The Mangalia Mosque, the oldest mosque in Romania, built in 1575 by Esmahan, the daughter of Ottoman sultan Selim II
There are many countries in the world where Islam springs to mind when they are mentoned, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Morrocco are just a few. There are many other lands Islam reached that many from amongst the Ummah may not be aware of, such as Western China, Greece, Southern Italy, Hungary and maybe even Austria. Romania is also one such land that many may not be aware lived under Islamic rule for 800 years. Many may not even know where Romania is, it is only 275 miles from Turkey.
In Europe Romania is infamous for Transylvania - home of Count Dracula. Whilt this character has assumed a position archetypal vampire in populer Western culture; the character is based upon Prince of Wallachia. Vlad III, who came to be known as the impaler. Historically, Vlad Dracula became infamous for his resistance against the Uthmani Khilafah and for the cruel punishments he inflicted upon his enemies.
Vlad Dracula was sent in 1475 with an army of Hungarian and Serbian soldiers to recapture Bosnia from the Uthmani Khilafah. Whilst the Uthmani Khilafah lost this initial battle, the Uthmani's entered Wallachia in 1476 under the command of Mehmed II to recapture the lost lands. During the war, Vlad was killed and, according to some sources, his head was sent to Constantinople to discourage the other rebellions.
According to most sources in Romania, Islam first emerged when the Sufi leader Sari Saltik came to the region during the Byzantine epoch. The Islamic presence in Northern Dobruja was expanded by Uthmani Khilafah who oversaw successive immigration. In Wallachia and Moldavia, the two Danubian Principalities, the era of Uthmani's did not accompany growth in the number of Muslims, whose presence there remained small. Also the battles between the Uthmani's and Habsburg Empire led to many Muslim to move to the Islamic heatlands.
Romania emerged in 1859 as a union of the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. Northern Dobruja became part of Romania following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. However during the the communist regime, Romanian Muslims were subject to a number of harsh measures, especially supervision by the state. The Ummah in Romania managed to hold on to the deen and were able after the Romanian Revolution of 1989 to begin the open dawah to Islam.
Islam in Romania is followed by only 0.3 percent of population, this equates to around 60,000 people, but has more than 800 years of tradition in Northern Dobruja, a region on the Black Sea coast which was part of the Uthmani Khilafah for almost five centuries (ca. 1420-1878). In present-day Romania, most adherents to Islam belong to the Tatar and Turkish ethnic communities.
The vast majority of Romanians are Sunnis who adhere to the Hanafi madhab.
97% of Romanian Muslims are residents of the two counties forming Northern Dobruja: eighty-five percent live in Constanţa County, and twelve percent in Tulcea County. The rest mainly inhabit urban centers such as Bucharest, Brăila, Călăraşi, Galaţi, Giurgiu, and Drobeta-Turnu Severin.
In all, Romania has as many as eighty mosques, or, according to records kept by the Romanian Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, seventy-seven. The city of Constanţa, with its Carol I Mosque and the location of the Muftiyat, is the center of Romanian Islam; Mangalia, near Constanţa, is the site of a monumental mosque, built in 1525. The two mosques are state-recognised historical monuments, as are the ones in Hârşova, Amzacea, Babadag and Tulcea. There are also 108 Islamic cemeteries in Romania.
After the Romanian Revolution in 1989, when Romania left the Eastern Communist camp native Romanians had the chance to discover Islam and taste its fruits. Today as many as 3,000 Muslim are converts to Islam and the number is growing day by day. Being converts they faced the particular problem in a society, in that society was not prepared to accept them. Most groups in Romania show little will to support Muslims generally. For these reasons the Ummah in Romania were forced to create an organisation capable of defending and maintaining the needs of the Ummah in Romania. The Alliance of Romanian Muslim was set up in order to protect and defend the Ummah and Islam in Romania.
When Islam came to Europe the continent was living in the dark ages. Eastern Europe was steeped in superstition, magic and sorcery. Islam came and brought a new rational belief that took the region from its misery and gave their lives purpose. Whilst in mainland Europe the challenge is to defend the deen, in Romania and many parts of Eastern Europe once again the people need liberation from capitalism and nationalism and it is here the Muslim of Romania are at the forefront carrying on the work the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم started and the Uthmani Khilafah expanded. Whilst the Ummah face the same issues globally, the Ummah from Romania stand shoulder to shoulder with the Ummah all over the world and await the day Allah sends his blessings.
