Principalities. Both the Pechenegs and Cumans were present in the area, where they probably established a number of small communities.[11] Around 1260, twoRûm Seljuq community leaders, the deposed SultanKaykaus II and the mystic Sari Saltik, were allowed to settle the region during the reign ofMichael VIII Palaiologos, ruler of theByzantine Empire.[7][9] Kaykaus, who arrived in Dobruja with his brother and co-rulerKilij Arslan IV,[11] was reportedly followed by as many as 12,000 of his subjects.[9][11] Researchers such asFranz Babinger andGheorghe I. Brătianu endorse the view that Saltuk and his followers were in fact crypto-ShiiteAlevis who were regarded asapostates by the dominant Sunni group of centralAnatolia, and who sought refuge from persecution.[11]
The exact location of their earliest area of settlement is disputed: a group of historians proposes that the group was probably tasked with defending the Byzantine border to the north, and settled in and around what later became known as Babadag,[9][11] while another one centers this presence on the Southern Dobrujan strip of land known asKaliakra (presently inBulgaria).[11] In addition, various historians argue that this Seljuq migration was the decisive contributor to theethnogenesis of theGagauz people, which, some of them believe, could also have involved the Cumans, Pechenegs,Oghuz and otherTurkic peoples.[11] The Gagauz, few of whom have endured in Dobruja, are majorityEastern Orthodox, a fact which was attributed to a process ofreligious conversion from Islam.[11]
The presence ofTatars was notably attested through the works ofBerber travelerIbn Battuta, who passed through the area in 1334.[5] In Ibn Battuta's time, the region was regarded as a westernmost possession of the TatarGolden Horde, akhanate centered on theEurasian Steppe.[11] Archeology has uncovered that another Tatar group, belonging to the Golden Horde, came to Dobruja during the rule ofNogai Khan, and were probably closely related to the present-day Nogais.[5] FollowingTimur's offensives, the troops ofAktai Khan visited the region in the mid-14th century and around 100,000 Tatars settled there.[9]
Before and after the Golden Horde fell, Dobrujan Muslims, like theCrimean Tatars, were recipients of its cultural influences, and the language in use wasKipchak.[9] The extension of Ottoman rule, effected underSultansBayezid I andMehmed I,[5] brought the influence ofOttoman Turkish,[9] as Dobruja was added to theBeylerbeylik ofRumelia.[5]
The grave of Sari Saltik, reportedly first erected into a monument by Sultan Bayezid, has since endured as a major shrine in Romanian Islam.[11] The shrine, which has been described as acenotaph, is one of many places where theSheikh is supposed to be buried: a similar tradition is held by various local communities throughout theBalkans, who argue that his tomb is located in Kaliakra,Babaeski,Blagaj,Edirne, theHas District,Krujë, orSveti Naum.[12] Other accounts hold that Saltuk was buried in the Anatolian city ofİznik,[13] inBuzău,Wallachia, or even as far south as theMediterranean island ofCorfu or as far north as thePolish city ofGdańsk.[12] The toponymBabadağ (Turkish for "Old Man's Mountain", later adapted intoRomanian asBabadag) is a probable reference to Sari Saltik, and a Dobrujan Muslim account recorded by chroniclerEvliya Çelebi in the late 15th century has it that the name surfaced soon after a Christian attack partly destroyed the tomb.[11]
The oldestmadrasah in Dobruja and Romania as a whole was set up in Babadag, on orders fromBayezid II (1484); it was moved toMedgidia in 1903.[5] From the same period onwards, groups of Muslim Tatars and Oghuz Turks from Anatolia were settled into Dobruja at various intervals;[5] in 1525, a sizable group of these, originating from the ports ofSamsun andSinop, moved to Babadag.[9] Bayezid also askedVolga Tatars to resettle into northern Dobruja.[5]
In the twoDanubian Principalities, Ottoman suzerainty had an overall reduced impact on the local population, and the impact of Islam was itself much reduced. Wallachia and Moldavia enjoyed a large degree of autonomy, and their history was punctuated by episodes of revolt and momentary independence. After 1417, when Ottoman domination over Wallachia first became effective, the towns ofTurnu and Giurgiu were annexed askazas, a rule enforced until theTreaty of Adrianople in 1829 (the status was briefly extended toBrăila in 1542).[9]
For the following centuries, three conversions in the ranks of acting or former localhospodars are documented:Wallachian PrincesRadu cel Frumos (1462–1475) andMihnea Turcitul (1577–1591), andMoldavian PrinceIlie II Rareș (1546–1551). At the other end of the social spectrum, Moldavia held a sizable population of Tatarslaves, who shared this status with all local Roma people (seeSlavery in Romania). While Roma slavery also existed in Wallachia, the presence of Tatar slaves there has not been documented, and is only theorized.[14] The population may have foremost comprised Muslim Nogais from theBudjak who were captured in skirmishes, although, according to one theory, the first of them may have beenCumans captured long before the first Ottoman and Tatar incursions.[14]
