Europe's Muslim history

From the magnificence of the Alhambra to the forgotten resting places of the Prophet Muhammad's own relatives, Islam has long been a part of Europe's history. In this episode of the History Extra podcast, Danny Byrd speaks to Tara Hussein about this continent-spanning saga, exploring Islam's rich legacy within Europe. Tarek, your book begins with you recounting your visit to the Halas Ortan Mosque in Cyprus, a moment that completely shifted how you saw Islam and Europe. Can you take us back to that day and tell us what changed for you there? In a way, it didn't change on the day, Danny, as you know, from having read it.

It didn't change on the day because I didn't know about the history of Islam in Europe. So I didn't know what I was encountering in that moment. I didn't know what I was visiting. You know, as I say in the book, it's, you know, we we find ourselves on this very cheap but very long layover in Lanaka in Cyprus, a place that I had never even heard of at that point.

And I was just looking for something to really kill time because we we we had a toddler with us. And the prospect of, you know, hanging out nine hours in this tiny little airport with a toddler was just gonna drive us nuts. And I come across this description of a mosque. You know, we're talking about long before the internet was any good, so I must have come across it in some book or some some mention somewhere. And I thought, oh great, that's that's a fantastic way to, you know, kill a bit of time.

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