Muslims in Western Europe by Jonas Otterbeck

Author:Jonas Otterbeck
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

SPAIN

The Muslim presence in Spain is characterised by three elements. On the one hand is the cultural heritage of the Islamic period, particularly marked in architectural treasures, which ended in 1492 with the conquest of the last Muslim kingdom, that of Granada. As Islam has again become a feature of the social scene in Spain during the last few decades, some Muslim groups have appeared which claim to be the heirs of that period. At the same time, as part of the country’s reorientation following the return to democracy after the death of Franco in 1975, increasing attention has been given to the Islamic heritage, especially of Andalucia.

Numerically much more significant, however, has been labour migration. Much of this was temporary, transient and unregistered, as it started to grow during the 1960s. Many Moroccans found temporary work in the tourist industry of the Mediterranean coast while they were looking to moving on to France. Thirdly, there has been the more long-term process of labour immigration into the country’s most industrialised region, Catalonia. It was here that many men from the former Spanish protectorate of the northern sector of Morocco went to find work during the 1960s and 1970s.

As France and other European countries further north closed their borders to labour immigration in 1973 and 1974, many Moroccans found themselves stuck in Spain, while others found themselves being forced back south out of France. This quickly led to a population of some 100,000 Moroccans in Barcelona for a time during the late 1970s. But in Spain, as elsewhere, this development also led to a new process of family reunion and settlement, and therefore of permanence. The last major wave of immigration came during the late 1980s and early 1990s, as people sought to enter before Spain joined the stricter immigration regime being adopted by the European Community. The first step in this move was the introduction in May 1991 of stricter visa requirements, which was followed at the beginning of 1993 by the coming into effect of the Single Market and then Spain’s adherence to the so called Schengen accord on internal and external passport controls.

It remains difficult to estimate the number of Spanish residents of Muslim background because of the high proportion of unregistered people. An estimate from 1986 suggested a total of some 175,000, of which 110,000 were Moroccans, 20,000 from Sub-Saharan Africa, 30,000 from the Middle East, and 15,000 from South and South-east Asia. A 1990 estimate indicated a total of 250,000 Muslims, at a time when official government records showed fewer than 10,000 Moroccans legally resident! By 2013 estimates were suggesting a total of between 1,300,000 and 1,700,000, of which migrants of Moroccan origin were the largest group. Approximately a third of the Muslim population are believed to be Spanish citizens.

Family reunion has led to a very speedy development of Muslim organisations. The first mosque to be built in modern times was in Marbella, opened in 1981, followed in 1983 by the Abu Bakr Mosque in Madrid and, in 1992, the Saudi-financed Islamic Cultural Centre in Madrid.

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