The issue of Muslim presence on the territory of the two countries is often viewed in relation to the relations between the Ottoman Sultans and local Princes. Romanian historiography has generally claimed that the latter two were bound by bilateral treaties with thePorte. One of the main issues was that ofCapitulations (Ottoman Turkish:ahdnâme), which were supposedly agreed between the two states and the Ottoman Empire at some point in the Middle Ages. Such documents have not been preserved: modern Romanian historians have revealed thatCapitulations, as invoked in the 18th and 19th centuries to invoke Romanian rights vis à vis the Ottomans, and as reclaimed bynationalist discourse in the 20th century, were forgeries.[15] Traditionally, Ottoman documents referring to Wallachia and Moldavia were unilateral decrees issued by the Sultan.[15] In one compromise version published in 1993, Romanian historian Mihai Maxim argues that, although these were unilateral acts, they were viewed as treaties by the Wallachian and Moldavian rulers.[16]
Provisions toward Muslim-Christian relations have traditionally been assessed by taking in view later policies. According to one prominent interpretation, this would mean that the Principalities were regarded by the Ottomans as belonging to theDâr al ahd' ("Abode of the Covenant"), a status granted to them in exchange for material gains.[17] Therefore, the Ottoman Empire did not maintain troops orgarrisons or build military facilities.[18] Instead, as it happened in several instances, Ottoman Sultans allowed their Tatar subjects to raid Moldavia or Wallachia as a means to punish the dissent of local Princes.[19] Literary historian Ioana Feodorov notes that the relations between the two smaller states and the Ottoman suzerain were based on a set of principles and rules to which the Ottoman Empire adhered, and indicates that, early in the 17th century, this system drew admiration from theArabic-speaking Christian travelerPaul of Aleppo.[20]
By the 17th century, according to the notes of travelerEvliya Çelebi, Dobruja was also home to a distinct community of people of mixed Turkish and Wallachian heritage.[9] Additionally, a part of the Dobrujan Roma community has traditionally adhered to Islam;[4][9] it is believed that it originated with groups of Romani people serving in theOttoman Army during the 16th century,[4] and has probably incorporated various ethnic Turks who had not settled down in the cities or villages.[5] Alongside Dobruja, a part of present-day Romania under direct Ottoman rule in 1551-1718 was theTemeşvar Eyalet (theBanat region of western Romania), which extended as far asArad (1551–1699) andOradea (1661–1699).[9]
During this period, Muslim settlers, who includedBosniaks inLipova, were a numerical minority, but exercised domination over the Christian majority by controlling the administration and thetimar. Concentrated in cities, they included soldiers and their families, officials, merchants and craftsmen. Particularly in 17th-centuryTimișoara, the social and cultural life of the Muslim community flourished.[21] The few thousand Muslims settled there were, however, driven out byHabsburg conquest and settled atAda Kaleh.[22] No mosques or other Ottoman-era buildings have survived in Timișoara.[23]
The presence of Muslims in the two Danubian Principalities was also attested, centering on Turkish traders[24][25] and small communities ofMuslim Roma.[25] It is also attested that, during laterPhanariote rules and the frequentRusso-Turkish Wars, Ottoman troops were stationed on Wallachia's territory.[26]
Following theCrimean Khanate's conquest by theRussian Empire (1783), many Tatars there took refuge in Dobruja, especially around Medgidia.[5][9] At the time, Crimean Tatars had become the largest community in the region.[9] Nogais in theBudjak began to arrive upon the close of theRusso-Turkish War of 1806–1812, when the Budjak andBessarabia were ceded to Russia[9] (they settled in northern Tulcea County -Isaccea andBabadag).Khotyn, once part of Moldavia, was the birthplace ofAlemdar Mustafa Pasha, who was the OttomanGrand Vizier until 1808. Two more Grand Viziers between 1821 and 1828 came from the once Moldavian city ofBender:Benderli Ali Pasha andMehmed Selim Pasha (nicknamedBenderli, meaning "from Bender").
Over the same period, large groups ofCircassians (as many as 200,000), refugees from theCaucasian War, were resettled in the Balkans, including Northern Dobruja, by the Ottomans (localities with large Circassian populace in Northern Dobruja included Isaccea,Slava Cercheză,Crucea,Horia, andNicolae Bălcescu).[5][9] During the 1860s, a significant number of Nogais, also fleeing Russian conquest, left their homes in theCaucasus and joined in the exodus to Dobruja.[27] Members of other Muslim communities which joined in the colonization includedArabs (a group of 150 families offellahin fromSyria Province, brought over in 1831–1833),Kurds, andPersians—all of these three communities were quickly integrated into the Tatar–Turkish mainstream.[5]
Tatars in Tulcea County were driven out by Russian troops during theRusso-Turkish War of 1877–1878 (seeMuhajir Balkan).[28] Furthermore, after the signing of theTreaty of San Stefano, theCircassians of Dobruja and of other regions liberated from Ottoman rule were expelled, avoiding any contact between the Dobrujan Circassians and the Romanian authorities.[29] Following the conflict and theBerlin Congress, the Romanian government ofIon Brătianu agreed to extendcivil rights to non-Christians.[28] In 1923 a monument in the shape of a small mosque was built inBucharest'sCarol Park, as sign of reconciliation after World War I. A small Turkish-speaking Muslim community resided onAda Kaleh island in theDanube, south of the Banat, an Ottoman enclave and later part ofAustria-Hungary, which was transferred to Romania in 1923.
