Spain is a Christian majority country, with Islam being a minority religion, practised mostly by immigrants from Muslim majority countries, and their descendants. As of 2019, 4.45% of the Spanish population are Muslims.
Islam was a major religion on the Iberian Peninsula, beginning with the Umayyad conquest of Hispania and ending (at least overtly) with its prohibition by the modern Spanish state in the mid-16th century and the expulsion of the Moriscos in the early 17th century, an ethnic and religious minority of around 500,000 people. Although a significant proportion of the Moriscos returned to Spain, or avoided expulsion, the practice of Islam had faded into obscurity by the 19th century after many years of crypto-Muslims practicing their faith in secret.
While the 2022 official estimation of Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS) indicates that 2.8% of the population of Spain has a religion other than Catholicism, according to an unofficial estimation of 2020 by the Union of Islamic Communities of Spain (UCIDE) the Muslim population in Spain represents the 4.45% of the total Spanish population as of 2019, of whom 42% were Spanish citizens (most of them with foreign family origins), 38% Moroccans, and 20% of other nationalities.
History
Conquest
Hispania was the Latin name which was given to the whole Iberian Peninsula, and after the fall of the Western Roman Empire (476) the Germanic tribe of Visigoths, who adopted Christianity, ended up ruling the whole peninsula until the Islamic conquest (during that time they pushed another Germanic tribe out—the Vandals – and conquered another one—the Suevi). It is frequently stated in historical sources that Spain was one of the former Roman provinces where the Latin language and culture grew deep roots. After the fall of the Empire, the Visigoths continued the tradition by becoming what was probably the most Romanized Teutonic tribe. Under Visigothic rule Spain was filled with extreme instability due to lack of communication between the native Spaniards and the new rulers, who followed the Germanic notion of kingship. Visigothic kings were considered the first among equals (the nobility), and they could easily be overthrown if they did not keep the different factions happy.
News of the political unrest which existed from the late 6th century through the early 8th century was eventually received by the rulers of the growing Islamic empire which existed along the North African coast. Several historical sources state that the Islamic caliphate had not actually targeted the Visigothic Kingdom for conquest, but political divisions within it created an opportunity which was successfully exploited by an army which was led by the Muslim general Tariq ibn-Ziyad. The last Visigoth king, Roderick, was not considered a legitimate ruler by all of the inhabitants of the Spanish Kingdom, and some Visigothic nobles aided the Islamic conquest of Spain. One name frequently mentioned is Count Julian of Ceuta who invited Tariq ibn-Ziyad to invade southern Spain because his daughter had been raped by King Roderick.
On April 30, 711, Muslim General Tariq ibn-Ziyad landed at Gibraltar and by the end of the campaign most of the Iberian Peninsula (except for small areas in the north-west such as Asturias and the Basque territory) were brought under Islamic rule. This campaign's turning point was the battle of Guadalete, where the last Visigothic king, Roderick, was defeated by general Tariq ibn-Ziyad. Roderick ceases the throne in the year 711, and is later executed by Tariq ibn-Ziyad. After the defeat of Roderick, the Visigoth dominion over the Iberian peninsula folded and fell apart from the Northern coast of the Iberian Peninsula, and the province of Septimania (an area of France going from the Pyrenees to Provence), all areas previously under the rule of the Visigoths were now under Islamic rule. Muslim forces attempted to move north-east across the Pyrenees Mountains toward France, but were defeated by the Frankish Christian Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours in 732.