Your brothers and Sister from Romania
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Fozia
said:
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Inshallah, Ya Allah we striving for sincere Islamic leadership, the Khilafah state, which will once again harness the vast resources, unify this ummah, rule by the Islamic shariah, establish justice and end the domination of the Muslim land...s by foreign powers. Ameen, Ameen, Ameen. “For Allah is One full of strength, able to enforce His Will.” [Translation of meaning Al-Mujadilah 58:21] |
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md rakibul hasan
said:
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dn"t be upset my bro .the days r not so far when our flag will be upright throught the world. |
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md rakibul hasan
said:
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do not be upset. my brother. our day is coming soon .be be patience |
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mahmudul
said:
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InsALLAH we again capture the land of muslims from kafers. and convey the message of ALLAH in every corner of the world. |
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mumin
said:
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Romania is occupied Muslim land, it is all waqf, and must return to the rule of the Muslimin, to the just rule of Sharia of Allah, replacing the taghoot law! After Palestine, al-Andalus; after al-Andalus, Romania! |
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Allah's salve
said:
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Inshallah Islam will be over powr then anything. even in Romania one day Allah hu Akbar |
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Hamoud
said:
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Assallamu Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh brothers/sisters-Alhamdulillah, even in the United Snakes of Amerikkka, Islam is fast becoming the dominant Deen. There is a reason why Islam is being vilified by all major media outlets: They fear the loss of their flawed capitalistic way of life(lie). They know what will happen, Insha'Allah, to the wretched alcohol industry, pork industry, gambling/lotteries, high fashion, entertainment, fancy cars, gold, jewelry, .......etc. More than half of all the GNP of the US will evaporate overnight if our Deen becomes dominant, Insha'Allah, and it WILL! Even the government's clandestine involvement with the illegal drug trade will disappear! Alhamdullilah! the days of the Khalifah flag flying over the White House will soon be upon us! ALLAH-HU AKBAR! |
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Lowly One
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Mashallah. May Allah grant me the time to one day visit your country! |
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Kawser Hasan
said:
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Dear brother don't hesitate, it's a blink of eye to see our most aspired Sultanat inshaallah. So go on and we here in Bangladesh are having the fragrance of Sultanat! |
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Abrar Ahmad
said:
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dear brothers and sisters! Mohammad (saw )and his band of party were very less in numbers in Makkah, but we know what they did... you are 60,000 people masha Allah...plus the clearcut method available to you... you do there... we are doing here... and Insha Allah sooner or later we will come together as brother... and share our memories of struggle to establish Islam. A brother from India Wassalam |
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Zeital
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During the reign of the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates the Byzantine (remnant of Eastern Roman Empire) retained its hold over Asia Minor and the Balkans. The Byzantines were a continuation of the Greco-Roman civilisation and upholders of the Eastern Rite or Orthodox traditions. The Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians, Romanians, Ukrainians, and Russians all took their identities from the Orthodox faith and built great houses of worship for their faith. There is plenty of spirituality which struck a deep chord with Eastern European peoples. The Orthodox faith is deeply embedded into the cultures, literature, and indentify of Eastern Europeans, as Catholic faith is bound to countries like Poland, Croatia, and Italy. The Umayyad and Abbasids were great patrons of Arabic and Persian culture. Persian statecraft was used in administration of the Islamic state (Persians have a long history of ruling). The Umayyad State established a navy and for a period seized Cyprus and even besieged Constantinople. Muslim contact with the Balkans reached areas like Croatia due to trade links. Al-Andalusia had links to all Europe. The suzerainty of the Muslim world passed from Arabians to Turkic nations. Seljuk Turks also used Persian statecraft. Successors of these Mongol-Turkic invaders became the Mamluk Sultanate, Uthmaani and Mughal dynasties. The Persians reasserted themselves under the Safavids as an indigenous Persian dynasty and patrons of Sh’ia Islam. The Uthmaani undertook military campaigns in the Balkans and terminated the ancient Byzantine dynasty. Uthmaani depictions in the mindset of Europeans were as invaders and a threat to Christendom. The preceding Berber/Arabian Muslims were also feared as Saracens but the Turks were perceived as a greater threat. One point of interest is that after the fall of Al-Andalusia, Islam did not take root in Europe as it once did in Al-Andalusia. The Albanians, Bogomils (Bosnians), and Crimean Tartars, took to Islam; with some conversions in Greece and Bulgaria, but generally not elsewhere. Muslims recovered in Asia and had more success in the Far East. Such as Indonesia, Malaysia and even India. |
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foyju
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inshallah... when the time comes from allah (saw),they (kafir-mushrik) will see the strength and the power of ISLAM all over again.. INSHALLAH... |
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