Islam in the Netherlands

Islam is the second largest religion in the Netherlands after various forms of Christianity, practiced by 4% of the population according to 2012 estimates. The majority of Muslims in the Netherlands belong to the Sunni denomination. Most reside in the nation's four major cities, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht.

The early history of Islam in the Netherlands can be traced to the 16th century when Ottoman traders began settling in the nation's port cities. While religious exposure arrived via trade partnerships, improvised Mosques in Amsterdam were first constructed in the early 17th century. In the ensuing timeframe, the Netherlands experienced sporadic Muslim immigration from the Dutch East Indies during its status as a colony of the Netherlands. Starting with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire through the independence of Indonesia, the greater Kingdom of the Netherlands contained the world's largest Muslim citizenry. However, the number of Muslims in the Kingdom's European territories was very low, accounting for less than 0.1% of the population.

The Netherlands' economic resurgence in the 1960 to 1973 timeframe motivated the Dutch government to recruit migrant labor, chiefly from Turkey and Morocco. Later waves of immigrants arrived through family reunification and asylum seeking. A notable portion of Muslim immigrants also arrived from now-independent colonies, primarily Indonesia and Suriname.

The first traces of Islam in the Netherlands date back to the 16th century. Ottoman and Persian traders settled in many Dutch and Flemish trading towns, and were allowed to practice their faith, although most of them belonged to the Jewish or Greek Orthodox community under the Sultan. British traveler Andew Marvell referred to the Netherlands as "the place for Turk, Christian, heathen, Jew; staple place for sects and schisms" due to the harmony between different religious groups. References to the Ottoman state and Islamic symbolism were also frequently used within 16th century Dutch society itself, most notably in Protestant speeches called hagenpreken, and in the crescent-shaped medals of the Geuzen, bearing the inscription "Rather Turkish than Papist". When Dutch forces broke through the Spanish siege of Leiden in 1574, they carried with them Turkish flags into the city. During the Siege of Sluis in Zeeland in 1604, 1400 Turkish slaves were freed by Maurice of Orange from captivity by the Spanish army. The Turks were declared free people and the Dutch state paid for their repatriation. To honor the resistance of the Turkish slaves to their Spanish masters, Prince Maurice named a local embankment "Turkeye". Around this time the Netherlands also housed a small group of Muslim refugees from the Iberian peninsula, called Moriscos, who would eventually settle in Constantinople.

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