At the end of theSecond Balkan War in 1913, theKingdom of Romania came to includeSouthern Dobruja, whose population was over 50% Turkish (the region was ceded to Bulgaria in 1940).[28] As recorded afterWorld War I, Romania had a population of 200,000 Muslims from a total of 7 million, the majority of which were Turks who lived in the two areas of Dobruja (as many as 178,000).[28] Since 1877, the community was led by four separate muftiyats. Their number was reduced during theinterwar period, when the cities of Constanța and Tulcea each housed a muftiyat.[7] In 1943, the two institutions were again unified around the mufi in Constanța.[7] Outside Dobruja, the relatively small presence ofAlbanian Muslims also left a cultural imprint: in 1921, the first translation of theQur'an intoAlbanian was completed byIlo Mitkë Qafzezi in the Wallachian city ofPloiești.[5]
Until afterWorld War II, the overall religiously conservative and apolitical Muslim population reportedly enjoyed a notable degree of religious tolerance.[30] Nevertheless, after 1910, the community was subject to a steady decline, and many predominantly-Muslim villages were abandoned.[5]
The Dobrujan Muslim community was exposed to cultural repression duringCommunist Romania. After 1948, all property of the Islamic institutions became state-owned.[28] The following year, the state-run and secularcompulsory education system set aside special classes for Tatar and Turkish children.[28] According to Irwin, this was part of an attempt to create a separate Tatar literary language, intended as a means to assimilate the Tatar community.[31] A reported decline in standards led to the separate education agenda being ceased in 1957.[28] As a consequence, education in Tatar dialects andTurkish was eliminated in stages after 1959, becoming optional,[5] while themadrasah in Medgidia was shut down in the 1960s.[5][7] The population of Ada Kaleh relocated to Anatolia shortly before the 1968 construction of theIron Gates dam by a jointYugoslav-Romanian venture, which resulted in the island being flooded. At the same time,Sufi tradition was frowned upon by Communist officials—as a result of their policies, the Sufi groups became almost completely inactive.[32]
However, according to historian Zachary T. Irwin, the degree to which the Muslim community was repressed and dispersed was lower in Romania than in other countries ofEastern Europe, and the measures were less severe than, for instance, those taken against RomanianRoman Catholics andProtestants.[33] The state sponsored an edition of theQur'an, and top clerics such as MuftiIacub Mehmet and BucharestImamRegep Sali, represented the community in theGreat National Assembly duringNicolae Ceaușescu's years in office.[34] In the 1980s, a delegation of Romanian Muslims visitedIran after theIslamic Revolution succeeded in that country.[34] They also adhered to international bodies sponsored byLibya andSaudi Arabia.[34] These gestures, according to Irwin, brought only a few objections from the regime.[34]
Following the Romanian Revolution of 1989, Tatar and Turkish were again added to the curriculum for members of the respective communities, and, in 1993, the Medgidiamadrasah was reopened as a Theological and Pedagogic High School named afterTurkish PresidentMustafa Kemal Atatürk.[5][7] The school was later elevated to National College status, and is known in Romanian asColegiul Național Kemal Atatürk. Since the 1990s, the official representatives of the Muslim community maintain close relations with internationalnon-governmental organizations such as theMuslim World League.[7] Also after the fall of communism, ethnic Romanians began converting to Islam. According to Murat Iusuf, they number in the thousands, and are frequently women who marry Muslim men. In 2014, a member of this community established theMaryam Mosque. Located inRediu, in the region of Moldavia, its congregation is made up of converts.[35][36] For some fourteen years, discussions went on regarding the building of a mosque in Bucharest. In 2015, Prime MinisterVictor Ponta signed an agreement allowing the Turkish government to proceed.[37] The latter was to provide€3 million for construction costs, while the Romanian state donated 11,000 m2 of land nearRomexpo valued at €4 million. The mosque would have fit 2000 people, with amadrasah and a library on site.[38] The project was controversial, with former PresidentTraian Băsescu warning of "an accelerated Islamization process" and every major candidate forMayor of Bucharest expressing opposition or calling for a referendum.[39][38] The plan was canceled due to a lack of funds in 2018.[40]
| Year[41][42] | Population | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1930 | 185,486 | 1.03% |
| 1949 | 28,782 | 0.18% |
| 1956 | 34,798 | 0.2% |
| 1966 | 40,191 | 0.21% |
| 1977 | 46,791 | 0.22% |
| 1992 | 55,928 | 0.25% |
| 2002 | 67,257 | 0.31% |
| 2011 | 64,337 | 0.34% |
| 2022 | 76,215 | 0.4% |
| State-recognised |
|  |
|---|---|---|
| Semi-recognised (as a religious association, but not adenomination) | ||
| Not state-recognised | ||
| Others | ||
