Islam in Contemporary Portugal

Abstract

The accommodation of Islam in contemporary Portugal closely follows three historical processes: imperial cycles, migration fluxes and secularization. While related, each process has produced different outcomes. The Portuguese imperial cycle, which is traditionally framed by historians as lasting from 1415 to 1974, is increasingly recognized as one of the major determinants of contemporary Portuguese politics and society(e.g., Barreto 1995, 2005). Migration fluxes are partially an effect of the former, as shown by a brief analysis of Muslim community demographics. One other feature is also important in this regard: migration inflows have occurred at a comparatively late stage, especially when Portugal is compared with other Western European countries, and have had an important effect on the homogeneity of the religious field. Secularization and its related concepts (e.g secularity/non-secularity or post-secular), even taking into account its essential contestedness as a theory and empirical phenomenon, is important insofar as it locates the religious field within Portuguese society and both the State and religious traditions as actors within a defined set of social and political relations.